A worker at the Boylston Street Trader Joe's was ordered held in lieu of $250,000 bail today on charges he stabbed a customer with whom he'd exchanged words, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Michael Guess's alleged victim, a 30-year-old Cambridge resident, remains in the hospital with life-threatening injuries, the DA's office says.

According to prosecutors, Guess, also known as Richard Thomas, 49, of Dorchester, became "engaged in confrontation" with the customer around 10 p.m. near the rear of the store off Gloucester Street and stabbed him in the stomach.

Boston Police soon located Guess sweeping up inside the market. He was transported to Boston Police headquarters, where he gave a recorded, post-Miranda statement indicating that he and the victim had exchanged words when the victim attempted to enter the store as employees were closing for the night. The victim entered, made a purchase, and was leaving when the two men again exchanged words. "I gave him a poke," Guess allegedly said to detectives.

Innocent, etc.