Everything went fine until about a month ago, when a couple followed him back to work and confronted him in the parking lot at his office. The wife, who talked to The Buffalo News but would not give her name, said they watched him for a year. She said they remain unconvinced by Pawlowski’s explanation that he simply is eating a sandwich. They think it is rude of him to return to the street after they asked him to leave.

Tucker, the owner of the house by Pawlowski’s favorite lunch spot, said she had no idea any of this was happening outside her window. Tucker isn’t always home during Pawlowski’s lunchtime visits.

“I don’t care,” Tucker said. “I don’t own the street.”

After The News posted this story online, someone identifying herself as Tucker went onto the paper's Facebook page to leave a comment saying she's sorry Pawlowski feels he has to move his lunch spot. "I want to suggest that he park his car where he always does and sit on my porch in a comfortable chair to eat," she wrote, a message that drew 28 almost unanimously positive replies and 525 "likes" in response as of 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Veteran observers of town life and government said they're not surprised a man eating a sandwich caused such a stir.