I work on the reception of a large corporate building in the City and engage with clientele who speak the King's English. Last year, I suffered mild hair thinning, and I have been fortunate enough to get it growing again.

At work, I wear my uniform, shoes, immaculate makeup, wear my hair up, watch my posture, and just generally have my 'work mode' switched on.

Recently, my colleagues have made me feel pretty low. They are Eastern European women, and I don't always understand their accents, which annoys them a lot, and I feel isolated when they speak about me in their language. I know they don't mean it, but they're never thankful, appreciative, or apologetic.

Yesterday, I was just coming back from my food shopping. My hair was out and wild. I had no makeup on.

I also want to point out that I live in Peckham.

I arrived at a traffic light at the same time as another lady. She looked at me and said, "You got such loverley hair!" I thanked her and told her it needed brushing. She continued, "An you have such a bootiful face!"

"Oh fank you luv, ow you doin, you alrite??" I asked.

"Yeh I'm good! You alrite?"

"Yeh good fanks. It's turned out nice an warm innit?"

"Yeh, I was goin to put me jacket on but I'm glad I didn't now. You ave a loverley rest of da day alrite!?"

"You too luv!!"

That 3 minute interaction yesterday made my day. It was great to speak with someone whose accent I understood since childhood and haven't heard in such a long time. It was great not to put on a work persona or be judged.

She was scruffy as hell and yet showed me more genuine kindness than my colleagues do at work.

I'm going to try and compliment more people from now and hope it makes a difference to their day as she did mine.