Gratitude Monday: Unexpected help

A few days before Christmas a colleague on a Teams chat informed us of an organization that allows people to provide an extra computer monitor to school teachers who are trying to carry on remotely with mostly a laptop screen. Two Screens for Teachers takes the requests from the teachers and then matches the donor; the cost is about $115, give or take (depending on the location, because taxes). You can either donate money or go to Amazon to order the kit—monitor plus HDMI cable.

I thought that was a good idea, so I signed up for two, and specified I wanted the monitors to go to teachers at low-income schools. I got one in Chicago and one in Huntington Park, Calif. The deal is that the teacher has to take delivery at the school; I assume because otherwise people would just sign up for free monitors. So both teachers confirmed their school addresses before I placed the order.

Well, there was a bit of a blip because it was during school holidays, and even though I unchecked the Amazon boxes for weekend delivery, naturally USPS attempted to deliver on a Saturday at both schools.

Well, I heard nothing back until a week ago when the teacher in Huntington Park said she hadn’t received hers. (For some reason USPS in Chicago did successfully deliver, but never notified me. And the teacher never acknowledged receipt.) This was entirely in USPS’s hands, and I admit that I was not sanguine about having to sort it out.

I first called their national “customer service” number; when I input the school’s ZIP code, the VAR basically told me they could do nothing and hung up. I had to Google how to launch an inquiry into non-delivery, because the USPS site is not at all intuitive. And once I did that for the two packages (monitor and cable) I got automated emails saying they’d been received. That was on the 16^th. I was not filled with joyful anticipation.

On the 20^th I received an email from a customer service rep in the local post office saying that they were holding the packages because the school was closed and unable to take delivery. Well, but here’s the thing, there was a name for the rep, Ahsha Jones, and a phone number. So on Thursday, I called her.

I asked if I could either send the parcels on to the teacher’s home address, or return them and re-order. Neither was possible because of the class of postage Amazon and UPS used (UPS uses USPS for last mile delivery). But the teacher could come in and pick up the packages. All she needed was ID because they were addressed to her.

And then Ahsha told me, “We’re holding three more of the same things for [school] teachers.”

Me: “Monitors and cables?”

Ahsha: “Yes. You want me to get the names?”

Me: “Yes, please.”

So she did. I thanked her profusely and notified the Two Screens for Teachers and my teacher, and as a result four elementary teachers in Huntington Park have 22” monitors to help them do their jobs.

And today I’m grateful for the opportunity to help teachers in a trying time, and I’m super grateful for Ahsha, who absolutely saved the day.