The Slice: Good job? Oh sure, if you say so

I was riding my bike last weekend when a stranger’s encouragement almost made me laugh.

Two women who might have been anywhere from 40 to 60 years old were walking toward me on a quiet street. I smiled and waved. They waved back.

One of them said to me, “Good job!”

This came as a bit of a surprise as I was not really doing anything impressive. The stretch of street where we met was fairly flat. The weather was pretty mild. And I was not setting a blazing pace.

Perhaps, it occurred to me, I look like someone who should be applauded for just getting off the couch.

In any event, it caught me off guard. You see, I’m from a “Take a lap!”/“Tough it out, you pissants!” generation. “Good job!” really isn’t in my vocabulary when it comes to synonyms for simply showing up.

There’s a place for affirmations, certainly. But when they are employed indiscriminately, they start to lose meaning.

I have a friend whose whole family used to mock the “You’re all winners!” trophies-for-everyone sensibility. When someone in the family would spill something, break a glass or whatever, others would say, “Good job, Jason!”

Maybe that’s mean. But certainly they weren’t the only people in recent years who questioned the validity of hailing fun-run finishers as heroes or who doubted the necessity of taking seriously self-impressed people who apparently want a medal for voluntarily adhering to challenging exercise regimens.

Oh, well. That woman was just being friendly. You can’t always count on that with strangers.

And it was good that she and her friend were out getting in some walking. Now that I think about it, they were going at a pretty decent clip.

Good job, ladies.

Friday quiz: Almost anyone could identify the following in about five seconds by going online: “There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture.”

But to win a coveted reporter’s notebook, you’ll need to do a bit more. In addition to placing those two sentences, please share a related personal recollection.

Today’s Slice question: What do you say to your car’s heater?