Cardella: Wise-cracking
I’m at the age when a young woman’s compliment can seem patronizing. Last week at the Navy Yard, the nurse, prior to administering my first COVID-19 shot, asked me if I were retired. When I told her I still worked, she became excited. “Good for you!,” she exclaimed. I feared that if she asked me if I were sexually active and I answered in the affirmative, she would’ve slapped me on the back and said, “Atta boy!” It’s not that I’m impervious to compliments. A young woman once admired my NORTH FACE jacket. I wore that jacket until the tatters became tatters. But a man knows that the surest sign of age is when a young female feels safe paying him a compliment.