Sometimes people mistake strangers for employees without meaning any harm.

One man’s trip to the hardware store turned unexpectedly sweet when a forgetful older gentleman kept coming back with questions.

So when the old man finally reached the cash register, he had found his new favorite “employee.”

Keep reading for the full story.

How do you think I should prep the soil?

No Karen’s or anything—just a forgetful old man.

So I’m in OSH, and an older gentleman walks up to me and asks where he can find the lawn care section.

In the dude’s defense, I was wearing a forest green shirt, so I get it.

The shopper tries to set the guy straight from the start.

I tell him, “Oh, I don’t work here, but I just laid new sod down and know where stuff is.” I point him to the aisle and continue my shopping.

Homie comes back up to me with three different seeds, asking what customers in the area go with.

Mind you, I’m no expert, so I respond, “Hey, I don’t work here, but I used this to overseed my sod.” He walks away.

This older gentleman doesn’t seem to be taking the hint, though.

Homie comes back again, asking how he’s new to the area and if we rent tilling machines. Again I tell him, “Yo, I don’t work here, but no, the tool library rents them for free.”

At this point, I think maybe he’s just new to the area and is asking questions. All good, happy to help—I love that neighborly stuff.

Totally wrong.

It turns out, this guy 100% thinks he’s an employee — and he’s singing his praises.

When I get to the register, he walks by and says to the cashier, “This young man deserves a raise. He is kind, hardworking, blah blah.”

The cashier hands me my receipt, looks at me like I’m crazy, then smiles and says she’s happy he’s finding everything okay.

Too bad they don’t give out raises to knowledgable customers!

What did Reddit have to say?

Helping this stranger really was the right thing to do.

Maybe it’s time this shopper pick up a job application?

This shopper very well could have gotten annoyed by this case of mistaken identity, but he didn’t.

Whether or not he actually worked there, it was sweet that this old man wanted to give the kind shopper the recognition he deserved.

He may not have received the raise the man pushed for, but sometimes helping someone out is all the reward you need.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.