Why can I take a compliment on my work but not on my fun?

A man once brought Hodja a melon he had grown with great labor. Hodja praised its size and sweetness, and the man puffed up like a rooster. The next day the same man made the whole village laugh with a joke about the tax collector. Someone praised the joke. The man waved his hand: 'oh, that was nothing, I just said the first silly thing in my head.' Hodja said nothing. But he remembered. You do this too. Someone thanks you for finishing the report, you say thank you. Someone thanks you for the joke that saved a tense meeting, you say it was nothing. As if the funny thing fell out of the sky and the serious thing came from your own two hands. Your pod is watching how you handle both. Every time you deflect the joke, you teach them your lightness doesn't count — so slowly they stop crediting you for it. They see you as reliable and hardworking, and they miss that you're also the one who makes the room bearable.