It started like any other afternoon at American Plate Glass — a small team of workers finishing a job, gathering their tools, and packing up their lunchboxes. But what happened next was something straight out of a wildlife comedy.

When Milinda Stark Scott, the company’s owner, got a FaceTime call from one of her employees, she answered expecting a work update. Instead, she heard laughter and disbelief.

“What do you think is in that truck right now?” her employee Curtis asked, his voice half-amused, half-stunned.

The camera turned toward one of the company trucks — and there it was.

A black bear. Sitting comfortably in the driver’s seat.

Not only that — it was snacking.

“It’s a freaking black bear eating Charlie’s nuts in the front seat of the truck!” someone shouted off-camera, laughter spilling into the chaos.

Apparently, the curious bear had climbed right through an open window and discovered the jackpot: a stash of trail mix, lunchboxes, and coolers — the perfect buffet for an unexpected guest.

For nearly ten minutes, the bear made itself right at home. It sat upright like a human, one paw resting casually on the open window, as if it owned the place. “The bear was sitting like a person,” Milinda said later, still laughing. “Arm out the window, just enjoying the view.”

Joey Carter, one of the workers, had been the first to spot it. “I ran up, and there he was — just sitting there eating nuts. Like, calm as can be.”

When they tried to shoo him away, the bear simply looked up, unimpressed, and reached for another snack.

“Tim jumped on top of one of the vans and started waving his hands,” Milinda recalled. “But that bear wasn’t going anywhere until he’d had his fill.”

Eventually, after rummaging through a few more lunchboxes — including one stubborn red cooler with a zipper that refused to open — the bear decided his break was over. Without causing a single scratch or dent, he hopped out and wandered off toward the woods.

“There was no damage,” Milinda said with a grin. “You’d never even know — except that he ate Charlie’s nuts, and we all saw it.”

Before leaving completely, the bear lay down nearby for a quick nap, as if to digest his stolen lunch. Watching from a distance, the workers couldn’t help but laugh. “Clark’s Trading Post, are you missing a bear?” Milinda joked on Facebook. “Because American Plate Glass just hired one for the summer.”

They even gave him a name — Barry.

For a short while, “Barry the Bear” became the company’s unofficial mascot. Someone even sent new peanuts to Charlie “on behalf of Barry, the hungry bear.” The team played along, posting an update that Barry had been “terminated for stealing, working out of uniform, and having bear feet in the glass industry.”

But for Milinda, the moment held something deeper.

Her late husband, Doug, had once run the company with her. The seat where Barry sat — arm out the window, relaxed and unbothered — was the same spot Doug had always loved during long drives between jobs.

“When I saw that bear sitting there like that,” Milinda said quietly, “I just froze. I thought, ‘Oh my God… it’s Doug.’ I really believe he sends us little messages sometimes — reminders that he’s still here.”

The crew may have seen it as a funny story — a mischievous bear with an appetite for trail mix — but for Milinda, it was also something comforting. A sign that even in the wildest, most unexpected moments, love and memory can find a way to appear.

And maybe that’s what made Barry’s visit feel special — not just the laughter, but the gentle reminder that sometimes, even in a truck full of glass and lunchboxes, the universe still finds small, perfect ways to say hello.