After a photo of him peering into a jewelry store was mocked and went viral, a Bangladeshi worker in Saudi Arabia was literally struck with gold.
According to The Daily Mail, Nazer al-Islam Abdul Karim, 65, was insulted by an Instagram user who captioned the photo, “This man deserves to just stare at garbage.”
One may assume that once the photo was uploaded, he was mocked mercilessly, however the exact reverse happened. Mr. Nazer, who works in Riyadh and makes roughly 700 Saudi Riyal (S$269) a month, received an outpouring of sympathy from the Saudi internet community in response to the post.
Abdullah Al-Qahtani (Twitter user: ‘Ensaneyat’) was gracious enough to post a tweet about the photo:
“I wish you all peace and blessings, and I urge anyone who knows this worker to contact me. For him, I have a free set of gold jewelry.”
Not only was the tweet retweeted over 6,000 times, but the cleaner was also identified three hours later with the help of netizens, according to CNN.
So far, it’s been heartwarming? But wait, there’s more!
Netizens began mailing Mr. Nazer gifts, including a gold necklace similar to the one he had previously coveted.
Mr. Nazer was also sent food and honey, as well as return tickets to his home country and two smartphones, an iPhone 7 and a Samsung Galaxy.
What’s amusing is that Mr. Nazer had no idea the photo had been shot, let alone circulated.
‘I was merely performing my work as a municipal cleaner when I happened to find myself in front of the gold shop.’ ‘I am overjoyed and grateful for the gifts,’ he told CNN.
When Mr. Nazer was apprehended, a Saudi sports channel executive used Snapchat to share recordings of him selecting a gold set as well as images of the cleaner with his new gifts.
Al-Qahtani told CNN that the efforts to locate the cleaner, as well as the kindness and charity of individuals who offered to assist him, pleased him.