"You're good."

I’m a training paramedic/EMS. My mentor is very quick to give criticism but hardly ever gives praise/positive feedback.

I have been in training for nearly a year now. On multiple occasions, he has given constructive criticism on a case where I knew I had done well, but never gave praise.

One day, out of the blue, we were talking about my work and how I was about to start with a different mentor. He turned and said, “You’ll be alright with them; you’re good.”

To an outsider, ‘good’ might seem mediocre but, to me, I was so happy. He is a very reserved person who doesn’t praise other trainees either. That day I smiled my whole journey home.

"...he is worth more than you are.”

When I started my big corporate media job, I was so excited to show off my creative skills for a huge audience. A few months into the job, I was pretty much killing it and receiving great feedback along with my male counterpart, M, of the same job title. 

Yearly reviews came around and I cooly asked M if he’d feel comfortable telling me his salary so I could get a sense of how I should negotiate a well-deserved raise. He cautiously gave me an inexact roundabout number around his yearly compensation and my jaw hit the floor. M was making about $50k more than I was for the same work, same amount of experience, same job title, and same amount of time at the company. I was enraged.

I took my concern to the head of the department, who fairly heard me out, but ended our conversation with, “It is perceived that M is worth more than you are.”

Luckily, HR did not agree with my sexist boss.

"Very few people impress me..."

During my first busy night as a server, my cook told me that he didn't think I could handle the bad section, much less the good. I calmly tried to assure him that I'm great at my job, and that if he didn't agree then he should send me home.

This convinced him to give me the busy section, and I quickly got slammed. I was working really hard and handling it well, but as a server people seldom notice the extra effort you put in. I was doubting myself, I was nervous, and I was starting to worry that the cook was right, that I couldn't handle it. 

Then a very beautiful woman who I had been serving handed me $10 and a note that read, "Very few people impress me, but you've done just that. Thank you for your AMAZING service." 

I lost the note in the chaos before I got to take a picture of it, but I want her to know how much that meant to me. I would love to find her. She gave me confidence to do my job and the realization that I really can do anything I put my mind to, even if it's serving 12 tables at once all across the restaurant. That woman made my night and possibly my career. 

Thank you, kind stranger. Your words are forever in my mind and heart. You've made a young lady feel very happy, warm, and above all, appreciated and confident. So thank you from the bottom of my heart. 

Much love, 

Your Waffle House server.

"You probably ruined that girl's confidence..."

I was in university, learning to be a primary school teacher. For one of my school experience sessions, I had to show the class on the overhead projector how to edit their stories for spelling errors. I asked the teacher if I should prepare an example story that wasn't based on an actual student's work, but she said it wouldn't be necessary, that there was a child in class who would be fine with me using her work as an example, and that the teacher had done this before. 

I was being assessed on this lesson by my university contact, so I wanted this to go well.

When I pointed out the first spelling mistake, the child burst into tears. I quickly tried to create my own spelling mistake on the chalkboard and use it as an example instead, but I was shaken. I didn't want to draw attention to the child crying, but I didn't want her to be upset either.

I set the class a quick task to find a spelling mistake in their work, putting them in pairs to work together, while I approached the child in question. My assessor was comforting her, and told me to continue the class.

When the class ended, my assessor approached me and said, "You probably ruined that girl's confidence in her own writing for life."

She was ten. I wish I could apologize.
 

"You're never going to do anything with your life..."

My ex-boyfriend, who I dated for almost five years, told me, "You're never going to do anything with your life except flip burgers at some fast food joint." 

Now I'm in college, getting my degree in cosmetology. I think about his words every day. They motivate me to do my best in all of my classes.
 

"Colorful, like you!"

I love baking, and I usually try to bring whatever I bake to work or so I don't end up eating all of it. People are always very appreciative, and I always try to be as creative as possible and outdo my last confection.

It was Easter, and I didn't have time to bake like I usually do, but someone else had brought in some really cute chocolate pretzel bites with pastel M&Ms. I asked my coworker if she knew who brought them, and she said, "Oh, I thought you did because they are bright and colorful, like you!"

I think that low-key changed my life. It certainly finally gave me the confidence to color my hair purple, which I have always wanted to do, but until then had made due with a bright auburn.

This was last year, and I still think about it with pride when I get dressed or look in the mirror or pick out something colorful to wear or buy.

"Did you learn anything here?"

I'm a 31-year-old woman who works as a gardener at a small hardware store in Central Florida. Occasionally I'll work the cash register, and one day I overheard an older male customer talking to a coworker of mine. We were the only three people in the vicinity, and I was not part of the conversation. They were talking about women, in general, in a mostly old-fashioned pedestal way that's wholly unnecessary. 

Then the older man started speculating about why younger women don't marry anymore, and he concluded that it must come down to childhood trauma and bad parenting. (Apparently the concept of childhood trauma and abuse doesn't predate 1985, and it only pertains to women.)

Before the man left, he turned to me, pointed his finger at me and said, in a most accusing tone, "Did YOU learn anything here?" 

I was taken aback and said something jumbled, socially awkward and probably weird, I don't quite remember what. Something about women being regular people. To which he replied, "Well you just like to complicate it, don't you?"

You know, I did learn something that day. I learned that it's 2016, and to many men, women are basically considered children.


 

"Thank you for all you do!"

A few years ago, I landed my dream job, but it wasn't what I thought it would be. My supervisor always demoralized me. Nothing I ever did was efficient enough or even warranted a passing "thank you." I was constantly criticized and told that I needed to be better. I felt so dejected by the end of the year. I was stressed, anxious, and couldn't sleep at night because my dream job was turning into a nightmare. 

At the end of the year, I quit and got hired for a different position under a new supervisor. A very kindly, warm person that actually made me feel like a human being. 

This new supervisor randomly sent me a note that said: "Thank you for all you do!" I realized that I HAD found my dream job, and that I had always been pretty good at it. For me, it wasn't the wrong job; it was just the wrong supervisor. 

 

"Is that you?"

I work as a beauty advisor, and one day a former classmate who I didn't know very well happened to stop in. I look different than I did when I was younger. My naturally blond hair is dyed purple, and I have quite a few noticeable piercings and gauged ears. I also no longer wear color-correcting contacts for my rare eye condition called "Heterochromia," which makes my eyes two different colors. 

At first she just kind of stared at me and didn't say much. But once I offered her assistance, she scowled at me and asked, "Is that you? What are you doing as a beauty advisor? Shouldn't you know a thing or two about beauty?" 

This made me feel incompetent at my job, and I even wanted to leave and quit. To this day, I am self conscious about how I appear in public. 
 

"...probably so she could steal from our pockets."

I used to work as a coat checker at a very upscale, very fast-paced restaurant. The coat room was tiny, and it was right next to a swinging door that wait staff was constantly running in and out of. Because the door was so easy to get hit by, and also as a means to protect everyone's items, customers were never allowed in the coat room. 

One night, a drunk customer marched into the coat room to look for her coat. I calmly tried to explain to her that I would find the coat for her, and that she wasn't allowed back there. She was very confused, and she kept persisting, and I kept trying to calmly explain why she had to leave and let me do my job. 

Finally she left the coat room, and once she got to the other side of the curtain, she said to her date, "I tried to find my coat, but she told me to get out for some reason." Her date laughed and said, "Probably so she could steal from our coat pockets a little longer!"

Did they think the curtain was soundproof? I was right there. 

Also, they didn't tip me.

I hated that job.