Tesco Customer Threatened To 'Smash' Greeters' Guild Guy Troy Hawke
You might think that being warmly welcomed at high street stores would be appreciated by the British public, but it turns out that's not always the case - as Troy Hawke found out when a customer threatened to 'smash' him. Watch here:
The chances are Hawke has probably popped up on your social feeds by now. Representing 'The Greeters' Guild', the well spoken gent has been stationed at shops across the country, generously receiving passing customers in his immaculate purple smoking jacket.
Of course (SPOILER ALERT!), The Greeters' Guild isn't real, nor is Troy Hawke - they're both figments of Milo McCabe's imagination.
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The comedian has been performing on stage as the character for the best part of 10 years, but he's recently become a huge viral hit, having made the bold decision to take him on the road and deploy him as an unsolicited greeter at the likes of B&M, TK MAXX and WHSmith.
The subsequent interactions with customers and staff have been absolute gold; some laugh, some ignore him completely, some threaten to 'smash' him.
"This one guy in the Tesco video, he came in and I said, 'Get in there and smash it!'" McCabe told LADbible.
"And he went, 'I'll smash you.'"
The video went on to rack up millions of views across social media, with viewers across the globe unsure what exactly the fella meant by 'smash'.
McCabe recalled: "It was a big point of controversy because firstly, people were like, 'What was the first guy's problem?'
"And secondly, people were like, 'Did he mean smash as in fight or f**k?'
"So eventually this guy replied to a tweet, and was like, 'I meant shag - I'm a lover, not a fighter.'"
Indeed, the majority of people are receptive to Troy's vigorous greetings.
McCabe said: "A third of people I would say, avoid, avert, move away, look down - no thank you.
"But I would say - and this is way more than I thought - it would be two thirds of people I would say actually react positively, and smile, and take what I'm saying and have a bit of a chuckle."
He added: "Now bear in mind, I'm talking about members of the public. One hundred percent of shop managers have gone completely the opposite direction.
"I've either not been seen or I've been booted... Actually, that's not correct - the Marks & Spencer lady, I convinced her that I worked there, and she was lovely. Apart from her, nobody."
Undoubtedly, the ultimate hostile response came at B&Q, where the employee who booted him said that his friendliness was 'not what we're about'.
"The B&Q lady was the most hardcore staff response," McCabe reflected. "What a gift she was.
"She was the reason I think that first video got really successful, and Catherine Tate could not have played her better. I thought she was just sensational."
If you want to see Troy in action, you can catch his Troy Hawke: Sigmund Troy’d! show at Edinburgh Fringe from August 3 - 28. You can buy tickets here.
Jake Massey