A guard letting people wander an empty mall because his wife worked at a cookie stand is a nice story, sure. But that guy is still on the clock and it's still private property, and once one person posts about it online suddenly it's a thing and the owners have to lock it down or start handing out trespass warnings. Then Ray loses his job and nobody gets to walk the halls anymore. The food court nostalgia doesn't change the part where a stranger poking around a dead building at night is how people get hurt or blamed for damage they didn't do. Sometimes the guard who calls it in is the one actually looking out for you.

My wife has been telling me for years that my sense of direction is so bad I could get lost in my own driveway, so a random guy pointing out a better route is pretty much my only hope at this point. The thing you said about being a door's width from a bad morning really stuck with me, because that is the part nobody thinks about until it happens. Trading four minutes for ninety seconds and two fewer lights sounds like a win no matter how you slice it. I bet most folks keep riding the same way just out of habit and never question it. It is wild how a small nudge from a stranger can change your whole morning mood.