Bell Ringing

I volunteered to ring a bell for a Salvation Army kettle today. I have never done this before, but it seemed like a good thing to add to my "things to do before I die" list (if I ever make a list).

There was a mention in the local Minot newspaper about a need for bell ringers here so I called and volunteered. In western Montana there is a shortage of bell ringers even though they even apparently pay people to ring the bell. They don't pay people here. At least not that I know of. I didn't ask. It doesn't matter, I would ring the bell paid or not.

The Salvation Army needed ringers today for both locations of the MiracleMart grocery store. I chose the busier store. I wasn't sure how time would pass when ringing the bell and I preferred to go someplace busy so the time would past quicker.

The next choice was when. I ruled out a 10 am to noon time period as I am not a morning person. They had a 4 pm to 8 pm time period and I felt four hours was too long so I volunteered for 4 pm to 6 pm.

I just had to show up at the location. The bell and apron would be there. Their only other advice was to smile and look people in the eye when greeting them.

That was part of the reason I volunteered... to practice looking people in the eye. It is hard for me to do that. Must be my background as computer nerd. Naturally the main reason I volunteered was merely to help. I wanted to do more than merely write out a check for someone else to help, or demand the government to help.

I showed up 10 minutes early. A woman was at the kettle ringing the bell. She was also sitting in a chair and reading a book while she rang the bell. She didn't seem to be engaging people walking by. Later in the evening a woman asked which company I was associated with for volunteering. She was with the ING company. I told her I was doing this on my own and wasn't with any company. I wonder if the woman earlier reading the book was volunteering as part of a company community program?

Even though I was early the woman was more than happy to turn the bell over to me. "Any advice?", I asked.

"Look the people in the eye and wish them a Merry Christmas. Make them feel guilty so they feel obligated to give."

I didn't say anything, but I didn't care for her reasoning. I wanted people to feel good about donating.

She quickly left. I put on the red apron and began ringing the bell. The bell was a quiet bell. because the kettle's location was just inside the building. The store layout has a long hallway to the grocery store itself. On the one side of the hallway was the store's video rental store. On the other side was the store's liquor store. In North Dakota grocery stores cannot sell liquor with groceries. The liquor must be a separate location and entrance. The benefit of the location was that I was inside. Not that it was cold outside. The temperature was 41 F. Still, 68 F was more comfortable and I was able to take my hat and coat off while manning the kettle.

I worked on engaging people with a "Hello!" or "How are ya doing today?!" or merely "Merry Christmas". Sometimes I would make a comment about how full their grocery cart was, or on some items they had bought. One guy had filled his cart with bottles of water. Another guy had cases of Mellow Yellow. He said he was part of a class about hunting and the pop was for the kids. I found the best thing was to ask how they were doing as they had to say more than just "hello" or "Merry Christmas" when walking by.

I think my method of engaging people worked well as a number of people then would stop and check their pockets or purse and come back to the kettle to drop the money in. I think I did well as at 6:20 pm a Salvation Army employee came to unlock and collect the kettle from the stand and replace it with a new kettle. He was surprised at how heavy the kettle was, and gave it for me to hold to feel how heavy it was. He said it was heavier than many of the other kettles he collected today. That made me feel good.

I was surprised it was 6:20 pm when he arrived. Time had flown by. They never got anyone to ring the bell from 6 pm to 8 pm. I decided to continue ringing the bell for a little while longer. I ended up doing so until shortly past 8 pm. I don't wear a watch so I had no clue as to the time. When I left, the kettle again had a good weight to it.

Lots of people donated their pocket change. I usually got a great amount in pocket change from women as they would dump the contents of their coin purses into my kettle. These pursues usually held more money than mens' pockets. Many people donated dollar bills. A few guys donated several bills, and I noticed three different men donated five dollar bills. Once a guy was donating plenty of change when another guy laid change and two one dollar bills on the kettle. The first guy then decided to add a dollar bill to his donation.

I can't say that young or old, or men or women donated more as I got money from all sorts of people, including people I didn't expect to donate. The only clue as to people who definitely wouldn't donate were the fast walkers who wouldn't look at me unless I pressed them with a "hello". Some people told me they donated at other kettles that day. I found a number of people would donate only loose change relying on the number of times they walked by a kettle to add up to a good donation amount for the holiday.

The kettle was located where people left the grocery store. It was better to encourage people to donate when they left the store instead of when they went inside. They were more likely to part with loose change then. A few people did donate when they arrived and I tried to remember them so as not to give them a "aren't you going to donate?" look when they left the store. With my poor short term memory a few people had to remind me they had donated when they first arrived. Ooops. A few people donated their change when they arrived, then again when they left.

A few parents or grandparents gave money to their kids to teach them the meaning of donating money. One father and his about 5 or 6 year old daughter came walking by. I seen the father's body language 'say' he wouldn't be making a donation even though his daughter pointed at me and the kettle. He replied "Merry Christmas" to mine as they walked by. I also gave the daughter a hearty "Merry Christmas" and smile as she passed by. I wanted to be nice to her since her heart was in the right place about donating even if she didn't have the money to do so. The next I knew she stopped her dad before they exited the store and got him to give her some money to put into the kettle.

One man stopped, donated, and asked if I knew Bob who had manned the kettle here for many years until he was killed in a motorcycle accident in town this year. Nope.

Other people thanked me for volunteering to ring the bell.

Even though folklore says to look for single attractive women at the grocery store, this store was not the place to find "hot chicks". Still, there were a few women for whom I wouldn't have minded if they 'donated' their phone number to me when they donated money in the kettle.

The grocery carts were located just beyond me and throughout my shift I watched the ebb and flow of the carts. One or another store employee seemed to be always collecting carts from the parking lot and returning them here. At one point they ran out of carts as an employee seemed to forget to collect them.

The video rental store must have gotten new videos recently as the clerk was changing the movie posters on the wall outside the store. Those posters were a distraction to some people as they would look the posters over as they walked the hallway exiting the grocery store. The video and liquor stores had a large metal ladder they stored in the liquor store. Being located between the liquor store and the video rental store meant I saw the ladder being moved back and forth quite a number of times. The clerk had to tip the ladder to get it in and out of the two stores. I don't know why the clerk didn't just do all his ladder work at once, then put the ladder away.

The video store clerk was a late teens, 20-something skinny boy. An overweight late-teens girl hung around as he worked. She seemed to hang around more than talk. I kind of felt he was a captive audience for her.

The liquor store's location was behind me somewhat so I couldn't encourage all those people to donate as they left that store. A number of people would stop at the liquor store before exiting the building and didn't want to donate their change until they left the liquor store. A good number of people came back after making their liquor purchases so maybe I was friendly enough to them. It would have been easy to slip out the door without coming back to the kettle.

I was surprised at the number of people who donated. I wonder if almost half the people donated. I don't think it was my ability to generate donations, but rather North Dakotans' generosity.

My hand never tired of ringing the bell so I must have been doing it right. I never tired of hearing the bell ring, though I think the softer sound helped. One the employees who collected the grocery carts laughed when I told her I don't even hear the bell sound anymore, it was just white noise to me.