Compliment? OR Insult?

I'm sure he meant well. Didn't he? Maybe he speaks really good English but knew he could get away with his comments? Or maybe he just thought he was saying something nice?

By now you are probably wondering what I am talking about. Well, I guess since I have peaked your interest I should probably tell you what happened.

So today I go to my local supermercato (I am sure you can tell that is supermarket) the Aliper. I went to find goat's milk for my sick kitty and then fresh produce. I just happened to get lucky and get there at a non-peak time (first time this has happened to me). Usually the store is extremely crowded and there is no 10 item or less aisle.

I pick up 2 pints of strawberries, some lettuce and date tomatoes. I head to the check-out and miracle of miracles I find an aisle without any other customers and is open for business. I greet the cashier by saying, "Buon Giorno." After placing my items on the conveyor belt I move forward and grab my cloth bag out of my purse. The gentleman ringing up my order asks, "sacceto?" I respond, "no", and show him my bag. He then says, "Oh, your own personal shopping bag." Yes, IN ENGLISH! This has not happened to me before - most of the time there is no one in the grocery store who can speak English and help me if I have questions.

So after speaking to the cashier for a moment I then ask him, "Is it that obvious that I am an American?" Is it my hair (not many natural red heads here in Italy), my clothing?" He responds by saying, "Yes, it is obvious, you are a large woman!"

WHAT???? I said, "Do you mean tall?" He says, "Yes, you are a large beautiful woman." Now, keeping in mind that many of these Italian women are barely over 5 feet tall and extremely petite, I am pretty sure he meant that I am quite tall compared to most Italian women. However, as a woman, I am normally insulted by the "large woman" comment. Even if it is followed by beautiful. I was chuckling so hard at this point. He then proceeds to tell me that he loves America, American woman and everything about America.

So, I ask you, do I laugh or cry? Insulted or flattered? In his defense he did seem very nice and he also complimented me on my use of Italian (I use the words I know as often as I can).

Anyway, thought you might be able to use a chuckle today!

Ciao for now!