I learned that Marcel's name was Marcel when he was filling in for our regular doorman and helped me track down a package. During that first interaction, he was helpful, but didn't strike me as particularly friendly. He had a straight-faced approach to my request, suggesting that I check what time it should have been delivered and further suggesting (perhaps due to his past experience) that I wouldn't be inclined to go through that trouble. I don't remember how the whole thing ended, but I got my package and asked him his name in the process.
And not uncharacteristically, this evening as I was walking up what seemed an empty sidewalk to our apartment I heard a voice yell, "Hello Andrea!" and a hand wave from a first floor window. It was Marcel, guarding another building and greeting me happily at the end of a day. It's not lost on me how much inertia is overcome in such a greeting. Nor do I miss the the gratitude that I feel for it.
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