Shiny Happy People

I think there might be something wrong with the parking attendant people at the parking garage in my building.

They are freakishly nice.

So far I've driven to work twice. Each time, they have waved and given me a huge smile. All of them. And there are like, 6, just milling about the parking garage entrance. I think there are so many of them due to security reasons...who knows. The first time they waved and smiled at me so big, I nervously checked myself in my rear-view mirror. Was there something on my face? Did I look weird? Were they laughing at my ancient Pontiac Sunfire? I mean, what was the deal with these people, grinning and waving at 7:30am? Do they make them do that to cheer us all up so we don't do anything crazy at work? It kind of freaks me out.

Today, as I was pulling in, the first attendant I passed gave a short, wave-like hand movement. As I am not yet accustomed to the plethora of niceness in the parking garage, I thought he was flagging me down. I stopped and rolled down my window, expecting to be in trouble or something.

"Yes?" I asked him as I slowly pulled forward, rolling down my pain-in-the-ass-non-automatic window.

"Oh, I was just saying hello!" he said back with a toothy grin.

"Um, yeah...hey," I said back with an uncertain smile, rolling back up my window.

I then slowly cruised past the 5 other parking attendants, who all smiled and ALSO gave a wave.

Prior to my personal parking garage experience, I've ridden with co-workers in and out of the parking garage for lunch. The attendants would always wave and smile to my co-workers in the drivers seat, and I would think to myself, "Damn, my co-workers must be super tight with the parking garage attendants."

No, no. The parking attendants are like the Super Garage Gang Welcoming Committee, who wave and smile at EVERYONE.

I'm tempted to go back to riding the metro, where everyone is bitter, no one waves, and a smile is a rare morning occurance. I just don't know if I can deal with these super friendly people at 7:30am.