Live and Learn

I had the weirdest encounter the other day.  And, when I say weird, I mean weird.  It all started out simple enough.  My dear, sweet husband, who can kill a cell phone in 2 seconds flat, and I went to replace his worn out, beat up, wouldn't work cell phone.  He likes to claim that said Blackberry is several years old, but in fact, it is not... It just looks like the one he got several years ago... he keeps replacing it with identical phones.

Anyway, we were to meet up at our local At&t store, upgrade his phone and be on our way.  But no, we had to have the weird encounter... I got there first and before I even got out of the car, some guy was standing outside the door staring at me.  Because the sun was shining ever so brightly, I didn't know at first that he worked there.

As I got closer, he said hello and stepped in front of the open doorway, blocking my entrance.  This was a little weird, but I thought that maybe he just didn't realize what he had done.  Nope, I thought wrong.  The guy was blocking the entrance to keep me outside where he proceeded to try to make conversation with me.  He asked what he could help me with, and then, in the middle of my answer, he cuts me off and tells me what beautiful hair I have.  All I could think was, "Am I really standing here, in a parking lot, married, a mama and pregnant getting hit on like some half-drunk single girl at a bar!?!?"

Obviously, the guy didn't realize that he was at work, not at the bar, AND he obviously didn't hear me when I said that I was here to upgrade my HUSBAND'S phone.

I said thanks, and pushed past him into the store to see if I could find someone a little less weird to deal with.  No such luck... I barely get into the store good and weird guy has recouped and chased me inside.  He starts trying to make small talk again, and I have to check myself to make sure I haven't wandered into some random, open-before-lunch bar.  I repeat to him that I am waiting on my HUSBAND and that I was getting my HUSBAND a new phone.  Not to be deterred by something as simple as a HUSBAND, he sticks out his and and says, "By the way, I'm J.  What's your name?"

Because it has been such an awkward experience and I was totally not expecting it, I react the only way I knew how... I said my name... Jessica... In a flat, I-CAN'T-BELIEVE-YOU-JUST-ASKED-ME-THAT  kind of tone.  I wasn't intentionally being rude, I was just taken aback at the nerve and persistence of this guy.

I finally get away and am approached by some other guy.  For the millionth time in five minutes I tell someone what I am trying to do.  I tell this overly-friendly, not really helpful, guy that I want to upgrade my hubby to an iPhone... Apparently, I don't speak English well because he spent the next 30 minutes trying to convince me to not buy the iPhone, but to buy something called a Captivate.  I've never heard of this thing.  And, it was pretty obvious that he hadn't heard much about it either... He kept trying to show me how to work it, but he couldn't figure it out either!

Chuck finally makes his appearance, thank goodness! And, he starts listening to this guy's sales pitch on this phone.  Together, we decide that we don't want to try it, we want to stick with the iPhone.  But, oh no, they don't have the one we want in stock... He tells us that they only receive one every 3 months and they are going to quit making them.  We decide to wait and not buy anything, but he wouldn't have that.  He checked the back to see if they might have one stuck back in a corner.  Lo and behold, they do... a used one... that's "still in like new condition!"  Uh, yeah, that's why someone brought it back!

We thank the guy for his time and try to head out.  Before we can get gone, though, J, from earlier is back.  He is in our faces and trying to be best buddies with Chuck.  Little did I know, he had already weirded Chuck out.  Once we finally got out the door, Chuck told me that the guy greeted him at first and offered to help.  When Chuck told him that he was meeting his wife, he said the guy's eyes got huge and he said much too enthusiastically, "Jessica!"

When we left there, we headed to the other location of At&t to see about getting some help.  Of course, we are still laughing and talking about how weird the first experience was.  We asked the workers at the other store what the difference was between the two... Come to find out, the first store we come to is independently owned.  Apparently, this makes a huge difference in the inventory they get, the commissions they get paid, etc... And, it definitely showed!

After an entire morning of trying to get him a phone that actually worked, we finally succeeded.  He is now up-to-date with technology and can actually do something besides just answer a call!  I hate that it took our entire morning and that we wasted so much time with the weirdos.  But, I guess you live and learn!  I know I did...  I learned that I should NEVER go in that particular store ever again!