Man with same name as U.K. retail store cleverly diverts mistaken holiday tweets

Retail store John Lewis sent a package of gifts to a Virginia man who goes by the same name after customers flooded his Twitter account with accidental tweets. Lewis, whose handle is @johnlewis, regularly answers the mistaken tweets in a kind and clever manner and redirects the mistaken messages to the store's account at @johnlewisretail.Photo by John Lewis/Twitter

BLACKSBURG, Va., Dec. 24 (UPI) — A Virginia man who shares a name with British retailer John Lewis received gifts from the store after cleverly redirecting tweets mistakenly sent to him.

Blackburg resident John Lewis, whose twitter handle is @johnlewis, has made a habit of kindly and humorously correcting people who tweet at him hoping to reach the retail store’s account, @johnlewisretail.

On Dec. 20, Camphill School, a special needs school in Scotland, mistakenly thanked Lewis for $12,200 in-store credit donated by the retail store.

“You’re welcome. I do what I can. Which is nothing in this case. The generous one is @johnlewisretail,” he wrote.

Lewis, a computer science educator and father of four, even added “not a retail store” to his Twitter bio after being warned he may receive an influx of accidental Tweets when the store began running its popular Christmas advertisement in November.

“I want to thank everyone for the hundreds of tweets warning me that I was about to get hundreds of tweets. They’re here,” he wrote.

The John Lewis retailer hoped to make up for the yearly bombardment of tweets by sending Lewis a care package including a throw pillow embroidered with his Twitter handle and the phrase “not a retail store,” stuffed animals from the store’s ad, ornaments, wrapping paper and some snacks.

Received a huge package from @johnlewisretail including this amazing embroidered cushion. So cool! Thank you very much!

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