The owner of a Chinese takeaway in Co Derry left his customers fooled with an elaborate prank that made his shop appear to be open for business when it was in fact closed.
Mr Chang runs the Rice Bowl on the Racecourse Road in Co Derry and recently shut up shop for a month so that he could travel abroad to get married.
However, instead of pulling down the shutters of his takeaway, he decorated the front window with an image of a busy bustling shop.
The illusion stayed in place for a month while Mr Chang was away, and it certainly fooled plenty of the hungry locals.
Mr Chang said there were plenty of comical clips on the CCTV from the front of the store, as confused customers tried to work out how to gain entry to the shop.
He said: “The award goes to the lady that tried to look through a window that is really not a window.”
The prank was created when Mr Chang took a couple of days off work last year because he was feeling under the weather.
When he returned to work, one of his neighbours told him they had missed his shop being open as the constant footfall of people made her feel safe.
Mr Chang told Belfast Live: “On my return to work, a flower shop owner next door to my business came out to greet me and she said that she was frightened because of the lack of people coming and going as I was closed.”
The illusion definitely created a buzz around the store.
Mr Chang is now returned from his holiday and is back open for business.
However, he joked that now his customers are wary of trying to enter his store, through fear of being made to look foolish in case it is another trick.
He said: “Please believe me when I say this, I have been looking out the window watching people watching me watching them and now no one wants to come into the Chinese because everyone thinks that they are looking at a photo on the shutter.
“No one wants to be embarrassed by walking into something that is not real!
“I really am open, believe me, I’ll wave to you all. Come on in!”
However, according to Mr Chang’s most recent post, things did not go as planned on his trip away, but he is happy to take the positives.
