A Burnaby thrift store volunteer whose TikTok video about a mystery donation went viral recently was skeptical when a Newsweek reporter contacted him this week – but it turned out the media request was legit.
Alex Lim, who has volunteered at the Burnaby Hospice Society Thrift Store for about five months, said Google Lens can usually help the store identify the more unusual objects it gets from donors.
But the app was no help a couple weeks ago when someone dropped off an 8.2-meter-long retractable carbon-fibre rod with an attachment at the end that looks like a wick – so he took to TikTok.
"I need your help. Do you know what this is?" he said in his video.
"It just went crazy viral," Lim told the Burnaby NOW.
@alexjrlim.eth Question #fyp ♬ original sound - Alex Lim
The video has been viewed 1.9 million times and garnered nearly 55,000 likes and 4,517 comments in multiple languages.
Those numbers are what caught the attention of the weekly magazine Newsweek, which featured Lim in a story this week.
Some of the comments on the TikTok video offered up real answers that led to the pole being identified as a kind of fishing rod that uses a fixed line and no reel.
Other comments ranged from the plausible to the hilarious.
“I used to use that to push my mom's last button," said one comment.
"It's to fend off your family when you're eating the last piece of pie," said another.
Many suggested the long rod was for poking things, including the Grinch, coworkers, grandchildren, cattle and the ugly naked guy (a reference to the TV show Friends).
Others said it could be used for lighting chandeliers in a castle, cleaning giraffe’s ears and "touching people you wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole."
A lot of the people who commented encouraged Lim to keep posting videos of interesting items at the thrift store.
He said he has "no idea" why the video has gotten so much attention but hopes it's good for the thrift store, which raises money for the hospice society.
"If we're getting a bit of publicity for Burnaby Hospice Society, then so be it," he said. "That's wonderful."
The Burnaby Hospice Society Thrift Store is located at 6843 Kingsway.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on X/Twitter @CorNaylor
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