ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, June 28, 1996 TAG: 9606280056
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CHERYL L. TAN THE WASHINGTON POST LEESBURG
RUTHERFORD ROSS is the reason some commuters elect to get in the longest line to pay their toll.
It is midafternoon on the Dulles Greenway, and in Booth 8 of the westbound toll station, Rutherford Ross is eagerly leaning out to see who's coming. As each car pulls up, he falls into his routine.
``Hey there! How's it going, chief?'' Ross calls out, his hands moving faster than his mouth to make change quickly.
In the few seconds that commuters take to pass through Ross's lane, he generously doles out everything from road directions to compliments on outfits and advice on how to beat the heat. With the commuters he recognizes by face and by car, he asks about family, school or work.
In the frenzied world of rush-hour traffic, where drivers usually get no more than a grunt from a toll collector, Ross is an anomaly. A slight, wiry man with an infectious good mood, he takes pleasure in chatting with his 150 ``regulars'' every day and watching stressed-out commuters leave his booth with a smile.
``It was basically instilled in me by my dad,'' said Rutherford, 46, of Sterling, who has collected tolls on the Loudoun County highway since it opened in September. ``He taught me that no matter who you are, what you do, be nice to people. It doesn't take any extra time to say `Thank you,' `Have a good day' or `You're welcome.'''
Rutherford's philosophy may seem simple, but it has won him a steadily growing fan club of motorists who line up to see him even if the other lanes are empty.
Denise Sheehan, a director at the National Glass Association in Tysons Corner, said she and her 5-year-old daughter, Katie Rose, make it a point to see Ross every day. They met Ross in December when they started to take the Dulles Greenway to get from Katie Rose's school in Reston to their home in Leesburg. Katie and Ross took to each other immediately.
``There could be nobody waiting in the other lines and 20 people in his line, and we'll be sitting in that one,'' Sheehan said. ``My daughter won't put up with it if I don't.''
In the months that they've gotten to know him at the toll station, Ross has traded lollipops for the drawings that Katie does for him in school. He proudly displays the artwork in his small booth, alongside the drawings from his other young regulars and the flowers that a commuter gave him recently.
Jinx Fox, a geologist who sees Ross every day during her drive home to Bluemont, is another fan.
``Most toll people are impersonal,'' she said. ``They just hand you the ticket and take your money. With him, you finally get a friendly word, and sometimes it's the only friendly word you hear all day.''
Donna Sukkar, Dulles Greenway operations manager, said comments such as Fox's and Sheehan's are common. Of the positive letters that the toll road company receives about its toll takers, 60 percent are about Rutherford.
``It's pretty rare that patrons actually get attached to a toll officer, but he's very outgoing and always takes the time to generate conversation,'' she said.
Sukkar said that Ross at first held up traffic with his friendliness but that he's learned to speed up his conversations.
Ross, who also has worked at a fire protection agency and a car dealership, is amused when told about the compliments he gets.
``When my wife hears about this she says, `You don't know him at home,''' he said.
Like his wife, Christine, Ross shrugs off the commuters' admiration. He says that it's a two-way street and that he enjoys seeing his regulars and making them happy.
``There's not enough niceness in the world,'' he said. ``People are always in too much of a hurry to make friendships.''
Ross's commuter friendships have gotten him invitations to barbecues and parties and earned him little presents of bread, zucchini and even McDonald's meals. But his best present from a regular may have been a recent comment from Katie Rose. Sheehan says her daughter has Ross figured into her marriage plans.
``She says she's going to marry Mr. Rutherford when she grows up because he's nice,'' Sheehan said. ``I just smile and laugh and say, `Well, you know he has a wife.' And she just says, `Well she probably won't mind.'''
LENGTH: Medium: 80 linesby CNB