I have finally - and in my experience uniquely - met a shop assistant with a sense of humour. I was at a hardware store looking for a house number. Running my finger from the large black plastic 1 all the way up to 0 and back, I was unable to find the number I was looking for. So I asked. And she told me that they had a special on threes last week, and as a result they are all out. She said fourteen people relocated to take advantage of the sale.
Perhaps it’s a ploy: he knows everyone will assume it’s a fake name. Like a superhero who always goes dressed in a Superman suit, pretending to be a nut who thinks he’s Superman, but when there’s trouble, he changes into a normal reporter’s outfit and saves the day.