Saturday, August 9, 2008

Adventures in Technology

Marcio arrived this morning, a bit later than we'd hoped because it turns out that Greyhound is evil. Or worse than evil: inefficient. I went downtown to meet him and while we were down there, I suggested we check into getting him that much-coveted iPhone. So we stopped into an AT&T store, and they informed us that there were none in stock, so then we hit the Apple Store, where we were cheerfully informed that an iPhone could be ours in mere ... well, hard to say how long the wait in line would be. So we got into the queue like good little soldiers. A tour bus drove by and the driver, who I promise you is not as funny as he thinks he is, said "Those people are already waiting in line for the 4G which comes out next year." I think he was inspired for his joke by the fact that Marcio had a pillow with him. "It's crazy that we're waiting in line for a phone," the suburban dad in front of us commented. Crazier than waiting for Rolling Stone tickets? I wondered.

We waited about 45 minutes in that line and then we were cheerfully whisked into a super secret special area in the front of the store that was cordoned off for all non-apple store employees and all people who were not ready to convert to the cult of 3G. Our baptism would be witnessed by all. Except it wasn't, because the transaction didn't work quite as hoped: as always, I have to make things unnecessarily complicated, a swirling mass of family plans and upgrade eligibility. But I should point out that our failure was handled as cheerfully as everything is always handled in the Apple Store. I want some of their kool-aid. So we had to go back to the AT&T store next to get our sim cards swapped. I've had bad experiences there, but not today. Oh no, not today. Today I met Andrew who was the most pleasant, efficient and knowledgeable customer service agent I could possibly have hoped for. If Andrew doesn't already have a fan club, I might start one.

And then it was done. Marcio has his iPhone and he can't keep his hands off it. It reminds me when I got mine, which was actually only a few days before Marcio and I met. How romantic, or something like that.

2 comments:

  1. Dear Charlie,

    Very humorous, I can just picture Marcio in line with his pillow.

    Perhaps Andrew was a member of your fan club and that is why he was so pleasant.

    Bob L.

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  2. I don't think so, but I'm happy to be a member of HIS fan club! I should add that Mario at the Apple store was also wonderful, but you expect that sort of service at the Apple Store and definitely not at AT&T. Context is everything.

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