Monday, January 8, 2018

Is that a new battery in your iPhone or are you just glad to see me?


     Yeah, the Sun-Times pays me a salary, helps with health insurance and provides an office. All of that is nice.
     But the really great perk of the job is this: a phone.
     Not merely for the money saved, whatever that might be. But for sparing me the constant vigilance and heartache that wrangling a mobile phone seems to require.
     Every year my younger boy contrives to break his phone — accident, as he insists, or intentional, as I suspect, who can say? I'm not God.
     The mishap requires a descent into the Pepto Bismal pink perdition of the T-Mobile store, a nightmare of waiting and forms, a cross between visiting the ER and buying a house.
     The company phone spares me that. It also frees me from the temptation to upgrade. Whenever a pal shows off some useless bell and whistle on his new Apple X — and several have — it's all I can do not to grin goofily, whip my old phone out of my back pocket and crow, "Yeah, but mine has a feature that yours doesn't: It's freeeeee."
     The downside to a company phone is a certain peasant resignation when it comes to managing the device. When the gizmo began suggesting I update the software, my head swiveled to our tech guru. Do it?

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15 comments:

  1. yes but is the antique I Phone functioning any better with the new battery?

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  2. Speaking of T-mobile, since I think a few of us here are in the appropriate demographic, here's my PSA for the day: if you're 55 or older, they have a plan with 2 lines for a total of $60 (with auto-pay), no additional fees or taxes. For those of us who have to pay for it ourselves!

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    1. Yeah, but is the phone free?

      john

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    2. I transferred ours over, but maybe you could charm your way into one ;)

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    4. Charm? Don't I wish. When my wife got her phone wet and before I fixed it with a bowl of dry rice, I dropped $80 on a replacement flip phone that I returned after using for maybe 15 minutes. I find the T-Mobile/Verizon store truly a shop of horrors.

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  3. Neil--You keep your phone in your back pocket? I can only assume you don't sit down at work.

    (Also, I like how you slipped that Walter Mitty reference in there. Ta-pocketa-pocketa!)

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  4. The "kids" bring their kids in from Indiana for visits to downtown Chicago, and to see us for a bit. They visit places like the Nike store, the Riverwalk, the Bean, see a concert on Waverly Island. I'll have to suggest they visit Abt. The son in law will be agog. Otherwise, I will be dreaming of that oven...

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  5. The "kids" bring their kids in from Indiana for visits to downtown Chicago, and to see us for a bit. They visit places like the Nike store, the Riverwalk, the Bean, see a concert on Waverly Island. I'll have to suggest they visit Abt. The son in law will be agog. Otherwise, I will be dreaming of that oven...

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  6. When I forst saw that photo, I thought that was that absurdly overpriced gas range at Abt.
    And I always bring visitors from out of town there. It's also the only retailer with just one store that Consumer Reports rates.
    I also take them to Jerry's in Niles, most never want to go back to that insane asylum again! I know people that are terrified to go there a second time!

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  7. ABT is simply the best. I ordered a stove from them. When they came to instal , it was missing a part ( manufacturers fault not ABT). ABT had someone at their warehouse go through boxes and find the part and drive it out to my house. That kept the installer keep working so my stove could be installed asap. Great service always.

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  8. Samsung, android smart phones through Sprint-lease don't buy and less games with the consumers and bull that Apple plays on consumers. (for those who don't get them free)

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  9. We have appointments to replace batteries at the local Apple store on Wednesday but a news report on the local news tonight said expect to wait three to five days on your phone, while they ship it away. This is in Tampa, FL. I will call tomorrow and find out if this is true. If we can post links, I'll share this one: http://wfla.com/2018/01/08/better-call-behnken-riverview-man-passes-on-new-battery-deal-after-getting-358-estimate-from-apple/

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  10. I went to a nearby suburban Apple store today, waited in line about 10 minutes to talk to an employee, left the phone there and went to a movie, returned and waited about 5 minutes to pick it up (the charge was $29 + tax). If I had made an appointment, I'd have had to wait a week just to bring it in.

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