Prologue
Once upon a time, this past May to be exact, a young girl bought a brand new, shiny iPod nano.
For three weeks, she took it to the gym, to work, everywhere she needed a musical boost to her day. She loved her iPod, and it loved her.
But the happiness was short-lived. One day, inexplicably, the iPod died. Unable to charge or turn on, the iPod laid on the girl's computer desk like a forgotten old toy.
The girl had a friend who worked across the street from the Apple store in downtown Chicago, and he offered to take the iPod in to get it fixed or replaced. The nice folks at the store replaced the iPod, and the girl soon had another new, shiny iPod to love.
But two weeks later, suddenly, inexplicably, that iPod died, just like the last one had. Unable to charge or turn on, this iPod was destined for the grave, just like its predecessor.
All week, I've fretted over what to do about my iPod situation. During the short time I've actually been able to use the iPod(s), I've really liked it (them). But having gone through two iPods in three months, I became wary of the product. The frustration just was not worth the $247.81 I spent. According to Apple's warranty, I could get my iPod repaired or replaced, or simply get my money back. Not wanting to have to replace the iPod every time I needed to charge it, I opted for door number three.
So yesterday, I made an appointment at the Genius Bar (i.e. support desk) at the Apple store in Oak Brook; I figured it would be easier to drive there than into the city, pay to park and all that jazz, and I couldn't ask my friend again. Not wanting to sully my Friday off, I decided to devote my Thursday evening to the trip, figuring I'd get there, get my cash and get back home to get started on my weekend relaxation.
I left home at 7:30, leaving myself plenty of time to get to the store by 8:30, the time of my appointment. At about 7:45, it began to rain, sprinkling at first, then raining steadily, then pouring. I wasn't familiar with the area, relying on Mapquest directions, which were correct but not comprehensive, so I ended up getting turned around a few times.
The route took me through the woods, a long, menacing stretch of road with no homes or businesses. Although it reminded me of the old days in my home state of Pennsylvania, I felt uneasy. Dark and undeveloped, it looks very different from what is normally found in the suburbs of Chicago. With nary a beige house or strip mall in sight, I was alone with the trees, the rain and my visions of being abducted and held in some psychopath's basement.
"I'd better get a refund and a free iPod for this," I muttered to myself.
Counting my miles and following Mapquest's directions, I made it to the mall just in time for my appointment. The map on Apple's Web site had made it seem that the store was on an outlot, so I expected it to be easy to spot. After making a lap around the property, I realized that wasn't true. I dialed the store's number, and an automated lady told me that I'd find the store across from Sears. So into Sears I went.
It is at this point in the story that I should explain how the mall in Oak Brook is laid out. From the outside, it looks like a normal mall, but there are actually no indoor corridors; one must go outside and through a courtyard to get into another store. I had never been to this mall before and hadn't known this useful nugget of information, so I searched to no avail for an exit that did not exist. Finally, I asked a Sears employee how to get out, explaining where I wanted to go, and she pointed me to a door.
When I walked into the store, it was approximately 8:45. Luckily, the store wasn't so busy that my missed appointment mattered, and a nice young man immediately offered to help. I told him that I wanted a refund; he asked when I had purchased the iPod.
That's when he told me that the store will only refund for 14 days. The company's policy is different, but in the store, it's only 14 days.
Flustered and frustrated from my long trip, I asked with a heaving sigh what I would need to do to get my refund, and he said that depends on what's wrong with the item, inviting me to follow him to the Genius Bar. He took the dead iPod out of its box, plugged it into his wall charger and turned it on.
He turned it on. And it just turned on, working like it was supposed to do. I had just driven through the rain and the haunted woods for my iPod to magically start working perfectly.
The nice young man also tested the USB cable I'd been using, and that, too, worked just fine. I was baffled. Even moreso, I was embarrassed. The guy probably thought I was some sort of idiot. He told me that the problem might be the speed of my computer, that sometimes charging by computer can take longer than through a wall charger, especially when the battery is drained to almost nothing, sometimes up to 15 minutes. I told him I had had the thing plugged in for hours (yes, the computer was on). I had tried everything the Apple support site had recommended, and nothing had worked. Yet this guy could make the iPod work with no problems.
I was tempted to break it myself at that point.
My boyfriend has a wall charger for his iPod, and the nice young man at the Apple store told me it would work fine with mine and recommended that I use it instead of relying on the USB cable. And with that, I left the store.
I called a friend to vent about my wasted night, and we had a nice chat. As soon as I reached the haunted woods again, however, it began to rain. Hard. I'm not just talking steady rain, I'm talking monsoon. It reminded me of one of those amusement park rides where you're on a raft, sent through a wall of water that pounds down on your head so hard it hurts. Only there was no other side to this wall of water. It just kept going. I couldn't see anything; I wanted to pull over, but there was no berm in the haunted woods, and I was afraid that someone would hit me anyway. So I kept going, as slowly as I could, windshield wipers whipping to and fro.
As water gathered on the road, I had a few close calls. The puddles were hard to spot, because the haunted woods was dark, very dark. I was going very slowly, but even my slow pace was enough to send a wall of water sailing over the top of my car, bringing to mind images of cars floating around the streets in flooded areas...as well as my own car, wrapped around a tree.
Somehow, I made it back to the main road, where the puddles were more treacherous but easier to spot, and eventually, the rain began to let up, becoming just a steady pour rather than a blinding deluge. By the time I got home, I was exhausted.
Before I tumbled into bed, however, I pulled out my iPod and plugged it into the wall with my boyfriend's charger. Within a few minutes, it was nearly finished charging.
The iPod lives another day. And despite the best efforts of the haunted woods and enough rain water to fill Lake Michigan, so do I.
But I think we're both a little wiser. I hope so, anyway, because if I have ever have cause to take that iPod back to Oak Brook, I'm throwing it into the haunted woods.
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