It was quite the wait outside of the Apple Store in Old Orchard shopping mall. Arriving at around noon and seeing a sea of people all waiting in a winding line to purchase the next version of Apple’s latest craze product, the iPhone. I took one look and turned away. Thought to myself that maybe I’d have better luck if I went to an AT&T wireless store.
So back in my car I used my original iPhone to search for an AT&T dealer. Realizing that there weren’t any really close stores, I decided to drive back towards my house and visit the local AT&T store. I arrived and was excited to see there was NO LINE! Fantastic, I’d be in and out in 20 minutes. And I was. I signed in, looked around, played with the display models and then about 20 minutes later I heard one of the reps tell another customer that they were sold out. Before I go off on a rant and express my anger, I’ll just say this. AT&T, you could have at least put up a sign or told customers, upon arrival, that you were already sold out. That’s all.
Back in my car now, I decide to look up more AT&T wireless stores, because there is no way in hell that I’ll wait in that line at the Apple Store. So I find another one in the neighboring suburb and decide to drive out there. Apparently the store had closed because I drove all around the area and found nothing! Ok, so let’s just go to another AT&T store. I locate one on my iPhone and start heading over there. Again, I arrive and cannot find it! So I decide to call and find out that now it’s a Verizon store. Great.
Alright, now I’ve got a decision to make. I’m near the shopping mall again where I originally started, but I’m also near the house. I’m about at the half way point. It’s around 2:50pm, I’ve had no luck for the past 3 hours. Off to the Apple store!
I arrive at the line around 3:30pm. It’s hot, the sun is beaming right on me and I look behind me to see…nobody. I was last in line. There had to be at least 200 people in front of me and they were letting about 5-10 people into the store every 45 minutes. This was going to be a long day. The reason for the limited amount of people being allowed in the store was because the Apple/AT&T activation process had been stalled or crashed, or who the heck knows!
So there I am in line. The guys in front of me have already created a bond of some sort and are talking Apple/iPhone, you get the idea. It was geek day. I loved it. Of course I had to chime in and become part of the conversation because after about 5 minutes I realized if I don’t start talking this wait is going to be even longer! We continue through the line and eventually, maybe an hour and half into it, I decide I need to eat something/drink something. Apple employees were nice enough to hand out muffins, water and lemonade throughout the day, but that wasn’t cutting it with this heat. Now, because of the alliance that I have created with the people around me, I decided they probably would save my spot if I went to get something to eat right quick. But to entice them, I offered them water.
Sure enough, I left the line, got a chicken salad sandwich, used the toilet and had a smoke. It was lovely. I wasn’t confined to the line. Anyway, I picked up some waters, went back to the line and was astonished to see the progress they made in the line! They had covered quite the ground while I was away. But there was still a lot of line/waiting left.
To move things forward, we reached the inside of the store about 4 hours into the wait. We finally made it and were sitting inside the Apple store on chairs that any other day would have been uncomfortable. But because of the 4 hours on my feet, these chairs were a god send! Now begins the waiting game. I felt like I was waiting for a prostitute in the red light district because one by one, an Apple employee would walk up to the row of seats, take the next person and “service” them. By service I mean they would ask which iPhone 3G they wanted, any accessories and they would activate their phones. Nothing sexual or dirty.
My time had come. I was chosen. I knew exactly what I wanted and when the Apple store employee asked, I said, “I’ll take a pair of headphones!” He looked confused and asked, “um is that all? Are you serious?” Of course I was joking but I wanted to see the look on his face, I was just too excited at this point so I had to make a joke! Very nice! Anyway, I wanted to seem like a smart shopper so I asked a few questions. Questions I already knew the answers to. But regardless I asked questions. So I finally told him exactly what I wanted, he went to the back and got it for me. I got my new phone number. Activated my new iPhone 3G and walked over to the Barnes & Nobles where I sank into one of their chairs and uploaded all my data off my laptop to the new iPhone 3G!
It was now 9:40pm. I had my phone. The iPhone 3G was set up and ready to go and so was I. Back home to download from the new App store and play around with my new gadget!
-Bos
