Redditor ovelypsycho577 was curious to hear some of the best compliments men received from members of the opposite sex, leading them to ask:
"Men of Reddit: what was the BEST thing a woman has ever said to you?"
Like A Mother To Me
"'I did not give birth you and we might not match on a DNA test, but you are my son no matter what anybody says'."
"Said by my best friends mum."
"She has been like a mother to me all my life taking care of me while my mother's alcoholism escalated over the years."
"I love her by all my heart and when she said it I just started crying."
"I never doubted her caring but having the verbal confirmation was just so touching."- fujione
Knowing You Made A Difference
"I graduated college 10 years ago."
"I still think about the time someone told me 8am classes suck less with me there."- chicagotim1
GIF by November CriminalsGiphyA Love That lives Forever
"When my wife was dying of cancer, she had one of those bitter evenings where she lashed out at how unfair for her to be fighting for her life at age 39."
"She was lashing out at how unfair for her children to grow up without her and for her to miss seeing the adults they would become."
"She shared how every single moment of every day was full of struggle, pain, and fatigue—and she was bitter and angry about it."
"I told her something I’d felt ever since she got sick, that I wished cancer took me instead."
"She looked at me through her bitterness and pain and said, 'I would never want this pain to happen to you.'”
"That was the most selfless, loving thing I’ve ever heard, and it helped me so much as I dealt with survivor’s guilt after she died."
"This conversation happened nine years ago when our youngest was four."
"He’s 13 now and will be the best man in my wedding this Saturday.""We were lucky enough to find someone who loved our little mess and, after six years of dating, I finally proposed."
"I feel confident my late wife would approve of where we are now, and by her telling me it was okay to live on, I was able to do that."
"Also, here’s a PSA."
"If you have friends and family who are widowed, please make yourself present in their lives."
"Widowhood is isolating, many recent widows and widowers are in no place to reach out for help."
"Grief is messy; their lives are sloppy, especially if they are raising children.'
"So reach out to them and let them know that, while you may not understand what they’re going through, they aren’t alone and they can’t push you away."- zikadwarf
“'You’re an amazing father, and I know you’ll continue to be one'.”
"My wife just before cancer claimed her life."- RifleShower
Sad I Miss You GIF by DisneyGiphyDestined For One Another
"My girlfriend in college once gave a valentine's day card."
"In it, it said, 'I'm glad I met you'."
"Seems a bit unromantic, maybe, but this gal was always awkward at expressing herself, I was too."
"A lot of people say 'I love you', and don't mean it ,"
"Sometimes they think they mean it."
"But when she wrote 'I'm glad I met you', I knew she meant it."
"Like, she really meant it."
"She was all nervous to give me the card too."
"I thought it was very sweet, and I couldn't get the card out of my head for weeks."- MuscleShake85
A Much Needed Boost To One's Self-Esteem
"A friend told me she preferred how I looked bald rather than when I had a ton of hair and that I was a great looking bald guy."
"This meant so much as I am bald due to alopecia areata and legit used to have thick flowing locks so it was a hard process choosing to shave my head that first time."- Vegetable_Kale_8144
bald george costanza GIF by HULUGiphyHard Work Paying Off
"Random girl from work, told me I looked good and asked me what I was doing to loose weight."
"I had never ever gotten a compliment like that before and it felt good."
"Made me more motivated to keep on track."- aqxea2500
The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of
"'The books underestimated you'."
"'Are you real?'"
"Man, nothing can get me happier after that."- mohamedkkenway
"When preparing a girl a bit younger than myself for a sleep study, she said, 'You have the most perfect face I have ever seen'."
"'Take my number'."
"Now, I don't feel I'm ugly or anything, but I ain't no model either."
"I had a gf at the time so I never called her, but I still think about it sometimes because damn, she came on strong!"- pateralus9
Shawn Mendes Perfect Face GIF by Radio DisneyGiphy"Yes!"
"She said yes when I asked her to marry me."
"37+ years ago, yes we are still married to each other."- pekak62
A Rooster Among Hens!
"My friend from work and I had been drinking one night and she drunkenly told me, 'you’re honestly such a hot piece of a** and you don’t even know it which makes you even hotter', and it really made my week, haha."
"She then proceeded to tell me that I had a certain effect on women whenever I would walk into the office as well as women from other departments would ask about my dating life to her hoping to flirt with me."
"I work in a pretty female-dominated industry and honestly had no idea about any of this."
"I just assumed people were being nice to me."
"So ladies let this be an example that most of us guys are idiots and we need to be literally spoon-fed everything for us to understand, hahaha."- paulespinosa
Memories to Cherish
"'My cheeks hurt from smiling', on a first date with a woman I dated for 3.5 years."
"Ended 2 ish years ago but I still remember that."
"'I normally get a lot of anxiety after sex, but I didn't have any with you', said to me by the woman of my dreams the day before I left the country for the foreseeable future."- Alexander_Elysia
denise richards smile GIFGiphyRestoration Of Hope
"'I promised myself I'd never date again, but then I broke the promise with you, and I'm glad it was you'."
"Said by my current girlfriend :)"- Momo156
"A girl once told me that I had perfect eyebrows."
"I have sh*t self esteem so it was pretty nice to hear."- BusinessExternal2245
A Welcome Mistake!
"Girl: ‘How old are you’, on my birthday."
"Me: '14'."
"She: ‘Really?? I thought you were older, take it as a compliment’."
"She is my crush and is the first person ever who guessed me older than I am."- OwlCat_123
Valentines Day Love GIFGiphySetting Them Free
"I want a divorce."
"Expensive, but worth it."- Backyouropinion
A Change In Heart
"'I always thought you were a bit weird but you're actually ok'."
"It was a long time ago and I still think about it from time to time."
"I was really nervous around people when I was younger so didn't tend to speak much."
"Couple that with being generally awkward with bad dress sense and it's easy to give off weirdo vibes."- Reddit
A compliment can be the validation we need to know our work has paid off.
Or our discovery that we somehow made a positive difference in someone's life
But as much as a gender has its perks, they also have their share of drawbacks–which was closely examined after Redditor figinjosejospe asked:
"What’s the worst thing about being a man?"
Because men are often portrayed as resilient and strong, they are always expected to rise above adversity.
Expectations
"The general lack of empathy or support. You can do it because you're a man. I'm drowning on all fronts here, just looking for anything to help."
– OldHolly
Men Can Be Victims Too
"Sexual harassment and sexual assaults are usually a joke or not taken remotely serious when you're a guy."
"I've been sexually harassed and assaulted at work, and told 'lucky guy!' Or 'they're old enough to be your mother, take it as a compliment' as if that makes the situation better. In the end, honestly, if you're a guy and made sexually uncomfortable, it's too bad so sad, move on. When I approached management about it I'm just told 'Well, let's make it a clean slate and move on'. What? They literally dry humped me? Grabbed my a**? Even when a member does it, it's just completely fine?"
"Men aren't normally seen as victims. We're just expected to not be or to not be effected by it."
"Work for Costco btw, it anyone is curious as to where this happens."
– FanaticDamen
Due to the fact that the majority of predators happen to be male, guys have to be hyper-aware of their conduct–even when their intentions are purely innocent.
Careful The Things You Say
"We cant say kids are cute without being on fbi watch list."
– albertkapla
All Guys Are Not Creeps
"While driving a classmate past a daycare I frequently pass on my runs, i commented that there's a bunch of cute kids that play there, just thinking it's nice there's still something good and pure in this messed up world. He started acting like I said they were sexy or something. I don't stare at anyone's kids, I'm just out for my run and looking ahead. Had to tell the guy 'look, I'm almost 30, everything about my biology is screaming to make babies. So just chill dude. Not everyone is a creep' still made me feel bad the rest of the day."
– Electrofungus
Pegged As A Pedo
"Isn't my baby so cute??"
"He's adorable!"
"Bruh you f'king pedophile get the f'k out."
– FestiveSquid
These male Redditors had damning experiences working with kids.
Forced To Give Up On A Dream
"The stereotype that all men are pedophiles if they like working with children. Volunteered at the daycare that I went to when I was young for a field day event. One of the mothers there expressed her concern for a male being there around her kids and word got back to me. I was pursuing a degree in early childhood edu and dropped out and gave up on that dream because a lot of people thought I was weird or that I must be some sort of pedophile."
– RetroactiveThoughts
Consequences Of A Joke
"A friend of mine (a guy) worked as a daycare worker for a few years. Until one day some 12 yr old girl told one of the workers he had made a comment on her boobs, so he was immediately fired. The next day the girl asked where he was, and then when they explained it to her, she said she was just lying because she thought it would be funny. They offered him his job back but the whole situation was so mortifying for him that he has never worked with children ever again."
– dorkjaden
The Cousin-Sitter
"Im on vacation and yesterday i had to babysit my cousin while my aunt and my mom were trying out clothes. A concerend employee asking what we were doing and she said 'i dont know him, he just sat near me!'. Great. Keep in mind that im 17 and shes 11. And the thing is, we do know each other. If her mom didnt come out when she did, the police probably would have been called."
– RobloxJournalist
Built-In Prejudice
"I feel this. My mum runs a daycare and hired a male POC. Mind you he was the best person ever with kids and all kids at the daycare loved him. Nonetheless, many parents decided to change days when their kids would come. And ofc this meant they wanted to change the date to a day when this man was not working. My mum always believed in him and kept him hired and brushed off concerns of parents since he NEVER did anything wrong. He was her best employee. Just goes to show how fucking prejudiced people can be."
– Tesseru
The list goes on, but another common complaint was hair issues.
Hair, There, Everywhere
"Hair, everywhere, I mean seriously, does it have to come out of my ears?"
– butcherboy76
The Option
"Body - you're getting older now, what would you like to ease the burden?"
"Me - oh I dunno, knee lubricant?"
"Body - hair out of the ears it is!"
– OrdinaryGymRatAbroad
The List
"The lack of respect men receive as parent."
"Not being able to interact with children without fearing being called a Peado."
"It can be desperately lonely, especially for the introverts."
"Extremely weak emotional connection with male friends and peers."
"Hair loss."
– Squiggles87
Hair loss is definitely a bruise to the male ego.
I would sooner shave my head completely than walk around with a partial scalp reveal on the crown of my head.
Besides, there are plenty of people who think being bald is kinda hot. Amirite?
After getting caught with his pants (and underwear) down as a result of an intruder, a shell-shocked Reddit user survived to tell his story on the TIFU (Today I F****d Up) thread – a community in which people share stories about "moments where we do something ridiculously stupid."
He was trying to get out of the bathroom before flushing and you would have too.
Let Redditor "jellyjack" set the scene.
"This happened on Friday, and I'm just now able to relive it without experiencing Tourette-like outbursts of random noises and profanity from my extreme discomfort from the embarrassment."
Meet Jen, the neighbor whom the protagonist barely knows.
"I'm sitting on the toilet in the downstairs bathroom (which is right by the front door of our house), I have the door mostly closed, but it's not latched. Doorbell rings, my wife answers it, it's her friend Jen."
"Jen comes in the house. I should mention that Jen is a friend/neighbor we've known for just under a year and I don't really know her that well, which, for me, makes this worse."
Meet the third character in the hair-raising one-act making a grand entrance.
"I'm just finishing up, getting ready to wipe. I pull on the first piece of toilet paper, and as the toilet paper unrolls this big, and very fast spider comes running from behind the roll, brushing against my hand."
The encounter alone is traumatizing at such a vulnerable moment, but it didn't end there.
"Instinctively, I jump up and away from this spider, as I do this, the door to the bathroom opens, there's Jen, we both scream, me because my fight or flight (in this case flight) response automatically kicks in from my lizard brain thinking I'm getting attacked by this spider, and Jen seeing her friend's husband with his pants and underwear down between his legs leaping toward her screaming."
It seems the accidental flasher gave new meaning to the word "streaker."
Life resumed once the dust settled, but he's still losing sleep over the boo! during his number two.
"A lot of apologies and light uncomfortable laughter afterwards, and I haven't slept well since."
While many sympathized over the arachnid's visit, one user was more concerned over one thing in particular.
"Oh man, that's a tough one to recover from. Was it at its smallest?" – jayeffoh
"Oh yeah, plus it was cold in the morning. You're making me shudder again with the memory." – jellyjack
Umm, we would rather not think about this detail, but there you go.
"Is nobody going to mention that all this occurred while you were still unwiped?" – Nougat
"Sadly (or weirdly) that's all I could imagine is just that feeling of being unwiped ugh. Though I'm also deathly afraid of spiders so that, the spider, the stranger, and my self-consciousness about my body...boy it'd be a real battle of emotions." – ColoneISanders
Are you aware of this established rule?
"For future reference, restrooms that are the main floor of the house especially near the front door (my house also has a half bath next to the front door) should be used for #1's only. All #2's should be done in a more private bathroom." – Av3ng3d0wnt
"I've always been a bathroom door locker. What's with the door open poops?" – PigeonFace
"When it's just me and my wife, neither one of us locks the door, been like that since our college days." – jellyjack
"If you ever are home alone try pooping with the bathroom door all the way open. It's a glorious feeling for some reason." – BringBackOldReddif
So what prompted Jen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time?
"Why was she coming into the bathroom? Because of your scream?" – Merbel
"I didn't ask, but I'm assuming she was coming in to use the bathroom or wash her hands or something. Her or my wife didn't know I was in there. After the incident, she didn't end up using the bathroom." – jellyjack
So what happened to the spider?
"Did you neutralize the threat though?" – Mash_Ketchum
"I couldn't find it afterwards. Fell in my magazine basket, then after I finished up, I couldn't find it again." – jellyjack
One takeaway from the spider caper is:
"Stories like this are why I close and latch the bathroom door even when home alone." – ShinePDX
They say the spider is usually the one that is scared in these encounters, but the character more likely to be scarred for life in this scenario is a tossup.
If you want to play a little prank on your significant other, you can get 100 pack of fake spiders here. Who knows what will happen if you scatter them around the house?
