Cell Phone Life

I have had a cell phone since ... oh, gosh ... my son was probably 5, and he's now 25, so I'd say 20 years or so.  My daughter has had a phone since she was in 6th grade, and she's now 22, so she's been a cell phone user for 10 years at least.  In our combined three decades of cell phone ownership, I have ruined one phone (cell phones do NOT like being dropped in toilets ... you're welcome for that bit of info LOL) and she has ruined one phone (they also don't like being dropped in parking lots).

Last month, Michelle and I both dropped and SHATTERED our phones, within one day of each other.  Yeah, we're cool like that.  :)

Our phones worked, but the screens were shattered -- and as they were both old cell phones, we decided to splurge and upgrade to the iPhones that everyone else has had for a year or more.

If I had a list of Things I Hate, dealing with the cell phone people would be top of that list.  And going to the Verizon Store is ... torture.  I tried to go online and see what our options were, but trying to understand our cell phone plan is nigh unto impossible.  We have upgrades, but we don't have upgrades, we don't have upgrades YET, we have an early upgrade ... on and on and on.

Last night, Michelle and I bit the bullet and went into the store (**shudder**) to see about replacing our shattered old iPhones with new, shiny iPhones.

**Shudder**

The 12 year old who was waiting on us told us we didn't have any available upgrades.  He said we could buy two phones straight out but that was our only option.  I said, "Oh, I don't like that choice, what else can you do for me?"  Mr. 12 Year Old said, "Umm, I can get a manager?"  I said, "That's great, thank you so very much!" and the manager came over.  He saw that we had been Verizon Customers for 20 years (dang, I'm old LOL) and I'll be honest, I have no idea what he did ... he called it a Manager's Override Option ... but somehow, we each got new iPhones as well as a HUMONGO bunch of accessories.  We paid the upgrade fee (even tho we had no upgrades??) and then they threw in a bonus package of accessories.  We each had an allotment of accessory funds we could spend (we had to spend it, or lose it, there was no crediting of our account) and all I had to pay was the upgrade fee.  Anyway, I'll be honest, I have no idea what he did or anything else, but he told me what my bottom line payment was, I said, "Sounds good" and they went off and did their Cell Phone Magic.

Michelle and I wandered around the Verizon Store, looking for Destruction Proof cases, looking at all the other accessories they had, wondering if we needed yet another BlueTooth speaker ... we settled on two cases (water proof, SUV-driving-over-it proof, scratch proof, dust proof and, oh so useful in Houston, snow proof).  We also got some cords, some other blingy-things and something that purports to be an external phone charger so that if you're not at home or near your car you can still charge your phone.

My husband, cutie that he is, when we got home and showed him our loot, saw the charger and said, "Oh, that'll be PERFECT to put in our hurricane box."  Isn't that cute, that he thinks we have a Hurricane Box?  Our "Hurricane Box" consists of two cans of Dinty Moore Beef Stew of a questionable age, one flashlight, 8,000 batteries and several candles that have not survived the Houston summers.  But we also have a cell phone charger, so that's cool.  ;)

Just when Mr. 12 Year Old (who, as it turns out, is the same age as my daughter) was trying to complete the transaction, the whole system crashed.  **sigh**  He said, "Oh, it ought to come back in just a minute, do you mind to wait?" and of course we said, "Oh, no, that's OK, we'll wait."  That did give Mr. 12 Year Old a chance to hit on my daughter (Hey, if you like dancing, you ought to check out Such-And-Such Club.  My friends and I go there all the time ...) and then we waited.  And waited.  And waited.

They thought the system was coming back, but it wasn't.

So we waited.  And waited.  And waited.

We got there at 6:30 p.m.  It was now almost 8:30 and we STILL didn't have working phones.

Finally, the system came back on, and Mr. 12 Year Old said, "Oh, I think I can get you out of here by 9:00."  He did (hallelujah) and, THREE HOURS after we left home, we pulled back into our driveway.

But we have two new iPhones, a big bag of accessories and a three-hour bonding opportunity with my daughter.  I'll give her credit, she can make me laugh and keep me entertained even when we are bored out of our brains, waiting on the system to reboot.

So this weekend, I'm going to be playing with my new phone, seeing what's different between it and the old one, and doing my best to make my NEW phone as similar to my OLD phone as possible (because I'm old and I don't do change well).  And maybe I'll download some Pooh bling for the new phone.  You know, to make it *mine*.  :)