Google rocks in times of crisis
As you may know I have a 'Google Adsense' account, which means I put a script on my blog that lets Google deliver targeted ads. I started this mostly to figure out how the advertising thing worked. I get enough money to pay for the cost of running my blogs, and a little bit more. It's also another barometer of the traffic my site gets. Okay, enough background information.
The paltry checks that I get from Google every 60 days or so have been coming to my house in New Orleans. You know, the one I can't get to now. I've redirected my mail and made some changes to some of my accounts that require me to receive mail. But I didn't think about the Google account because, frankly, it's not that big a deal to me.
Today, I got this email from the Google Adsense folks. I think this is pretty damn cool, and it demonstrates how a company should communicate with its customers at a time like this:
Hello,
We've noticed that your AdSense payment address is located near
the area most impacted by Hurricane Katrina. We also know you
may have issues more urgent than your AdSense activities right
now, so we'd like to offer our help.If you're having trouble managing your AdSense account in any
way, please let us know. We can assist you with holding your
payments, updating your payment address, switching to electronic
payments, or any other account issues you may have.Please feel free to reply to this email or contact us at
adsense-support@google.com to let us know if there's anything
else we can do for you.We offer our deepest sympathy during these difficult times.
Sincerely,
The Google AdSense Team
Maybe these guys should be running FEMA.
Hey Ernie!
I've been following your blog since last week -- thanks for the Google post. It's nice to know a huge company cares.
I hope you and your family get your feet back under you soon, and that all of your Lousiana friends can move forward to healing and rebuilding.
Many blessings,
Marilyn
Posted by: Marilyn | September 10, 2005 at 01:20 PM
Actually, putting Google in charge isn't a bad idea. Good luck.
Posted by: Norm | September 10, 2005 at 02:28 PM
I really think Google should replace FEMA :).
My deepest sympathies to you and your losses. The
whole nation is thinking about you and praying
for you.
Sincerely,
Bridget
Maryland
PS. I saw your blog on a directory of Katrina blogs
and was curious to see how people were making out.
Good luck to you. I have
a LiveJournal blog which is
similar to typad I believe,
and it is http://www.livejournal.com/users/bggallag/
Posted by: Bridget | September 10, 2005 at 10:30 PM
No, this is simply the way competent businesses, who just give a s..t, do business! I am confident that Google does not hire in order to reward friends or large contributors.
Posted by: Stanley Feldman | September 11, 2005 at 01:30 AM
Wow... so Google is THAT good... :)
Posted by: Ozzie | September 13, 2005 at 10:06 AM