We pulled up to a cashier's booth after midnight and waited 10 to 20 seconds for the sleeping attendant to finally wake up. You know what happens when you dose off and something startles you awake? Most people try to fake it and act like they weren't sleeping. Not this cashier. He was so sound asleep it took him a minute to gather himself. The man didn't even notice the cameras we had in the car recording this. So began the Team 5 investigation. We quickly recognized a trend.

The idea for our story on Massport parking inefficiency came out of personal experience. A few of us noticed how many times Massport tells you to "pay before you exit." "You must bring your ticket," the signs say as you ride or walk toward the terminal. It's the Exit Express automated system Massport paid $21 million to install and begin operating last summer. What we couldn't understand is why so many cashiers were still on duty, including two to three of them overnight.

For decades Massport has struggled with its image as a high-paying patronage haven.

A producer, photographer and I made five visits over a month. The earliest we arrived was 11:30 p.m. The other nights we didn't get there until after 12:30 a.m. It was important for us to make sure what we saw was not a one-time deal. It wasn't. If the cashiers weren't asleep on the job, they weren't doing anything else productive. Surprised? I wasn't. After all, they have next to nothing to do. Based on what we saw, a busy night for them would be one car needing a manned cashier booth every few hours. The very small number of other cars overnight use the automated system.

There are at least two cashiers manning the booths overnight. Sometimes we saw three of them. Take a guess at how much they get paid? Fifty thousand dollars a year plus benefits. I know a few people here at the station who heard that and asked, "How do I get that job?" Fifty grand to snooze, read the paper or chat with your fellow cashiers.

Massport's aviation director Tom Kinton told us they started Exit Express to improve parking efficiency. They want to add to the $85 million in revenue they make from the lots each year. By the way, you pay $22 a day to park at Logan. It's not cheap. Massport paid $21 million for automated machines and they're still paying more than 30 people $50,000 a year to just sit there. That doesn't sound like efficiency.

Director Kinton didn't know his workers slept on the job. We showed him and he didn't like it. He explained the reason why they have two, sometimes three cashiers working overnight with so little to do. He said it's in case one of them needs a break and because sometimes people don't use Exit Express. Those travelers need a person to help them pay and leave the lot. He added that they will look at staff reductions during the summer months.

We fully expected to have a difficult time investigating this story. Three people with two cameras walking through the terminal and video taping our drives up and down the garage aisles should have raised a few red flags. We did this five nights and no one ever asked us what we were doing. What kind of security is this? Director Kinton sounded more disturbed by that fact than anything else. He assured us that Massport would look into all of it.