Back in 10 Minutes

During slow times of year, we'd have only one person working at the bike shop. When you wanted to go out to get a cup of coffee or pick-up dinner, you'd have to hang a sign on the door that says, "Back in 10 minutes." I've found there are few signs that anyone reads a literally as a "Back in 10 minutes" sign. I'd put it up just to let people know that we were closed but planned on re-opening in awhile, but people would flip out if I came back from the sandwich shop in 12 minutes instead of 10. They'd show me their watch and shake their head, and act as though I'd broken some sacred agreement we'd made. Most of the time, if a person was waiting outside the shop, they'd think I was another customer when I returned, and they'd say something about how the shop was closed before they grossly exaggerated how long they'd been waiting out front. I tried to avoid the awkward situation by getting out my keys to the store before they could embarrass themselves, but it never worked. I'd always end up changing their flat tire for free while my sandwich waited on the workbench.