MESA, AZ — A well-known blind street vendor is back outside selling merchandise in Mesa after a car crash narrowly missed him on Christmas Eve.
If you frequent the areas of Mesa Drive and McKellips Road, you may recognize who we’re talking about.
Whether it’s a folding table full of blankets, a bundle of brooms, or even used cars, Sebastian Ibanez can sell it.
“If I can get you to smile, I can sell you anything,” said Ibanez.
For years, he’s been permitted to stand at the intersection not far off Loop 202 bartering Mexican-made brooms made by the blind. As a blind man himself, he’s found a little self-deprecating humor goes a long way.
His brooms and mops are one for $6 or two for $10 - an ongoing Black Friday deal, he says.
“They’re like, ‘Well Black Friday is only one day out of the year.’ And I’m like, ‘every day is black to me,’” he said, laughing.
Weheard from Ibanez nearly a year ago on the first day of his dream job as a car salesman.
Brown Brothers Automotive in Mesa put him on the lot after an owner saw Ibanez selling mops and brooms on social media. He still has that job. He says he has sold 20 cars this year but says brooms typically sell well over the holidays.
When his car sales were sputtering in the fall, it was back to the brooms in December, just temporarily.
“As soon as I started brooms, the salesman in me came back out,” he said.
So, there he was in his old spot on the evening of Christmas Eve. He expected to sweep up at least $1,000 in sales like he’s done in years past but ended up with about a third of that.
"To go home with $350 was like, ‘Aww’ but just to go home was amazing,” he said with a smile on his face.
Ibanez was standing by his folding table at Mesa Drive and McKellips Road when a car crash just missed him. One car ran into a pole, just feet from where he was standing.
Mesa police say one person was hospitalized with minor injuries in the crash.
He called 911 to describe what he heard. He said when dispatch asked him the size of the cars, he told them he was blind. Then when the police officer asked him what he saw, he laughed and showed him his cane, then described the sound of the crash.
In the immediate moment of the collision, the blind salesman had no idea where the crash would end up, causing “lots of fear, a lot of anxiety,” he said.
The day after Christmas, Ibanez was back out at the same old intersection with a new perspective - a bad day at work is a hell of a lot better than not coming home after work.
“Be happy for who you have in your life, because you may not have them tomorrow,” he said.
