This may take awhile!

A trip to the cell-phone store earlier this week was eventful. Our first stop resulted in Ol' Abner storming out with me explaining that he was old school management and had no appreciation for some of the new technology requirements. Hmm. Back in the car he complained that employees of his beloved corporation were now lazy and incompetent. Hmm. I was disappointed that the new version of my smartphone was not in my hand. His request to have our accounts combined in order to take advantage of his retiree discount had been met with the bad news that one of us would need to change our phone numbers. NOT going to happen...It was a stand-off or maybe a walk out after the young man told us it was beyond his capabilities. I sulked, he ranted.

The next morning he drove to another location, the one where we usually succeed after failing at the first. We are slow learners. He told me just to get the upgraded version and he was OK with paying the full price. The company had awakened to the fact that I am no longer an employee about a year ago and my discount just evaporated. We were greeted without having to sign in and wait, taken to a workstation to assess our needs. As helpful young man reviewed my plan and made a couple of suggestions, Ol' Abner commented that it was criminal that our accounts couldn't be combined without changing phone numbers. Hmmmmmmmm. Knowledgeable, truly helpful young man asked a couple more questions, looked at both plans, and offered to solve the problem. The solution involved numerous extra keystrokes on his part, but in the end Ol' Abner was further convinced of the incompetence of the staff at the previous location.

I now have the latest greatest version of my smartphone, and knowledgeable-truly-helpful young man recommended I try a new tactic to match all my devices and recover my ability to synchronize my music player with my new computer. It worked like a charm. Now Ol' Abner needs to write one of those letters for which he is known. Some blatant discrepancies in quality of service from one location to another really should be pointed out to the mother company!