I didn't see your response for a long time. "That's a nice shirt, I really like it!" vs. "Hey, that shirt looks good on you now, but I bet it would better on

I didn't see your response for a long time. "That's a nice shirt, I really like it!" vs. "Hey, that shirt looks good on you now, but I bet it would better on the floor of my bedroom!" are two ways to say that you like somebody's shirt. One is a workplace appropriate compliment, one is obviously not. A policy like "even complimenting your coworker's clothes can be reported as harassment" isn't some trap designed to catch you and punish you for the act of being friendly. It's a policy that's designed to defang institutionalized harassment that persists under the guise of being friendly; by couching sexual come-ons or derogatory remarks ("I always like the shirts you wear, they're by far the best part of having you work here" is a compliment for the shirt, and an insult to the person wearing it) in the form of a back-handed compliment, disgusting people can then claim that they're being punished when all they wanted to do is be nice. If you still don't understand my point, please let me know and I'll try to explain it further (: