Shop workers buy Wii U for kid who came in every day to play it
The spirit of Christmas is shining through at an electronics shop in New York.
The staff at a Long Island Best Buy store noticed a young lad coming in every day to play on a Wii U for "three hours sometimes", according to the workers.
So the shop's employees decided to chip in and buy one of the $300 (€280) consoles for him.
The shop manager, Rahiem Storr, can be seen in a YouTube video below giving the games system to the stunned boy, who can be seen shedding a tear.
Rahiem says in the clip: "On behalf of all of us here at Best Buy, we got you a Wii U.
"This is something we did for you. Everyone here that you see, we all got together and chipped in so you could have it."
The shocked teenager obviously had trouble believing his luck, so Rahiem had to convince him, saying: "I’m being serious. Consider it an early Christmas present."
Along with the video, Storr wrote: "The employees in this store saw an opportunity to make a child smile and did just that. They chipped in and purchased a Wii U for him with their own money."
However, as the clip started getting the views, 1.3 million and counting, it also attracted some comments suggesting the boy may have been escaping a bad home life by coming to the store, while there were other pretty nasty comments speculating about his family.
So the store manager felt compelled to reply with another YouTube video to some of the ugly comments, of which "80% of them" were negative.
Rahiem starts by saying: "This is exactly what's wrong with the world. You finally have someone trying to do something good, and rather than you congratulating that person, or coralling around that person and building their confidence, you are all attempting to knock it down."
He concludes: "Did your mother never say to you: 'If you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all'?"
He has also posted a comment underneath the clip to clear up some of the speculation about the boy who he says "has two very loving parents at home".
Rahiem wrote: "I am actually a manager at Best Buy, update to the story is that he actually has two very loving parents at home. I have not been responding to the comments because some are just so hurtful. "
He added that an employee then drove the boy home "where his parents were beyond welcoming".
He wrote: "Thank you to everyone for offering up these donations. Whilst people have some horrible opinions about Best Buy associates I can not begin to express how wrong they actually are.
"I posted this to show otherwise, can't tell you how often I give people discounts or children that save money to buy items and come up a few dollars short. We are here to complete people's lives not take away from it.
"Been with the company for 10 years now and what our store did is why I continue to stay. The trolls I see on here make it hard sometimes as I deal with them in the store on a daily basis however it is what I signed up for and we all work through it."
He concludes with: "I know the trolls will eat this comment up and probably say some racist things like I saw on my YouTube however let me say this here it does not bother me one bit.
"I love everyone even the trolls hope that upsets you even more."
.
