An autistic man has clarified that he does not work at his local branch of TG Jones (née WH Smith), and would appreciate it if fellow customers could stop interrupting his flow while he’s enjoying time with the pens, a statement has revealed.
Robert Noot, 54, who is frequently mistaken for an employee of the stationery chain, just because he spends all day in the store behaving exactly as if he works there, has clarified that his activities are purely recreational.
Noot said: “I regularly visit my local WH Smith to sort their stationery aisle out, and I do as much as I can until the security guard asks me to leave.”
“It’s not just to tidy the shelves and arrange the stock in a more logical order, though that is hugely satisfying,” he explained. “My favourite things are probably: measuring the rulers against each other, sharpening the tester pencils until they’re all the same length, and making the hole-punches do that ‘clu-clunk’ noise.”
Shop manager, Deborah Whitehead, 52, appeared quietly pleased at her new helper. “We shouldn’t be encouraging him, strictly speaking, but he doesn’t seem to be harming anyone. And I don’t know anyone else who’s prepared to detangle the wire binding on the A5 notebooks.”
Noot has rebuffed all efforts to offer him employment or financial recompense. He says the zen-like state of bliss attained from carefully putting items in the correct order is its own reward. “I’m actually a Chartered Accountant,” he added. “I just do this to relax.”
When asked specifically about anything causing him stress, Noot referred to the shop’s recent name change. “It was called WH Smith for over 230 years! It’s just not right to change something after that long!” At this point Noot refused to answer any more questions, and began calmly and methodically re-sorting the highlighters.
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