I’m a guy and I’m in a very customer facing line of work and I don’t have that issue at all.
As others have said, maybe it’s an age thing (I’m middle aged) or maybe it’s a tone thing. If I’m complimenting them, it’s usually on something specific; “Oh hey, those are really cool glasses” or “I love what you’ve done with your hair.”, etc…
It’s never “You’ve got pretty hair, lady.” or “Gosh yer’ beautiful.”
The line between platonic comment and creepy sex weirdo (in my mind) is if you’re complimenting them on something they actively did that you think is cool (hairstyle, choice of glasses, etc…) it’s fine. Complimenting them on features that they have no control over, like saying “Hey, I just wanted to, completely randomly tell you how attractive you are” is creepy.
Because it all boils down to Trump’s ego.
Saying it made him look like an utter fool. So his enablers will do whatever they have to do to prove that he was “correct”.
It’s honestly frightening.