Monday, October 13, 2008

Days like these

I wanted to post today about my new iphone. I wanted to go into ecstasies about how cool it was, how much I could do with it and how I didn't know how I lived my life without it. I wanted to write my post with it, but alas, Madame Fortuna had other ideas.
The mission started at 12.30pm when I went into the phone shop. I was changing from prepay to a contract so I had to endure a barrage of questions about my living arrangements and produce written documentation stating I lived where I said I did. Unfortunately my proof of address had to be dated within the last 3 months, and my letter missed it by 3 days, so I had to go home and get a new letter. That took the best part of half an hour and when I returned to the store the assistant who had helped me had gone on lunch. I then had to queue for forty minutes before the new assistant got around to me. She accepted my new letter but had bad news - they had no black 16g iphones left in stock.
Actually, that is not strictly true. They had ONE black 16g iphone left in stock but she was holding it for someone. I asked if she could hold one for me when new stock came in but she said it wasn't their policy to keep phones on hold. Upon my request she phoned the other phone shop in the town and they did have the right iphone but they wouldn't send it over to her. I decided to go to the other shop because what is the point of spending so much money on a phone when it isn't the one you want? This caused more hassle, of course, as she had to get all my information and documentation together for me to take to the other shop. Compounded with this was the fact that the assistant in the other shop had gone on lunch and wouldn't be back until 3.30pm.
It was now after 2pm. Armed with my information I got lunch and wondered how to spend my time while I waited for the assistant to return from lunch. I browsed the shops for a while, but without money shopping isn't much fun. I drove around to pass time and then headed to the second phone shop. There was a poster pasted to the phone shop window.
'Closed for lunch. Back at 4pm'.
As it was only 3.30pm, I got a coffee to pass the time and on the dot of 4pm I went to the phone shop. The assistant, just returned from lunch and the headphones hardly out of his ears, looked a bit surprised to see me. My expression was perhaps not the friendliest as I was not in a particularly good mood at that point. Nothing against the assistant, just not in a good mood. He was pleasant, but did not exude confidence as he had to phone someone to get help on every step of setting up my account and ringing up my purchases. However, the final blow of the day came when it was time to pay. I had a gift card to pay for my phone but - surprise, surprise - the gift card reader wasn't working in the shop! To be fair, the assistant did try hard to fix it and was very apologetic, but at 4.30pm, after four hours of trying to buy a phone, I had no option but to go home without one. Very disappointing.
The gift card reader should be fixed by tomorrow and I'll pick up my phone then, which has been set aside for me, but still...
Don't know if I will have the same thrill when it comes to blogging about my phone tomorrow.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a sad story! All the fun of a new purchase stolen by stupid assisants with crazy lunch hours, defective machines, and infringements of policies (hoarding that remaining black phone for herself!) Add to it all the carnage that may be wreaked on good if not great assistants by tomorrow morning. will Dave be the same after the C hit when he is confronted by a cross and powereful rearing stallion who may frighten out the address of the hoarder. will her limited brain last after broken windows, stolen money and the hooves!! will she see the resemblence to such great revengers as Casey and Jayne and Arnie? will life be the same for the hapless phone nerds of Dundalk, the ones who work on mondays when no one shops- enough said.
Seriously, of course you will be equally excited by your wonderful new phone tomorrow- joy deferred is joy increased and the best things are worth waiting for, worth suffering for and worth even several hours in Dundalk for. Mind you there are many things worth more than an iphone and in the grand sceame of things, many many more but its such a cool phone, you can manage the day's wait. stay shiney

Inkpot said...

Ah Anon, will Dundalk ever be the same again after the hoofed avenger strikes with his chain (reins) of command??? I feel inspired to draw a comic featuring that Jayne like stallion. :)

Yes, I will still love my iphone, but it was a disappointing day. I am ok with not getting it today but after going through SO much to get it, I was very disappointed.

Malice Blackheart said...

Wow. Pain in the butt. Yet somehow, things not going one's way gives one so much more to write about, doesn't it, Inkpot?

Anonymous said...

It's so infuriating, the phone shops are so unhelpful!!!

Hope you get the right phone today & it's worth all the pain!!!

Inkpot said...

Hey Mal. Big pain indeed, but as you say, problems make for so much better stories than when things go well. :)

It is well worth all the trouble, Anon. I love my IPhone.