Tablescapes, Home Decor, Thrifting, Cooking

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Did I Hurt Feelings or Give a Compliment?

On Halloween night our first customers came as a group of 5 or 6 adults and about as many children. It was my husband's coworkers, spouses and children. I have only met most of them a couple of times. After chatting for several minutes I directed my comments to one lady, giving her my name and telling her I didn't think we had met. Ut Oh, a very embarrassing moment we all dread ~~ "why yes we've met, she said ....I'm Linda ______". Watch me shrink like the witch in Wizard of Oz. As soon as I heard her name and saw the man she was standing next to I knew who she was. We were even at her house for a Christmas party last year and I had a long conversation with her. She absolutely did not look like the same person. Deep down I knew what was different. Trying to take control of the situation I apologized and asked her what was different. I asked her if she had a new hairstyle. She walked over closer to me and told me what I had figured out. She said she had lost quite a bit of weight. She looked about 70 pounds lighter.
My question for you is: Do you think she was offended that I didn't recognize her or would she have taken it as a compliment and be thrilled that she looked so different? I kept telling her how nice she looked. I keep thinking about what happened and feel so badly about it. On a similar embarrassing topic, I have vowed not to ever ask any woman again when her due date is. That is unless she is wearing a shirt with 75% spandex and appears to be very close to a ride to the hospital. Yes, I saw just such a young girl working at the mall the other day.
Here are two more examples of my arrangements with texture and movement

7 comments:

Paula@SweetPea said...

I wouldn't worry about it another second. I think that you gave her a compliment. You only see this person once a year and a 70 lb weight loss would drastically change a person's appearance.

Cathy said...

No, I don't think you offended her. Like Paula mentioned, if one loses that much weight, their apprearance would change.

Rebecca said...

Hey! I love your new blog!
I wouldn't worry about your comment at all. I agree with Paula, that really its a compliment. It only makes sense that after such a drastic weight loss she would look differently. I'm sure you handled it just fine.

Anonymous said...

I agree... that is a HUGE amt to lose and I would think that it would make someone look quite different.

I love your arrangements, so pretty, your granite countertops look very much like mine :)

Have a great day,
Kathy :)

Miss Janice said...

Hello and thank you for stopping by my site. Your site is just lovely and I will definitely have fun here. Well...I'm sure the lady wasn't offended by your comment. "You look fantastic" would be appropriate and leave it at that.
Miss Janice

ShabbyInTheCity said...

I'll bet it had happened to her already several times! Like the lady I asked when her baby was due...yep, she had been asked by several people. Roll the clock forward 6 years...she STILL looks that way :)

Nancy said...

Oh, I doubt she was offended. I'm sure she's very proud of her weight loss. She probably didn't like the way she looked before anyway.