A maniac stabbed a bodega employee with only two weeks on the job, after the worker refused to give him a pack of free cigarettes inside a Manhattan store Wednesday morning, co-workers said.

The broad daylight bloodshed erupted when the unhinged nut jabbed a screwdriver into the neck of Sidi Mohamed 24, inside the Food Market bodega on East 116 Street and Third Avenue in East Harlem around 10:40 a.m., according to cops and sources. 

He had asked the clerk — who was covering for someone on vacation —  for smokes “on credit,” the victim’s co-worker and cousin, Ousama Mhoumd, 29, told The Post after watching the chaos on surveillance footage. 

The suspect barked “I’m going to kill you,” during the vicious attack, Mohamed told The Post Wednesday evening by phone from his blood-soaked bed in Harlem Hospital. 

“He asked for something on the shelf — some candy. He gave me fifty cents. I said, ‘Brother, can I get 25 cents more?’ He said , ‘No, no, I’m not giving you seventy five cents,” Mohamed recounted.

The clerk said he gave the man his two quarters back — but the soon-to-be assailant grew irate.

“He took the fifty cents. He left the counter and then he came back. That’s when he did it. He was shouting, ‘I’m going to kill you, I’m going to kill you,’” Mohamed said.

The victim’s co-worker and cousin, Ousama Mhoumd, 29, told The Post he watched the entire attack unfold on surveillance footage. 

“He wanted cigarettes but he had no money,” Mhoumd said of the attacker. “My cousin told him he can’t do that because he is not the owner.”

The perp then stormed to the front of the store and suddenly whipped out a screwdriver. 

It’s unclear if he made off with any stolen items.

“[He] came to the counter and he stabbed my cousin in the neck,” a rattled Mhoumd said. 

“I’m feeling scared today. I feel sorry for my cousin because he could have lost his life like that.”

Ali was left covered in blood and ran for help outside the bodega, witnesses said. 

“He came over to my store. He said, ‘Help me, Help me,” nearby deli worker Filipe Tapia, 32, recalled. 

“He held the T-shirt at his neck. It was soaked in blood…The blood was squirting out.”

“I thought he might die,” Tapia added. 

Medics rushed the victim to NYC Health+Hospitals/Harlem in stable condition. 

Francisco Marte, president of Bodega and Small Business Group, was at Mohamed’s bedside Wednesday night in a show of support.

“We care about our employees and that’s why I’m here to see how he’s doing and how he’s been treated,” Marte told The Post. 

The fiend, who sources said is homeless, fled southbound on Third Avenue. 

The victim’s cousin, Mhoumd, said he’s spotted him roaming in the neighborhood before. 

“He’s always in front of McDonald’s asking people for change. He looks homeless and he hangs out with people on drugs.”

The attacker has yet to be nabbed.