
Single man sends Facebook wild after accidentally revealing his six-pack while trying to sell a second-hand mirror
Daz Gracie posted a listing to sell a pink and white children's desk, complete with a Mirror, on a Facebook Freecycle page last month - but prospective buyers were more interested in his chiselled abs, which were reflected as he took the snap.
The 37-year-old, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, said he didn't plan for his abs to make a guest appearance in the mirrored lid but when he realised, he posted it anyway.
The loft insulation installer, who is currently single, said 'within 20 seconds' the desk had been claimed and his phone 'went wild' with messages from women desperate to claim him, rather than the desk.
The viral post, which racked up almost 4,000 likes, shares and comments, left Daz 'laughing his head off' and claiming that Facebook ads might be the future of dating.
'My mum's recently moved and whoever lived in the house before had left that desk,' he explained.
'I'd gone to hers on Sunday morning and put an Ikea desk together for her and she asked 'Will you bang it [the kid's desk] on Facebook?'.
'I took some pictures then I noticed my torso was in it. Don't get me wrong I love a topless selfie but I could get a better one than that.
Daz Gracie (pictured), 37, said he didn't plan for his abs to make a guest appearance in the mirrored lid but when he realised, he posted it anyway.
He claims that, after leaving women hot under the collar on the social media site, Daz's friends suspected he had deliberately shown a little skin to grab the attention of prospective buyers.
But he insisted: 'Honestly if I was meant to be in it, I would have put my face in it as well.
'I took it and was like 'I'm posting it anyway' and then all of a sudden my phone was just going wild. I was laughing my head off at some of the comments.
'Someone said 'I'm not interested in the desk but I'd definitely take the man', I was like 'Oh my God, here we go'.'
Daz's Facebook post reads: 'Child's desk free to collect near Barnsley town centre. Thank you.'
One woman wrote: 'Can I be considered, please, but not for the desk? X'
Another commented: 'Is the man still available with delivery. Erm I mean the item.'
One wrote: 'Mmmm very nice, whoever gets it is a very lucky girl.'
Another commented: 'Freecycle the future of dating.'
He said the post spread beyond the UK and he had people from Canada and the US messaging him.
The post spread beyond the UK and Daz had people from Canada and the US messaging him and it's continuing to make the rounds online
The post is continuing to make the rounds online despite a neighbour claiming the desk '20 seconds' after Daz listed it.
He admits that despite being a 'good-looking chap', the situation has been 'good for the ego'.
'I'm not on the dating apps. I think I'm a good-looking chap anyway, I get plenty of messages,' he said.
'I've only been single about seven months and I was with my partner for a while. Having a lot of thirsty women after me on Facebook is definitely good for the ego.
'I'm not tempted to take any of them up on the offer just yet, I'm going on holiday so I'll see what happens after.
'My advice to any single blokes struggling to get messages on dating apps - get a picture on 'items for sale' and see what happens. Your luck could change.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Disgruntled ex-employee's fury after boss sends him an outrageous text request
A fired employee has sparked a humorous debate after exposing a shameless request from his former boss. The text message seemed genuine and polite, however it has transpired that this particular manager was asking the man to come back and train his own replacement just days after being let go. In a now-viral TikTok video, British career expert Ben Askins shared the shocking text message exchange that left thousands of viewers gobsmacked, with many dubbing the boss's request 'delusional' and 'ridiculous.' The clip, which has amassed more than 175,000 views, shows the boss pleading with the sacked staffer to return and train the new hire on the company's ticketing system. Outrageously, he was offering nothing more than a coffee in exchange. 'This boss was really pushing his luck!' Ben captioned the video. 'Situations like this can be easily avoided,' after he too seemed shocked by the lack of regard the boss had for the ex-worker. 'Hey, I know this probably isn't the best time to ask, but we're struggling with the new ticketing process. Is there any chance you could come in and run the new guy through it?' the employer messaged over text. To which the disgruntled ex-employee clapped back: 'Are you having a laugh? You fired me last week?' Lacking any regard for their feelings the employee replied: 'I know, but I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important. It shouldn't take you long. I know this is awkward, I promise you will get a coffee for the favour.' In the video, Ben chimed in adding his own opinion on the matter, joking that a mere coffee for his time was 'quite alright, then,' as he laughed. Surprisingly, the ex-employee replied with an olive branch to help, but felt remuneration was only fair for his time: 'I will do it. But I want it to be a remote tutorial, and I will charge you for half a day.' 'Remote is fine, but half a day's pay? This will only take a few minutes?' the employer replied, clearly surprised at the request. 'That is the deal.' Begrudgingly his terms were met, but not without a small dig at his audaciousness of actually being remunerated for his time and effort: 'Fine, but I am disappointed this is the way you are playing this,' the boss replied. Ben, who frequently posts career advice and work-related scenarios, was stunned by the entitlement on display. 'Firstly, let's be very clear,' he said. He does not have to do this favour. So the fact that he's charging is completely okay. 'He's giving up his time. He really doesn't have to do it, so the idea that this boss doesn't think he should pay is absolutely ridiculous.' He continued by saying that the text exchanges was 'a good example of why companies need proper training guides and onboarding processes - so you don't end up in situations like this.' Hundreds of Ben's viewers weighed in on the text exchange too, and they didn't hold back. The comments under the video lit up with support for the ex-employee, with many saying he should've asked for far more than just half a day's pay. 'Half a day? I'd charge them my consultancy fee and it would be astronomical,' one user wrote. 'I wouldn't even answer the message,' said another. 'At this point he's not under contract, he's a consultant. He can charge what he wants.' 'I'd reply two words and the second word would be 'off,' joked one. 'Half a days pay? He doesn't work there no more so his days pay is zero and half of 0 is 0.' While some users said they would've hung up or blocked the boss altogether, others applauded the ex-employee's cool-headed professionalism, particularly for negotiating remote work and payment. The viral saga has become a cautionary tale for workers everywhere, especially in industries where employees are often expected to go above and beyond, even after being let go, it seems.


Times
an hour ago
- Times
Reviving the lost art of learning and reciting poetry
J. Alfred Prufrock certainly makes for more pleasurable listening than the Shipping Forecast or the typical dire warnings about warm weather. Those tuned in to Radio 4 before 8am on Tuesday will have enjoyed Freddie Fox, scion of the acting dynasty, reciting TS Eliot in tremendous tones — the morning spread out against the sky. The occasion for this recital was a fine one. Monday marked this year's finals of Poetry by Heart, a national competition for reciting poetry. Pupils from across England descended on Shakespeare's Globe to recite their favourite stanzas. Some 200,000 children have taken part in the competition since it was founded in 2013, supported by Andrew Motion, the poet laureate at the time, to encourage the teaching of poetry. • The power of poetry for kids Reciting poetry is something of a lost art. The compulsory requirement for students to learn poems was scotched from the curriculum in 1944. Yet in 2012, it made a surprise return to the English syllabus. Some teachers complained it was an outdated practice, yet the success of the Poetry by Heart competition suggests they were wrong. Plus, according to a study by Cambridge University, there are benefits to reciting poetry. Its Poetry and Memory Project concluded that those who memorised poems found it provided a useful container for thoughts, a comfort zone for the brain that helped forge new emotional connections. And which poem did it find was most commonly known for recital? The Owl and the Pussy-Cat. Fox, a patron of Poetry by Heart, explained why knowing great poems is important. 'It's a compass, a road map when it's in your head to navigate the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune … a way of giving words to those problems when you don't quite perhaps have the words yourself.' The pupils who appeared at the Globe can thank the work of Poetry By Heart for reviving this lost life skill.


The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Life Cycle of a Moth by Rowe Irvin review – captivating story of maternal love and male violence
In the woodland, beyond the fence, inside the old forester's hut, Maya and Daughter live in a world of rituals. The fence is secured with 'Keep-Safes' – fingernails, Daughter's first teeth, the umbilical cord that once joined them – to protect them from intruders. While their days are filled with chores, setting traps for rabbits and gathering firewood, every night they play a game they call 'This-and-That', in which they take it in turns to choose an activity – hair-brushing, dancing, copying – before saying their 'sorrys and thank yous' in the bed they share. From the beginning of British author Rowe Irvin's captivating debut novel, it is clear that Maya has created this life for herself and her daughter – who calls her mother 'Myma' – as a refuge from the brutality of the world beyond the fence's perimeter. Irvin's tale switches between two narrative strands: present-day chapters narrated by Daughter, a naive, spirited girl who is as much woodland creature as she is person; and more distant sections detailing Maya's rural upbringing with an alcoholic father and withdrawn mother, and the acts of male violence that led her to flee. Maya has taught Daughter only the words she needs for their existence, so although Daughter is 15, her language is childlike: 'Sweat dries in the furry unders of my arms.' Later, Daughter is out in the woods: 'Touch finger and thumb together now to make a circle for peering through. Move slow, pointing my seeing-hole at ground and tree and sky.' It's a feat that Irvin maintains this playful, almost incantatory voice in all Daughter's sections across these 300 pages. Maya tells Daughter that their rituals protect them against 'Rotters', people living beyond the fence, who are 'empty on the inside … hollow'. If a Rotter were to intrude on their sanctuary, they would be eaten away like 'gone-bad apples'. 'Shudder with the thought of it,' Daughter thinks. But as the novel progresses, the manner in which Maya controls Daughter's understanding of the world grows more frightening. When Daughter finds a glove in the woods – she thinks it is a 'blue hand blanket', and laughs at 'the way the long fingers flap empty at the ends' – she takes it to show her mother, thinking it will make her laugh too. It doesn't. 'It came from a Rotter,' Maya says. 'One must have got in during the dark and left it as a trick … You shouldn't have touched it.' Later, she is warned against being too inquisitive when she meets Maya in the ash copse, a rope around her neck and a stump beneath her feet. Maya tells her: 'If I step off my neck will snap and I'll be dead … The questions you ask, she says then, they can do damage, Daughter'. Daughter only has more questions when she finds the Rotter who dropped the glove. The intruder, a man named Wyn, is the first human she has ever seen apart from Maya. Her mother rages against Wyn, until a strange force stops her killing him. Once Maya convinces Daughter she has 'cut the Rot' from him, he is invited inside their dwelling, first roped-up and kept on the floor, and then given a seat at the table. More and more, Daughter questions Maya's logic. How did Wyn get over the fence, with all their Keep-Safes? And why is it suddenly OK for them to be around a Rotter? Wyn's outside perspective further reveals the extent to which the belief system they live by is simply Maya's coping mechanism for personal trauma. We know she has created this world out of a desire to protect herself and her kin. But with her love, she has also been deceptive, sometimes cruel. In impish yet tender style, Irvin thoughtfully explores what it means for a mother to care for a daughter in a world where male violence is everywhere. Life Cycle of a Moth is the very best kind of fiction: with the book open, you feel utterly transported; once you close it, you see how cunningly it holds a mirror up to reality. I can't wait to read whatever Irvin writes next. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion Life Cycle of a Moth by Rowe Irvin is published by Canongate (£16.99). To support the Guardian buy a copy at Delivery charges may apply.