When you're assigned to share a music stand with someone, it helps if you get along. One way of keeping the peace, as I discovered in one orchestra, is to compliment your fellow players. I don't remember who started it, but I had a routine with another bassist, in which we'd compliment each other for the most routine accomplishments. Examples: "You placed that music on the stand commendably." "You turned that page exceptionally well." "Good job of not playing during that measure of rests." "Excellent work there, in..."
...Hang on. The phone is ringing.
"Good job of combining words into sentences in order to complete a blog post?"
Now, that was a considerate phone call.
