Now that I am working downtown I park in an underground ramp. My employer is nice enough to offset the cost of this (roughly $60 a month) so all I have to do is slow down at the gate while my token is scanned by the overhead reader and enter (or exit) the garage.
The entrance I use off of Washington Street has a booth that is manned for those visitors who don’t have monthly parking passes. In the mornings it is manned by a very cheerful woman who, if you smile and wave to her, will smile and wave to you in a manner that suggests she is delighted to see you. It puts a smile on my face every day.
We need a word for those strangers in our lives that we see on a regular basis, that we have some interaction with, but whom we don’t really know or maybe even speak to.