Crossing guards rank fairly high on our list of things that inspire mixed feelings. On the one hand: an aid to children and pedestrians in need of a hand. Good! On the other: the awkwardness of being that one lone person, a grown-up person, at an otherwise unpopulated crosswalk monitored by a crossing guard is one of urban life’s perennially awkward moments. They kind of feel obligated to help, and you generally feel like it’s strange to be escorted, having reached the age of majority and all.