Street seller left with 250 unsold Pokemon toys is saved by social media
Take a beloved, cancer-stricken soft toy seller in Kuala Lumpur. He's known only by "Uncle David" and for the last 15 years he's been selling soft toys in front of the HSBC Damansara Uptown branch.
Take a mischievous customer, who reserved 250 Pokemon toys but never showed up to collect them, leaving Uncle David with more plushies than he could sell.
Now enter social media.
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Blogger Vivian Tok saw the man in distress and posted a message in Chinese on Facebook calling on fellow Malaysians to support "Uncle David".
"Those who like playing Pokémon Go, don't waste your time playing the game. Please help Uncle David, someone ordered 250 Pokemon toys from him but never turned up to collect them. Now poor Uncle David's hard-earned money is stuck with his stock. Please share this post and help him," the post read.
And the Malaysians responded.
Vivian's message went viral on Facebook and was reblogged on other social platforms. Local media picked up the story, sharing Uncle David's Google Maps location.
Soon, netizens gathered in that area of Kuala Lumpur to buy off the toys and posted their experiences on Instagram.
Uncle David, whose full name is David Christopher, told the BBC the response had been "fantastic".
"Within two hours, 190 toys were sold and eventually the balance was also sold," he said.
"If people want to cheat, I can't do anything about it. But I thank social media as it helped to boost my sales and I am thankful for everyone who came down."
Sales are so high that Uncle David is now struggling to cope with the demand.
“In fact, I have been selling Pokemon, but before Pokemon went viral… I hardly sell 50 in a week," he told Malay Mail online. "Then suddenly it went viral. When it went viral, I was selling 300 a day, but now I have reached a stage where I'm selling about 1,000 already for the last three days."
