The night shift manager who knew my name after one visit
I stopped at the same 24 hour diner off I-80 for about three months straight, always after midnight when I was done with route checks. The manager, this older guy named Sal, would pour my coffee before I sat down and never messed up my order, not once. One night I was in a weird mood, tired and grumpy, and he just said "rough one, huh?" and slid a piece of pie over without asking. I never told him my name or what I did, he just picked it up from the way I talked about traps and crawl spaces. It stuck with me because nobody in my actual neighborhood knows me like that, and I only saw him for maybe 10 minutes a week. Makes me wonder how many other people notice the small stuff we don't think we're showing. Have any of you had a stranger clock your mood better than your own friends do?