John Lewis - not that one - has received a large box of gifts from the store of the same name, for politely tolerating another year of being overwhelmed with Twitter feedback to its Christmas advert.
Lewis, a computer science teacher from Blacksburg, Virginia, whose @JohnLewis account has 19,800 followers, has become a minor celebrity for his unfailingly polite responses to customers who either berate or congratulate him for the John Lewis Christmas campaign, The Press Association reports.
His Twitter bio reads: “Computer science educator, father of four, social liberal, atheist, and not a retail store.”
But this year Mr Lewis once again tolerated an onslaught of tweets about the latest “Buster the Boxer” advert featuring a party of animals testing out a new trampoline, responding with the line: “Saw the ad, giggled, then opened twitter and ended in tears.”
He told one man who congratulated him on the advert: “Thanks! The one from @johnlewisretail is good, too.”
He also responded to a customer who complained that scenes of a father assembling the trampoline ruined the spirit of Christmas with the response: “You’re a Grinch! Santa was running behind, dropped off the trampoline and asked Dad for a little help.”
Mr Lewis was even asked by one Tweeter if she could do some free shopping in the women’s department, replying: “I can give you first shot at the clothes I can’t fit into any more, but that’s about it.”
On Tuesday, he posted a picture of the large box of gifts John Lewis sent him for his troubles, including a cushion emblazoned with the words: Merry Christmas @johnlewis “not a retail store”.
He wrote: “Received a huge package from @johnlewisretail including this amazing embroidered cushion. So cool! Thank you very much!”
John Lewis – the department store – said the latest advert had been viewed more than 52 million times on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube alone and shared more than one million times on social media - a 182% increase already on total views of last year’s advert.