The Parking Person

As I rolled into my downtown parking lot of choice this morning I noticed a woman with a clipboard standing at the ticket vending machine. After backing into my stall I saw that she was still there, poking away at the machine for far longer than it should have taken to purchase a ticket. 

By the time I clambered out of my car, she was gone. But as I was about to slide my credit card into the machine, I saw that there were two tickets already poking out of the ticket slot. Curious, I fished them out and noted that they were both valid for the day. I looked around for the woman, thinking she'd somehow mistakenly left the tickets behind, but then I realized that it would be silly to buy more than one ticket in the first place - unless your intent, all along, was to leave them behind for other motorists. I realized I was the recipient of a random act of kindness! 

My faith in humanity renewed, I took one of the tickets for myself and returned the other carefully to the ticket slot for the next lucky passer-by. This was no cheap gesture - parking costs $14 per day on that lot, and my anonymous benefactor had paid for at least two strangers to park. 

So thank you, anonymous do-gooder, for your generous gesture. I'll likely never know your name, but the thought is very much appreciated nonetheless. I'll pay it forward sometime this spring.