Music
Sales: Like any big city, Washington DC can be an impenetrable place.
Powerful people frenetically buzz through life, isolated in their bubbles of busyness and divorced from strangers.
But in this most driven of places, one of societys most powerless members is trying to spark a reconnection.
Ron: Your earrings are beautiful and I love your hair.
Woman: Well, thank you.
Ron: She always look beautiful, shes a lovely lady. Do you know who I am?
Woman: Youre the compliment man!
Ron: Alright!
Sales: Ron Miller is the compliments man, standing on this street corner fifteen hours a day, seven days a week, meeting and greeting, as he calls it.
Ron: Maam I love your cap, you look beautiful, you are a beautiful lady.
Woman: Thank you.
Ron: Where you from?
Ron: The more I talk to people, the more I talk to them, the more I greet them, the more happy I become. I feel better when I see someone else smile rather than me smile.
Sales: Rons background is disturbingly familiar among the poor and homeless in America.Like many, he came from a struggling single parent family. Though initially, Ron found a toehold in society, with his first job in a restaurant kitchen.
Ron: It was exciting. I was able to eat food that I didnt have at home, like shrimp and steak, and we could afford that at home. It was a nice job; I loved it.
But it didnt last, and like so many others here without a safety net, Ron ended up on the street, begging.
Ron: I felt strange doing it, cos my parents didnt raise me that way to ask for money, and a lady came by with a ball dress on, I complimented her and somebody overheard me and started calling me the compliments man and it went from there.
Music
Sales: Rons been at it for 14 years.The compliments man doesnt ask for money now, although he takes it if its offered.He told us hes not homeless either -- although he baulked at ever letting us follow him when he wasnt on duty.The café near Rons beat gives him water and lets him use the bathroom, and while his off hours are a mystery to them too, theyre happy to have him around.
Chad: When he first started working here, we were concerned that he was bothering our customers, and asking for change or whatever, and we were like I'm sorry, we didnt mean to have him to bother you, but now, its like, hes the compliment guy, nobody has a problem.
Sales: While some people ignore him and others are unsure how to react the regulars are charmed.
Agneska: He really picks out something that stands out about each person
and tries to compliment on that. Theyre not general, he doesnt say you look beautiful only, he says you have nice shoes when you really know that you do have nice shoes, or I like your hair when you know that day you have a good hairdo.
Sales: Hey Ron, how are you today?
Ron: Pretty good this morning, Leigh, how are you?
Sales: Pretty good, what are you up to?
Sales: Ron calls the passers-by, his clients. He doesnt even take Christmas lights day off.Sales: Its so hot though.
Ron: Doesnt matter, I'm going to be here -- rain, sleet or snow.
Sales: In a hard-bitten city like Washington, Ron Miller is nobody.But the compliments man is somebody rare and valued.
Jonathon: After 9/11 in this city, very few people would smile, the compliments were few and far between, and so he serves a very unique purpose here.
Sales: Once, Ron did try -- unsuccessfully -- to fit back into regular society, but he found that complimenting had become his whole identity.Ron: Someone asked me how long Im going to continue to do this, I dont know but I tell you, when I left and I came back, everyone showed me how much
I was missed and I thought, I guess Id be doing it for a while now.
Sales: In a city where politics can change everything in a flash one thing Washingtonians can count on is that the compliments man will be back tomorrow.
Reporter: Leigh SalesCamera: Dan SweetappleEditor: Woody Landay
Sales: Like any big city, Washington DC can be an impenetrable place.
Powerful people frenetically buzz through life, isolated in their bubbles of busyness and divorced from strangers.
But in this most driven of places, one of societys most powerless members is trying to spark a reconnection.
Ron: Your earrings are beautiful and I love your hair.
Woman: Well, thank you.
Ron: She always look beautiful, shes a lovely lady. Do you know who I am?
Woman: Youre the compliment man!
Ron: Alright!
Sales: Ron Miller is the compliments man, standing on this street corner fifteen hours a day, seven days a week, meeting and greeting, as he calls it.
Ron: Maam I love your cap, you look beautiful, you are a beautiful lady.
Woman: Thank you.
Ron: Where you from?
Ron: The more I talk to people, the more I talk to them, the more I greet them, the more happy I become. I feel better when I see someone else smile rather than me smile.
Sales: Rons background is disturbingly familiar among the poor and homeless in America.Like many, he came from a struggling single parent family. Though initially, Ron found a toehold in society, with his first job in a restaurant kitchen.
Ron: It was exciting. I was able to eat food that I didnt have at home, like shrimp and steak, and we could afford that at home. It was a nice job; I loved it.
But it didnt last, and like so many others here without a safety net, Ron ended up on the street, begging.
Ron: I felt strange doing it, cos my parents didnt raise me that way to ask for money, and a lady came by with a ball dress on, I complimented her and somebody overheard me and started calling me the compliments man and it went from there.
Music
Sales: Rons been at it for 14 years.The compliments man doesnt ask for money now, although he takes it if its offered.He told us hes not homeless either -- although he baulked at ever letting us follow him when he wasnt on duty.The café near Rons beat gives him water and lets him use the bathroom, and while his off hours are a mystery to them too, theyre happy to have him around.
Chad: When he first started working here, we were concerned that he was bothering our customers, and asking for change or whatever, and we were like I'm sorry, we didnt mean to have him to bother you, but now, its like, hes the compliment guy, nobody has a problem.
Sales: While some people ignore him and others are unsure how to react the regulars are charmed.
Agneska: He really picks out something that stands out about each person
and tries to compliment on that. Theyre not general, he doesnt say you look beautiful only, he says you have nice shoes when you really know that you do have nice shoes, or I like your hair when you know that day you have a good hairdo.
Sales: Hey Ron, how are you today?
Ron: Pretty good this morning, Leigh, how are you?
Sales: Pretty good, what are you up to?
Sales: Ron calls the passers-by, his clients. He doesnt even take Christmas lights day off.Sales: Its so hot though.
Ron: Doesnt matter, I'm going to be here -- rain, sleet or snow.
Sales: In a hard-bitten city like Washington, Ron Miller is nobody.But the compliments man is somebody rare and valued.
Jonathon: After 9/11 in this city, very few people would smile, the compliments were few and far between, and so he serves a very unique purpose here.
Sales: Once, Ron did try -- unsuccessfully -- to fit back into regular society, but he found that complimenting had become his whole identity.Ron: Someone asked me how long Im going to continue to do this, I dont know but I tell you, when I left and I came back, everyone showed me how much
I was missed and I thought, I guess Id be doing it for a while now.
Sales: In a city where politics can change everything in a flash one thing Washingtonians can count on is that the compliments man will be back tomorrow.
Reporter: Leigh SalesCamera: Dan SweetappleEditor: Woody Landay