An Autistic Teen Just Had the Best Birthday Ever Thanks to a Vacuum Salesman
Many kids have a penchant for toy trucks, dinosaurs, or Barbies, but for 14-year-old Dylan Greene, vacuum cleaners have always been the most interesting thing in the world. When the autistic teen's mom began planning his birthday party, she did all the usual things: invited loved ones, ordered a cake (topped with a vacuum cleaner, of course!), and bought decorations. Her next party-planning move, however, was a bit out of the ordinary. Jodie Greene emailed the people at The Kirby Company, an Ohio business that produces Dylan's very favorite vacuums, to request a live vacuum demonstration as a surprise for her son's big day:
"I am reaching out to you in hopes for an answer to an unusual request for my son who is autistic. 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. 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."
After receiving her email, the vacuum company went above and beyond to make Dylan's birthday the best day ever. A Kirby salesman traveled from another city to perform a live demonstration for the excited teenager, bringing along a Kirby-branded tee shirt, soccer ball, and hat as gifts for the enthusiastic birthday boy. That's not all, though! In addition to the fun demonstration and the cool new Kirby gear, the vacuum salesman surprised Dylan with a brand-new Kirby vacuum of his own. "I'm going to have the cleanest carpets in Chesterfield County," Jodie said of the unexpected birthday gift. Sure sounds like the best birthday ever!