Colin Powell on the Importance of Parking Attendants – Really

The folks at the International Parking Institute (there seems be an institute for everything) alerted me that Colin Powell, formerly chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and secretary of State, held forth on the key role parking attendants play in life in the August issue of its magazine The Parking Professional.

When parking attendants and other professionals elevate their jobs above the mundane, they reveal their "real purpose," which, Powell said, is to “get 500 people to their offices on time.”

Powell also has advice on how to handle the daily encounter with parking professionals. "You look out the window and see another human being who has the same kinds of dreams and anxieties and fears and hopes you have,” Powell said in his exclusive interview with The Parking Professional. “By smiling and saying 'Good morning,' and 'How are you?' you bond with that individual and are saying you'll help that person. I assure you that parking attendant will smile back, which says 'I'm going to help you, too.”

You just can’t make up stuff as good as this.