Sorry, Guys, But This Phrase Is NOT a Compliment

Listen up, guys. This is not a compliment: "You're smarter than you look."

My response, " Why yes, because you all (as I'm pointing at all the guys in the room) fall for the blond I-need-help act. So yeah, guess who the smart one is?"

This is nothing new for me. I've worked in this male-dominated industry since I was 16. One strike against me is that I'm female. The second strike, I'm blond.

Having those odds stacked against me has made me fight harder to prove to those guys that I am more than capable. I've always had that fighter, independent spirit, which developed out of the necessity to survive childhood in a divorced household.

Has a guy said something to you that was a backhanded compliment?