Sometimes situations get so awkward that you just roll with them.

Imagine you were shopping on your day off and overheard a frustrated customer complain about not ever being able to find any help.

Now, what if you jumped in without thinking, forgetting you weren’t even on the clock?

Would you walk away after realizing your mistake? Or would you just keep going to avoid any awkwardness?

In the following story, one shopper accidentally does this very thing at a store where he doesn’t even work.

Here’s what happened.

I probably deserved this

I went shopping at a nearby competitor on my off-day.

We have basically the same products, and I don’t get a discount on the ones that I needed because they’re price-protected by the vendor.

While I was there, I thought I’d walk around their [certain] department. While looking at something, I heard an angry customer say, “God, you can never find anyone to help you here,” and grunt about needing help.

He knew something felt off.

I turned around, apologized, and said I just got to work and hadn’t put on my name badge yet.

I didn’t realize that I didn’t work there for the first 10 minutes helping him, and then felt too awkward to stop helping him.

All told, I was with him for about 30 minutes and made an 800 dollar sale.

Wow! That’s how ingrained our jobs become in our minds.

Let’s check out how the fine folks over at Reddit relate to this situation.

This is actually a great question.

According to this comment, it’s a reflex that doesn’t go away.

Here’s someone who’s done something similar in the past.

This person used to get mistaken for an employee.

The customer probably appreciated it.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.