Imagine being the shopper forced into that awkward ask.

Yeah, that "huge patch" thing is the real danger. What I do now is keep two sandpapers on hand, a rougher one and a finer one. I use the rougher paper to knock down the high spots first across the whole area, then switch to the finer one for a quick pass to even it out. It keeps you from going too deep in one spot and having to fix it.

Is it that cocoa bean mulch?

No way, that quick security check actually prevented a crisis?

Your coworker's offhand comment story really hit home for me. I always figured sharing art was just for online attention. Then a friend saw a silly cartoon I drew and turned it into a inside joke for our whole group. That made me realize sharing could actually connect people, not just rack up likes.