you look nice

I'd like to say I pride myself on looking nice.  I make sure I wake up with enough time to fully finish and style my hair, and wear a full face of makeup.  Sometimes this makeup application takes place within the confines of my Jetta, traveling 75 miles an hour on the highway; nevertheless, it is applied.  Additionally, I strive to put together a well-planned, fun outfit for each day.

In my advanced age, I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on what does, and doesn't look good on me, and I try to dress to show that.  I make peanuts, so it's not like I'm spending thousands of millions of dollars on clothes (in fact, most of my wardrobe is either Target, Old Navy or Gap Outlet), and I don't feel like it takes me any more time than a normal human being to get dressed in the morning.

I have a coworker, we'll call her LC, whom I only know very casually, although I did just recently find out she is the sister-in-law of one of my high school classmates (which is neither here nor there, and has no baring on the moral of this story).

I see LC almost every day walking down the hall in the morning as we sign in for the day.  And almost every day she will say, as we pass one another "Miss Johnson, you always look so nice!" And if LC has someone walking next to her, she'll then turn to them and say, "Doesn't Miss Johnson always look so nice?!" To which the other person will agree.

For a very long while I was flattered by this.  I might even go so far as to say I would hope to pass LC on my way to the office, just to have this pick-me-up.  Because, really, who doesn't like to hear they look nice?

And then one day, I talked myself out of liking this complement.  One day I really looked at LC.  LC is probably only a few years older than me, but she looks like she's 10 years older.  If I "look so nice" every day, then she is the total opposite.  Her hair is rarely done, beyond washing it and throwing wet hair into a ponytail.  There is no discernible evidence of any makeup applied.  Her typical wardrobe is a pair of ill-fitting pants, a zip up fleece of some sort, and a pair of running shoes.  And no, she isn't a physical education teacher.  So if someone who looks like a slob every day is telling me I "look so nice," is it really a complement?  I mean, anything is better than what she's showing up to work in every day.

I don't think I possess any special gift that makes me look well put-together.  In LC's defense, she does have three kids.  I have none.  So the only real place I can see where I have an advantage is on the time factor.  [Side Bar:  this Spring Break I made it a goal to not use any heated tools on my hair, unless absolutely necessary.  I wanted to give my poor hair a break from all the frying I do to it on a regular basis.  I successfully managed to only dry my hair three times over break, once on Easter, once yesterday -- I had a wedding, and once today, for church.  The lesson I learned in this, was I can, if hard pressed, get out of the door in 20 minutes, with a shower, and makeup, with my hair done in a cute, albeit still wet, way.  This is all to say, I'm not even sure I buy LC's time complaint.]

I'm convinced it takes just as much time and effort to put on a skirt, a pair of heels and a smudge of lipstick as it does to pull on a pair of cargo pants, a zippy and running shoes.

Another person who constantly tells me I look nice is the middle school aged girl who lives in my apartment building.  I also was totally flattered by her for a while.  Then one day I walked past her in a pair of ill-fitting yoga pants, greasy hair and a white t-shirt with a ketchup stain on it.  She cheerfully looked at me and said, "you look so nice!"

I'm starting to think this isn't much of a complement.