Of all the dour spaces on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, the least pleasant, yet most visited, may have been the parking ticket office. The room on the first floor of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation building felt no bigger, or brighter, than an airplane lavatory. Visitors crammed inside, standing at the counter and fuming, literally talking down to the workers seated far below.
But workers there say that since a renovation completed earlier this year, they have noticed a stark decrease in customer anger.