I have a swell new phone -- a DroidX -- so that while on the road I can go online from wherever I am to browse the Internet. Need a motel? I can look 'em up. Need info about the area? I can look it up. Maps? E-mail? Posting to my classes? I can do it all on the phone.
Naturally, the phone comes manual-free. But I figure, how hard can it be?
For the past three days I have been trying to figure out how to go online, spending way too much time calling Chris, having him do research, etc. He even contacted one of my go-to persons -- Marianne -- for help. And I'm feeling like an idiot.
Yesterday, aha!, I found a Verizon store. I tell Ashley all I want to know is how to get online. She doesn't roll her eyes, but I know she wants to. "All you do is press this little browser button and the browser comes up for you."
Well, duh! Like I HAVEN'T been pressing that little browser button? "Okay, Ashley. Go ahead. Show me."
After pressing the button numerous times and always receiving the "that page is not available" message, she takes it into the back, where apparently they house the techno-geeks.
"It's your phone. There's something wrong. He has to manually reprogram something in there. Should only take 5 minutes."
Two and a half hours later, I leave with a new phone.
The problem? My old pay plan was INCOMPATIBLE with the new phone. What the? This isn't software. This isn't hardware. "We had to change your old pay plan to the new one, but it won't cost anything more, the cost is the same, but the plan is new. It mirrors your old plan." Okay. "They never should have sold you that new phone without changing your old pay plan. Uh-uh." (Shaking her head.)
I am becoming (reluctantly) accustomed to technological incompatibility. I get a new computer and software all of a sudden doesn't work. I get a new camera, and it requires updates, upgrades, and more so that other programs recognize the new format. (And thank you, Diane, for suggesting that I buy Lightroom, which may solve all my problems. Ha! Like THAT'S going to happen with me in my current mental state!)
While waiting for my phone to be "fixed," I drive up and down the highway in my rented Chevy Chewbacca searching for a motel. Apparently it's "Furniture Market" time here in this town and all the rooms are either booked or will cost $179 for a night. They recommend I head up the road to the next town for more options.
Back at the Verizon store I ask Ashley how long it will take to get to the next town. "Oh, just about 20 minutes" as she hands me my phone.
I go online, find a motel in the next town. Took me 40 minutes to get there . . .
©Carol Leigh
