'Pokemon soft toy uncle' saved by social media

David Christopher is the 65-year-old Pokemon soft toy uncle whose story went viral on social media over a week ago.

The elderly man had been left with 250 Pokemon soft toys whom he said a customer had ordered but failed to collect.

When a Netizen learned of his plight and shared it on a Facebook post that went viral, they rallied together and went to his usual spot in front of the bank the next day. David cleared his stock within an hour.

Even after his predicament was resolved, customers still waited for him in front of the bank to buy his soft toys sold for RM10 each.

David said he would get onto the LRT near his house in Pandan Perdana at 7.30am every day and travel to Jalan Petaling, where he retrieved his stock of soft toys. He would then board another train to Damansara Utama.

"Every day I would take around 300 soft toys from several toy shops in Jalan Petaling and carry them to the LRT.

Sometimes, if the orders are large enough, I would hire a taxi from Jalan Petaling to Damansara Utama, he said to Bernama.

David said he had kept the price of his products at between RM10 and RM12 despite the rising cost of living.

The market price of these soft toys can be as high as RM30 each. Im selling mine for RM10 each as a token of appreciation towards my customers who have been supporting me for the past 15 years, he said.

The single father said his routine started 15 years ago when he resigned from his job as a nightclub manager due to his advancing age and to take care of his then five-year-old son after his wife walked out on him.

"I was mulling our future at the time as he was so young. I decided that for a start, I would peddle soft toys for a living, he said, not realising it would be his source of income for the next 15 years.

"I'm just grateful that my son is very aware of our difficult life. He studied hard since primary school so that he could be the one to change our lives. All his hard work paid off as he eventually received a scholarship to continue his studies in electrical and electronic engineering, he said.

He had been peddling soft toys from location to location when a customer, who also happened to be the employee of a bank in Damansara Utama, offered to allocate him a spot in front of the banks premises.

Seeing as I was quite old, she offered to obtain permission from her superiors to allow me to conduct my business in front of the bank.

Sometimes I am not that well but I still have to go out and make a living because I dont want to have to depend on others, he said.

There are times when passersby would mistake him for a beggar and give him money.

"I would usually refuse and offer the toys in exchange. I don't want to accept help without giving anything back in return," he said.

David is a firm believer of there being a silver lining behind every cloud.

He said although he was disappointed by the actions of the irresponsible customer who failed to claim the 250 soft toys he had ordered, a positive thing came out of it in the end.

After one of my customers posted about my predicament on social media, all 250 of the Pokemon soft toys were sold out within an hour the very next day.

In fact, I even received additional orders after that, he shared.