I’m a big fan of getting to know my local “guy” down the street. There’s the Subway guy, the Cleaners guy and — believe it or not — even the guy at the local Chase branch on Lawrence. I like to frequent the same places of business as often as possible — particularly when I’m in need of some Skittles or a Diet Coke. And when I get something like a Diet Coke, which in a local store costs about 80 cents, I like to let the guy keep the 2 dimes. Some background: I don’t like change in my pocket, ever, unless it’s a few quarters. With quarters, I feel like I’m getting ahead of the game for laundry day. But I usually just collect random loose change and take it to my guy at Chase for some paper in return. Anyway, I’ll often tell my guy at the store down the street that I only need the quarters back. And every so often, I’ll grab a Diet Coke and he’ll wave me through like I’m a regular. He’s like hey, there’s the guy who’s let me keep those dimes for the past month, he gets this one for free. Kinda like I’m accruing fun-based karma in the form of cans of Diet Cokes — sort-of a random fun way to invest in the local guy down the street and at the same time feel like a high roller. Thing is, though, there’s a guy on Damen who never gives back — and if something’s $4.03, he won’t give me the 3 pennies even though I’ve dropped about 9 dimes. 9 dimes. Dig? So it doesn’t work every time. But there’s nothing better in the middle of a city full of millions of people than knowing you can grab a Diet Coke for free from an actual store when you’re low on cash. Plus, that guy would probably let me use the phone. Who knows when I’ll need to use the phone. But, hey. It’s there.