When Big Issue reader Joe Wilson praised his local vendor Daniel Collins on Facebook last weekend, he couldn’t have guessed what would happen next. It made Joe – and our man Daniel – an internet phenomenon.
Joe, 41, an educational assessor, went to Old Salty’s on Glasgow’s Byres Road for breakfast – the same as he does every Saturday morning. However, when he went to pay, he was left stunned to find out his bill had already been covered by Daniel, who sells The Big Issue across the road outside Hillhead Library.
“Every Saturday for two years Joe comes over for a chat and very kindly always asks if I want a coffee or a roll from the shop,” Daniel, 42, tells The Big Issue. “It was the least I could do to return the favour.”
Bowled over by Daniel’s generosity, Joe took to Facebook and – at the time of writing – his post (below) has been shared over 26,000 times and picked up by everyone from The Sun, Daily Mail and Daily Mirror.
‘Today, when I went to pay for my breakfast and get Daniel a coffee, the girl in the café told me it had already been paid for… by Daniel,’ Joe wrote. ‘When I went to see him, he told me that it had made him happy that I’d had a nice surprise and it was his way of showing his appreciation for the coffees and the chats.’
“I’d had a good few days and thought he’d appreciate it,” Daniel explained.