Compliment

     The second intern that I will work with this summer started yesterday. The first day is spent getting oriented and getting to know each other a little better. Somehow we got on the topic of internships and how she decided she wanted to come to my store. It turns out that she is friends with an intern I worked with last year. She was so pleased with her experience that she recommended it to my current intern.
  Part of me was very pleased with the compliment. It meant that I was doing a good job. It meant that my intern had felt it was a good learning experience.
   After the intern left for the day, I told my boss about the compliment. He congratulated me.  I demurred. I told him that it was a compliment to all of us. I can't do what I do without help from my staff.
  I meant that. It's not easy to put a new person in the middle of an established team. They've been understanding and helpful. If my store is a good site for interns to work in, it is because we have a good staff.
  My boss acknowledged that I did have a point but he said,"Eighty percent of the experience is you."
I couldn't argue with that. While my staff does help,it is up to me to make sure that intern meets the goals for the rotation.
  I was a little torn. Part of me wanted to stick my thumbs in my imaginary suspenders and stick my chest out proudly. The other part of me was nervous. Would I be able to do it again? Would I be able to make the next three weeks so outstanding that my current intern would recommend my site to another?
  This is a challenge that I run into anytime anyone says anything nice about me or something I have done. I have blamed it on several things being raised Lutheran, being raised in the Midwest, being raised in the north (as opposed to being in the south.) or being female. The list goes on. It's hard for me to just accept a compliment. I'm not sure what to do. Part of me wants to be pleased and proud, but that's vain, prideful and not a good thing. Part of me gets really nervous. What if I'm not really that good? What if I can't keep up that standard I've set? What if the person is just horribly deluded?
  I've become better about accepting compliments. I don't brush them off immediately with a self deprecating remark. I do make some sort of expression of acknowledgement and thanks. Instead of the self deprecating comment, I share the credit. I had lots of help. It wasn't all me, thank you.
  Someday I hope to be able to accept a compliment with a simple thanks. Maybe I'll even get to the point where I won't get nervous about it like I am now. All I know right now is that I have a big pair of shoes to fill. My own.