ALBANY, N.Y. — On the receiving end of what he describes as a racially-motivated tirade, Maurice Rucker says his response was only human.

“I am 60 years old. I have been working at Home Depot for 10 years. I’ve never had anyone talk to me like that, like anywhere,” said Rucker.

Rucker’s story first appeared in a Times Union column.

For seven years, Rucker worked at the Central Avenue Home Depot. Also an artist, he taught the monthly children’s workshop at the store.

Rucker was working the checkout in the garden center last week when a customer began complaining about slow service.

Rucker says the customer had a dog roaming the store with no leash. When he asked the man to leash the dog, Rucker says the man responded with a barrage of expletive-laden insults and said Rucker was from “the ghetto.”

“Then he walked over to my booth and said ‘If Trump wasn’t president, you wouldn’t even have a job and Obama was a Muslim,’” Rucker said.

In response, Rucker says he left the cash register, approached the man, and said, “You’re lucky I’m at work because if I wasn’t, you wouldn’t be talking to me like that.”

Rucker was fired Tuesday, but Home Depot reversed course on Friday. The Georgia-based corporate office said they have offered Rucker his job back.

Home Depot initially said taht instead of engaging the customer, Rucker should’ve called a store manager. Home Depot released a statement earlier this week saying, in part:

"In this case, we’re appalled by the customer’s behavior and no one should have to endure verbal abuse, but we also must require associates to follow proper protocol to defuse a situation.”