Long Time Donor, First Time Googler

Due to the pandemic, the organization I worked for decided to host the annual gala virtually. This was a tough decision, as the majority of attendees are older and streaming technology was likely going to be a challenge.

One of the “all hands on deck” tasks was to call all of the donors and ask them about their home viewing setup:

Did they have a TV?

Did they have an HDMI Cable?

Did they have a laptop to connect to their TV to with their HDMI cable?

One phone call I made was to a gentleman who was known to “hate” technology. He had an iPhone, he said, but only used it to call his wife and FaceTime his grandkids. So when I called him, he had no idea how to click on a link or even to search his emails for the link. (He had an email, but his wife would print all of his important emails).

After determining that he and his wife would just watch the auction on his desktop computer because his wife could click on the link, he asked me how he would be able to bid. I took a deep breath and told him that bidding would be (you guessed it) mobile this year - so he would need to visit the website on his phone. To avoid searching his email for the link, I casually suggested that he could google our organization, and the first result would be the event link (thanks SEO).

He paused for a moment and said, “to be honest with you, I’ve never googled anything before.”

I was shocked, but the customer service person in me simply replied “No problem!” and I helped him GOOGLE. FOR THE FIRST TIME.

It took a few tries, but he finally got the link.

The night of the virtual event, he called me again and said he couldn’t get google to work. So I offered to text him the link, so he could just click on my message. Of course, he responded that he didn’t know how to text (which I should have foreseen), so I told him to stare at the phone screen, and wait for my text to pop up.

IT TOOK ME 5 TIMES. Five times of sending the link for him to click on it fast enough, with me on the other line saying “Keep looking! “Tap it with your finger when you see it!” When he finally got it, and successfully clicked on the link, we both felt like we had won a game show.

The event was very successful (despite the virtual hurdles!), but I’ll never forget the feeling of seeing his name pop up on the donation ticker across the screen. He donated $1,000 that night.

FROM HIS PHONE.

- Astoria

Florida