Me: I cant believe you couldn’t wait for 15 min…
Her: I had to leave, I would have stayed if I could… Besides I watched the play didn’t I.
Me: How do I know if you did? You weren’t there at the end…
Her: (Raising her eyebrows) So now I have to prove that I was there…
Me: So what did you think of it?
Her: Pretty good stuff. I liked your co actors they were real good…
Me: Yep they is pretty talented actors.
Her: I read the original story from which the play was adapted… Pretty good stuff… Both the original and the adaptation
(I just smiled back at her)
Her: Now don’t fish for compliments… you know you were good.
Me: Well me and compliments have a very weird relationship.
Her: Let me guess you don’t get enough!
Me: I have never complained about that… I have a belief system based on compliments and credits.
Her: Go on, explain…
Me: Well there is an old saying… A great man is never appreciated in his time…
Her: So?
Me: So if I receive a compliment when I deserve it… it means I was good. If I don’t get any compliments but deserved it… Well its a sign of something great!

(She had this confused expression on her face)

Me: Its not as blunt as it sounds… I don’t go around thinking ‘I did not get compliments so I am great’. The way I look at it is that I did not get anything now means that I will get something bigger later… Yeah I am and will be an eternal optimist.
Her: Well its an interesting ideology, beats the heck out of people cribbing about not getting their due (laughs)

Me: Oddly this belief system is based on balance, life balances out everything eventually. If you don’t get something now it just means you will get something in kind later…
Her: So when people actually compliment you…
Me: I feel a little bad. Yeah… its like someone paying you for your work immediately, I would rather wait till the end of the month and get the big cheque.
(She kept staring at me)
Me: What this philosophy did to me is that, the work I truly like to do is the kind that goes unnoticed. I spend time around a lot of people who are very grateful and its like a challenge doing something nice without someone knowing it. But honestly the best days of my life have been the ones when someone else picked up the credit for my work. Most often then not its a mistake and the person it was bestowed upon mostly did a part of the work… but it gives and interesting opportunity to see life at work. You wonder if the system is going to fail and out of the blue you are vindicated for your beliefs and efforts.
Her: The best feeling in the world!
Me: The best feeling in the world!