Uh… Thank… You?

I was the only one working in our store one day. I was halfway through cleaning when I had to take a phone call. There were no customers at the time, so I just left the spray-and-wipe bottle and cleaning cloth on the display shelves as I ducked behind the counter.

When I finished the call, I was just about to go back to cleaning when a customer rushed in. He saw the bottle and cloth and immediately grabbed them and started frantically spraying a banner we had up. I walked over as he was furiously wiping it and asked him what on earth he was doing.

Customer: “I saw you had a sign saying you’re hiring. Check out what a good job I can do!”

Baffled, I nervously responded:

Me: “You don’t have to do that, man. It’s all good.”

But he didn’t stop. He was in such a frenzy that I was apprehensive to push any further, so I let him continue while I grabbed the phone. I punched in the number for security but held my finger over the call button while standing near the only door I could lock from the other side.

By this point, the customer had unhooked the banner from its stand and laid it on the floor, and he was on his hands and knees scrubbing it like a serial killer scrubs a blood stain. The entire time, I had no clue what he would do next.

Eventually, he put the banner back up, returned the cleaning supplies to me, and left without another word. It took me a moment to process what had just happened.

I’m not gonna lie, though; he did a pretty good job with the banner.