Dylan Johnson of Chesterfield, Va., was never the type of kid to be amused by the average toy.
Ever since he was 2, his mom says, he has just simply loved vacuum cleaners. So Dylan's mother, Jodie Greene, got the novel idea of inviting a vacuum salesman from his favorite brand, Kirby, to give a demonstration at his 14th birthday party over the weekend, WTVR reports.
“I am reaching out to you in hopes for an answer to an unusual request for my son who is autistic,” she wrote in an email to the Cleveland-based company, according to the news station. “He has always been obsessed with vacuum cleaners. His favorite is the Kirby. He spends hours every day watching videos on his tablet about different Kirby’s. When he isn’t watching videos about them, he is talking about them. I really would love to get a demo done for him for his birthday. In fact, I am even getting him a cake made that looks like a Kirby vacuum.
“I am writing to you in hopes that you can get me in touch with a way to get him this demo,” she added. “I want to be clear that I do not intend on purchasing a Kirby. I was hoping that I could pay a flat fee or thought that maybe if you have salesmen in training that needs to get in practice demos for training purposes. I do not want anything free, but as the mother of a special needs child, it is so hard to find things to make my son happy. I know that having this demo done would just be so awesome, and it would warm my heart to see him so excited to experience that.”
Kirby was all for the idea and sent salesman Al Archie from Fredericksburg, Va., to Chesterfield to do the demonstration at Dylan’s birthday party. The company also sent the young teen a soccer ball, hat and T-shirt with the company logo on it.
Even Archie, who has been selling vacuums for Kirby for 25 years, was impressed by Dylan’s knowledge.
“He knew more about the Kirby than I did,” the salesman told WTVR. “I have never experienced anything like that.
“I imagine it was like a sports fan meeting one of his idols, like Michael Jordan,” he added.
But as it turns out, Archie had more than just a demonstration in store for the passionate teen.
“At the end of the demonstration [he] gave my son a brand-new Kirby vacuum,” Greene said. “There was not a dry eye in the house.
“I’m going to have the cleanest carpets in Chesterfield County,” she quipped.
“I … wanted to do something for him,” Archie said. “[It was] an opportunity to give something back.”
Read more at WTVR.