The greeting ritual

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to observe the greeting ritual.  R and I spend  time working in the visitor center (VC).  One of jobs is to greet the visitors when they come into the VC or as we walk around the VC.  " Hi how are you?  Can we answer any questions? Where are you from?"
   As we are chatting, the process has started.  We find a commonality.  A common interest.  A state of National Park we both have visited.  A location where we both have lived.  As the process continues it might progress to someone we both have met or even know !
  At the conclusion of the process, we have established a relationship, sometimes casual, sometimes quite close.  And all of this happened in a few minutes.  Some of these established relationships have lasted for many years.  It is one of the reasons we are doing what we are doing.  The people make the places memorable.