The Candy Man

Some of our customers are very pleasant and sweet. Even when they are a little eccentric.

One such customer was someone we will call The Candy Man.

The Candy Man would walk to the library every day from wherever he lived. There was almost a script to what he would say.

He would walk in and invariably say, "It's a beautiful day outside."
Then he would comment on our clothing. He loved bright colors and he would point to some bright piece of clothing and say, "Nice colors!"

One day, I was wearing some plain black or otherwise nondescript color scheme and he pointed to me and said, "Drab!"

It kind of hurt my feelings but it was also a little funny.

After making his daily comments, he would distribute a piece of hard candy to each of us working that day. He would go through this routine every day.

Some days, you were just tired and didn't feel like going through this little routine. But he was always pleasant and always gave us candy. And you knew that his trip to the library was probably the highlight of each day.

The Candy Man died about a year ago. And I miss his antics. His routine had become part of the routine of my day too. And I always enjoyed his hard candy.