I finally decided to get an iPad. It\u2019s my birthday. So here\u2019s my quest\u2026<\/p>\n
I called the Apple store. It\u2019s about 60 miles away. They have some! But, I can\u2019t put it on hold or prepay. I could be put on a waiting list. How long? About a week. Sigh.<\/p>\n
Ok. I could order it from Apple online. Next day ship? Um\u2026no. 7-10 Days to ship. About 5 days to get here. Another sigh.<\/p>\n
I know! E-bay! Lots of iPads there \u2013 even used ones. The prices are higher than retail and shipping times \u201cflexible.\u201d <\/p>\n
So, I call the Apple store again. They still have some? Yes! I leave right away. I make it in record time. I\u2019m asked at the door by a blue shirted kid what I\u2019m there for. Ok. I need an iPad specialist. Not just any blue shirt will do. I\u2019m first in \u201cline.\u201d I\u2019m excited! I wait only a couple of minutes. The place is a madhouse. I have to talk loudly and briefly to explain to the iPad specialist why I am there. He\u2019s doubtful they have any. I try to explain I drove far and was told there were some. <\/p>\n
It takes a long time for the specialist to check in the back. I\u2019m asked if I need help from another blue shirt. Anticipation. Dread. Hoping my effort of making it there after an hour drive and patiently waiting will pay off. It doesn\u2019t. Nothing. Am I on the wait list? Yes, I answer. For one of the models. The specialist walks away. He\u2019s just a kid too. He doesn\u2019t care. <\/p>\n
I am upset. I try to think. I decided to ask to be put on the waiting list for the model they said they had. I have to wait for a different blue shirt. Then I\u2019m shown a computer to sign in with my iTunes login. I don\u2019t remember it. I don\u2019t use it. I use my wife\u2019s normally. Three password attempts and I walk out.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t follow the Apple rules. I didn\u2019t want to wait. But it\u2019s more than that. The blue shirts don\u2019t care. Apple Care is just an extended warranty they push. The place was loud, chaotic. I couldn\u2019t imagine coming there for a business computer. But Apple does well in the consumer market. As long as you follow their rules. And that formula appears to work \u2013 for now. They have plenty of popular products.<\/p>\n
I still want an iPad. I forgive quickly. I wonder if Apple appreciates that?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I finally decided to get an iPad. It\u2019s my birthday. So here\u2019s my quest\u2026 I called the Apple store. It\u2019s about 60 miles away. They have some! But, I can\u2019t put it on hold or prepay. I could be put on a waiting list. How long? About a week. Sigh. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-slates-for-work"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2gH3K-1A","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ericstechblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ericstechblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ericstechblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericstechblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericstechblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericstechblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericstechblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98\/revisions\/99"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ericstechblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericstechblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericstechblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}