I bought a Smartphone today. I didn't want a Smartphone. I liked my old faithful LG flip phone, especially since I switched to the new Verizon plan, threw away minutes, and got free texting! Whoo hoo!
This week, however, I found myself caught between the proverbial "rock and a hard place." My freelancing career has me on the road covering stories a lot, but other freelancing opportunities are trying to develop across several continents and require rapid response. A little hard to do if you can only access email once or twice a day, can't get Skype messages, and don't have an international calling plan.
Hence my foray into technology.
Now, while I am a bit of a troglodyte, I usually do my homework. So last week I went to an unnamed Verizon store where I was told I could have an iPhone SE for $40 upfront and $10 additional dollars a month. (I had upgrades available, etc. etc.) I perhaps should have purchased then, but I am a cheapskate. I didn't.
I went today. I figured this would be a quick trip to BJ's and home again. Ha!
When I walked in, there was a line at the kiosk. Mind you, my 4-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter were in tow, sucking on the lollipop bribes I got at the bank on the way. (I was prepared!) I waited a few minutes and thought, "I can do this faster somewhere else."
So we left. I bundled the two kids into the car seats. Drove 50 feet. Gave each kid a granola bar. (I told you I was prepared!) Dragged the two kids out of the car seats. Walked into another unnamed Verizon store.
I told the gentleman about my research and what I wanted. "We can't give you that price. You must have talked to someone at Corporate. They get different deals. You'll have to go there on Bald Hill Road."
Ugh. I was starting to get annoyed. Different deals? What?? And the store I had gone to for the original quote was definitely NOT the Corporate on Bald Hill. Whatever.
We left. I bundled the two kids back into the car seats. We got on the highway and drove to Route 2. We cruised down Route 2 looking for "Corporate." We found a Verizon store. We pulled in.
Hmmmm. I didn't want to give them more granola bars yet. "If you two are really good in the store, we'll go out to eat when we're done." (Pretty good job, Mama!) I dragged them out of their car seats, and in we went.
(This was NOT "Corporate," by the way.)
A very nice man with tats and piercings informed me that, "No, that price is impossible. Oh, and by the way, we don't have what you want in stock. I can 'lend' you a phone . . . you can try it out, see if you like it, if you don't you can return it."
Now, that was a pretty reasonable offer. But by now I was being pig-headed. I knew what I wanted, by gosh, and I was going to have it. Besides, borrow a phone? Oh yeah. I'm the girl who dropped her first LG flip phone in a toilet. Not a chance.
So I stalked out. By this time I wasn't sure who was more disgusted with this endeavor, me or my kids. I would lay money it was I. I buckled the kids into their car seats again. "Not the highway again, Mommy!" I heard in the back seat.
"Not the highway," I snapped (with a few muttered curses, I must admit), "It's Bald Hill Road."
We drove a couple more miles, made a little U-turn past the picketers. I again dragged the kids out of their car seats. Again I bribed them with the promise of Smokey Bones or Chick-fil-A or some other gastric delight. This time there was just, "We don't have any iPhones. It's Apple's fault. Maybe you can order from them."
I wanted to pitch a temper tantrum and scream, "I DON'T HAVE TIME TO ORDER ONE!!! I NEED IT TOMORROW!!!"
Instead, I pulled my kids back to the car, strapped them back in their car seats for the eighty-fifth time, put my head down on the steering wheel and sobbed. Boy, could I empathize with King Richard. Sometimes your whole existence seems to hinge on something so banal: a horse, a phone.
My son in the back chose that moment to pipe up, "Get it together, Mom." Gee, thanks.
So I did. I knew what to do. I'd go back to the original store with the oh-so-attractive quote. (Are you wondering why I didn't go there in the first place? Yeah, so am I. But you'll see . . . God had a plan!)
On the way, we had to pass BJ's again, so I decided to stop back in and see if the line was down. I dragged the kids out of the car seats. By now, the bribes were sounding hollow, so I contained them in a cart. And then a miracle happened.
I met James Paul.
James was taking care of another customer but said, "I'm almost done here. You've probably got some discounts that were giving you that price, we don't have iPhone SE's, but we can get you taken care of for what you want to spend."
Relief. Joy. Exhaustion.
It took a while, I won't deceive you, but that was mostly because penny-pinching K couldn't decide whether to get just the Samsung phone (for $8 extra a month!) or the phone and a tablet for $18. I don't know if it was James's salesmanship, my exhaustion, or the realization that these devices really will make my life easier, but I went hog wild. Phone. Tablet. Cases for both. Car charger. Headset.
While he set everything up, I made good on my lunch promise and got BJ's hotdogs for the kids (and one for me!), and a yummy cinnamony sugary twist thing. And I decided that Verizon wasn't so bad after all . . . they do have the fastest 4G network, you know!
So I am now as connected as any writer-mom can be. I still only have one problem . . . can anyone tell me why my phone is only accessing one of my Dropbox folders????
Wait a minute. Where's that card? He said I could call . . . and post it on the blog: 401-330-6809.
JAMES!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment