A woman stood quietly by the window in the maternity wing, looking at her newborn baby with a gentle smile. Another new mother approached and stood beside her, glancing through the glass. She pointed toward one of the babies and asked, “Is that your baby boy?” The first woman replied warmly, “Yes, it is.” The second woman then pointed to another baby nearby and said proudly, “That’s my third child. We named him Beauregard Winston Baldwin the Third, after his great-great-great grandfather.”
“That’s nice,” the first woman responded calmly. Encouraged, the second woman continued speaking. “My husband is buying me a four-carat diamond ring to celebrate his birth!” she said with excitement. “That’s nice,” came the same steady reply. She went on, sharing more stories. “When my second child was born, he gave me a brand new Mercedes-Benz and took me to Tuscany for the summer.”
“That’s nice,” the first woman repeated. The second woman continued, clearly proud. “And when our first child was born, my husband bought a yacht, named it after me, and we sailed around the world!” Once again, the response was the same: “That’s nice.” After a brief pause, the second woman turned and asked, “Is this your first child? What did your husband do for you?”
The first woman looked at her and answered gently, “When we found out I was pregnant, my husband sent me to charm school.” Surprised, the second woman asked, “Charm school? Why?” With a small smile, the first woman replied, “That’s where I learned to say ‘That’s nice’ instead of saying something less polite.”