One time someone complimented my hair and I impulsively decided to use the old joke, "Thanks, I grew it myself!" and they didn't laugh and the rest of the encounter was 10x more awkward than it needed to be. >_<
this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2025
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Oof dang, that's funny though. Oh well, can't please everyone
Yeah, I legit laughed out loud at this. It was a good joke
You could try: "thank you but it's not for sale" next time.
-- Moss
And yet, although wrinkly, it's still a good, valid dollar bill. So accept it.
Yeah, you stupid vending machine, just accept it! What are you broken and incapable of accepting a perfectly good dollar!?
But forreal, as someone who relates to this meme and would love to not feel awkward when getting a compliment that I recognize is valid, this is kind of like telling someone with depression to just cheer up because it's all in their head.
Edit: on reflection, my reply was more aggressive than I intended. You're right of course that, just like that wrinkled bill, the compliment is valid. Accepting it though is something that requires a lot of practice and effort for many people.
And mine was a little too short, but that's okay.
"Put me in the screenshot"
I like to reframe it as 'if I don't take their compliment, I'm implying they have bad taste', and the guilt from that helps fight the guilt of getting what feels like an underserved compliment.
https://www.npr.org/2025/08/02/nx-s1-5442506/hard-to-accept-compliments-comic
This piece from National Public Radio (U.S.) helped me get more comfortable with accepting compliments by giving another perspective.
People complimenting you are giving you a little present without expecting (or even wanting) anything in return.
For years, my trained response was to smile and say thank you. It's good enough in the moment and it leaves you free to ruminate on it later, but sometimes it's enough to interrupt an anxiety spiral.
I am working very hard on this and I've found what works best is to say thank you/thanks/appreciate it, etc. And then if I try to say anything or add to that, I will aggressively tell myself to shut the fuck up. Just shut the fuck up. They don't care where you got it. They don't need to know anything else. If they want to know, they will ask. Just shut the fuck up.
It gets a bit mean in my head sometimes but it's working I think.
This is, to my mind, excellent advice. If a casual acquaintance compliments you, acknowledge it (even if you disagree) and move on (unless there's reason to delve further into it, which there sometimes but rarely is). If you're very close to the the complimenter, things might be different, but that requires a high level of confidence both in yourself and your friendship.
The thing I would add to this philosophy is, if receiving praise and in the right environment, it can be a good thing to distribute the praise. For example, if you worked on a task and your co-worker helped you, then someone says you did a good job - loudly and positively acknowledge the contributions of the other party, even if they didn't do that much.
In my experience, this will get you a reputation for sharing credit, so others will want to help you; the individual you're crediting will be grateful for the acknowledgement (results may vary); and saying someone else is good will often help to mitigate the embarrassment of acknowledging that you might be. The only downside to this approach is that if you spend enough time down playing yourself, others might start to believe you ... So be careful, it's a balancing act.
I can only accept them when they mean it.
But when it's obvious that they don't and are just saying it to make me happy it gets difficult.