The Verizon Store

Was very nice. I can't complain about the people working there at ALL. They were all pleasant, calm, competent, and I want to be on whatever meds they are taking, because that job would drive me batshit in a week.

I inquired about replacing the phone, and was told that I can't do it yet.  I am a mere 2 months from my upgrade window!  I can do it on November 25th.  I do understand that they are bound by company rules, contractual obligations, yada yada, and the phone is out of warranty and by their official standards, eligible to be smashed with a hammer upgraded in 60 days. I can manage until then.

I am 60 days +/- from my "New in 2" upgrade opportunity, when I can ditch the piece of crap get a new phone.  I was not shy about expressing my dissatisfaction with the phone, but I wasn't a bitch about it. I made a couple of cheerful, pleasant wisecracks about how it appears the phones are timed to self destruct right as we hit that new phone opportunity window.  (They chuckled, but of course could neither confirm nor deny this theory.)

A very nice lady replaced the sim card and restarted the phone. She had to do it twice. She remarked that it took a long time to turn on. I  said yeah, that's one of its many charming traits.  She said she thought it tried to dial somebody while it was restarting.  I said yeah, it does that. Sometimes it makes a hanging up beep a couple of minutes after I hang up.  It's just quirky that way.  Charming, isn't it?

She spent a long time getting the phone right again, and I said I was contemplating throwing a phone smashing party at my place on the 26th, with a bottle of tequila, eye protection, and a hammer.  I walked out of the store the first time, tested the 4G connection by trying to Google something before I even started the car.  4G vanished, couldn't connect.  Went back in waving the phone at the manager, and he personally spent a good 20 minutes fiddling with my phone, turning off things that he thought might be the issue, got the 4G working. So far, so good.

 As I was leaving, the store manager asked to be invited to the smashing party.  I'm guessing it would be cathartic for him too.

I give them high marks for customer service and sense of humor, and technical skills too.  The store was swamped with people who apparently had issues that couldn't be solved with fixing an identifiable technical problem.  While I waited for the HTC Paperweight to be revived, I listened to other customers commiserate about the challenges of the iPhone.  They didn't understand it, and the Apple Store didn't have classes on it!  I held my tongue (once in a while, I can do that) before suggesting that they flag down any random Tween and ask them for a tutoring session in exchange for lunch at McD's.

Every time I think modern technology is leaving me behind and I'm a dinosaur (usually after spending time around a 30 year old) I am comforted by moments like this.  I'm not out on the bleeding edge of techy stuff, but I'm not afraid of a freaking iPhone and mourning my Blackberry.   I can at least muddle along on a variety of tech platforms, and think that things are getting easier in that regard, and that it's all getting MORE user friendly, not less. 

Anyway, the people in the store were great. We all remained entirely civil, cheerful, and pleasant about reviving my phone - as I left the second time, he said he looked forward to seeing me in 60 days, and I waved and said that I'll be back then, unless I don't have 4G tomorrow, in which case he'll be seeing me sooner.  

So far, so good.