A Complement, of Sorts

A bunch of math faculty were eating lunch yesterday in a public place, and there were a couple of students nearby. We got to talking about the History of Math course, and I said something about how one of those students, whom I shall call Athena, had taken the course two years ago. She said, "Yeah, I didn't mind that course."

The faculty all smirked at each other. I said something about how that was probably the highest complement I was going to get all day. Another faculty member suggested I should get her to write a letter for my post-tenure review file.

Athena just shrugged it off. She didn't even seem embarrassed to have given me such a backhanded complement. Oh well, I'm happy that she didn't mind that course. I guess.