But when a handful of women walked up at exactly the same time Wednesday morning, followed by an even bigger crowd, the gig was up.

The group in the front row stripped off their winter coats to reveal red dresses. Music filled the lobby.

“Wait!

Oh yes, wait a minute Mr. Postman!

Wa-ay-ay-ait, Mr. Postman!”

The Cliches, a “mostly all-girl” band had just flash mobbed Preston Mooney and Solomon Hunter, a thank you for years of friendly service before the clerks take early retirement this week.

“He’s just really, really nice,” glitter-faced organizer Susan Reintjes said of Mooney a few minutes later.

Management was in on the mob. The Cliches and their coconspirators had practiced three times before Wednesday.

They clutched their hearts and extended their arms palms out, like traffic cops. They sang the Marvelettes’ 1961 chart-topper song three times before Reintjes slipped behind the counter and gave each of the men a big hug.

“They were smooth,” said Solomon, a 27-year Postal Service veteran from Burlington. “I was like, what in the world?”

“Susan fooled us all,” said Mooney, a 26-year worker from Hillsborough.

Reintjes, a drummer, psychic healer and author, does a lot of business at the post office shipping copies of her self-published book “Third Eye Open.” Although “just a customer,” she said she’s become friends with the men at the post office on James Street.

Once after she left her credit card behind, Mooney called her.

“I’m in the Bahamas,” he joked. “I’ll bring it Monday.”

Another time, Mooney came out from the back gently bouncing a small but surprisingly heavy package. It contained the cremated remains of Reintjes’ friend Katy Power, but he didn’t know that.

“What’s in here, Susan?” he asked.

“Katy,” she replied. “My friend.”

Mooney blushed. But Reintjes laughed.

“It kind of helped me,” she said, adding Katy had a sense of humor and would have loved it.

The Cliches will play the Kraken, a bar at 2823 N.C. 54, 4.5 miles west of Carrboro Plaza, on Saturday, Feb. 2.