I've been traveling into San Jose on a pretty regular basis over the past 10 months or so. I always rent a car from Avis, and quite frequently, I show up on a Monday or Tuesday morning after having taken the short flight up from Orange County. As a result of my somewhat predictable schedule, I tend to encounter many of the same Avis employees and we're starting to recognize one another and say hi.
My favorite Avis buddy is Ranjit, an Indian man, complete with turban and silvery beard, whom I would guess to be around 65 years old or so. He works the exit booth (mornings, it would appear) and so he is the guy who checks my paperwork and driver's license when I'm leaving the lot with my rental.
He has always enthusiastically said hi, giggled a lot, and made some funny banter with me in his musical Indian accent. (And of course, he sniffed out my own partial Indian heritage almost immediately, keeping a growing line of cars waiting behind me as he quizzed me about where my dad's family was originally from.)
Because I spent most of June back in NYC and because my travel schedule has been anything BUT predictable lately, I hadn't seen Ranjit in many, many weeks until I showed up this morning, fresh off another OC flight. As I rolled down the driver's side window to hand him my paperwork today, his face lit up when he recognized me and he exclaimed "Shari!!" (which comes out sounding more like "Sheddy!!")
"Sheddy, SO good to SEE you! Vere have you BEEN? Haven't seen you in two, maybe three months!"
I explained that my travel schedule had been quite different lately and he repeated how good it was to see me and then kept talking as he walked around the car to check on any pre-existing damage. By the time he worked his way back around to my open window, he was still talking, but without missing a beat, looked seriously at me for a moment and asked, "You want gas option?"
When I shook my head "no", he broke into a wide grin again and said "So, see you next week, no?"
I explained that I was actually going to be staying over the weekend this time and he thought that was a brilliant idea. He handed back my paperwork and said, "You come back soon! You're my best friend!!"
Ranjit, buddy, you need to meet more people... away from the Avis lot.
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2 comments:
Ah, I think it's sweet. I love things like that, just makes being in a "foreign" place nicer...always pleasant to have someone smile and be nice to you. Have you read "This Book will Save Your Life"? Sounds a bit like the guy at the donut store :-)
I know, SO sweet! And SUCH a nice guy -- I'll miss him when I stop renting cars up here. I have not read that book, but I'm going to add it to my Kaboodle list right now! :-)
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