Dec 21, 2011

Not my iphone

Something happened today that I wanted to share.

So the story started a while ago- maybe a year. Settle in by the way- this may be a biggie!!

I so wished for an iphone. My journal at the time stated that I would love to download all the beautiful and inspirational apps from Hay House and sync my calendar with my MacBook Air.

I dreamed of holding it in my hand and having the world at my fingertips all day, everyday.

It was a bit of an obsession of mine really. I knew deep down that it wouldn't like be the best thing that had ever happened to me but pretty high up on my list of really awesome cool stuff to own.

So I looked at getting one in NZ and at the time couldn't justify the price of it especially when we didn't know if we would be staying here for 2 whole years (of a contract). So I decided against it. I was sad :(

So a year goes by and my old little phone decides to die a death and we still aren't completely sure at that point we would be staying put. So I got one of the crappiest phones as it was cheap and I still couldn't justify the price in NZ of an iphone (had I still been in Oz, I woulda been on a plan that made it very affordable) but the reality was, I wasn't there. I was here.

So life with my crappy little phone (it's coolest feature is....a torch), was a bit embarrassing. I didn't want to be someone who was embarrassed about having a crappy phone. Whilst everyone tapped away checking their calendar for when we could meet at networking gigs. I would tell them, let me email you when I get home. "Well what's your calendar like?" they would ask me....Emmmmmmmm

So you see, when I knew we were staying here for the forseeable future, I said to my beloved, "I think now is the time..." To which he replied "Absolutely."

So I was told the rates for the phone and I said, "Whaaaaaaaat, realllllllly, Holy Crap!!!" They were like....expensive. Really expensive, especially when I had just been back to the U.K and seen an ad for an ipad 2 and the latest iphone at the time on a plan for way cheap and no cost for the handset and tablet upfront!!!!

So I decided once again to hang on tight to my crappy little phone :(

So a couple of weeks ago someone I know who works at Vodafone told me there was a cool business deal going and the phone was now 'Amazingly' affordable. I promptly ordered it...iphone 4, 32Gb in white....I even bought a cover in anticipation.

So I waited and waited and checked my Po Box like an obsessed monkey....

Nothing came.

I then got an email yesterday saying the phone had actually arrived at the Vodafone office by mistake......Hmmmmm

So they were going to drop it off for me today....Woop Woop....I was so excited. I would have all of Christmas break....just me and my iphone...lounging in the sun, sipping cocktails and browsing apps and maybe playing the odd game of BubbleBurst (I know this game from my husband's work iphone)...I am kinda addicted.

Anyway...I digress, where was I again...Oh yes...So it was coming this morning and my hubby went down to collect it at the front door...brought it up to the apartment and.......it was an iphone 4S.....WHAT???????

I checked back all of my email correspondence just to make doubly sure that I had in fact ordered the right phone. Yes, I had...phew. The iphone 4S is way more expensive with no discount so I left the cellophane on the box as you an see above and do you know how hard it was for me to do it. I almost said to hubby...Oh, I'll just open it and it was their mistake and I'll just use it and pay them what I was going to pay them. He told me to calm down and just email them. I had a kind of wild crazed look in my eyes now as I wailed on and on about how they could have got it so wrong and I was damn annoyed really.

He waited...and hugged me and told me..."Honey, it's just a phone."

Well, that made me mad...ok, I was already mad but I was calming down after the hug.

So I emailed and politely told them what had happened. I got a phone call, several emails and a kind of promise that the new iphone 4 would be with me tomorrow.

Now, I don't usually fight reality like this or get that upset so I went to do some reflection on why I was so pissed.

Here is what I came up with:
  • I find it hard to tolerate incompetence
  • I was so looking forward to using my new iphone today
  • Things like this have happened before
  • Really it went back to how it could have gone wrong
So I said in an email that mistakes happen.
I hopefully will receive the right phone tomorrow as I leave to go up to the coast to spend Christmas with family, then go on a cruise which I would very much like the phone for.

Reflecting back I have realised that when I fight reality, I am the only one who loses out. On the scale of things, it ain't that big a deal. People can make mistakes, things can go wrong. At least I wasn't in surgery getting the wrong limb cut off (I read about that once- horrid).

And as Jon Kabat-Zin says in his book Coming To Our Senses (a great read BTW) "I wound up seduced into a pervasive unawareness."

I was telling myself a story and making me right and others wrong. We are all human, we all make mistakes, it's coming up to Christmas and they likely have soooooo many orders for iphones.

So I am no longer mad. It will show up when it shows up (before or after said cruise) and I will be okay.
I will have time to properly say goodbye to little crappy phone and may even keep him around as a torch...who knows.

So there can be a lesson in something you perceive to be the worst thing in the world. Please don't think though that I am saying 'me not getting my new shiny phone' was in any way the worst thing in the world- I am so NOT saying that. To even have a phone that you can carry about in your pocket is itself an amazing gift...Alexander Graham Bell would have been so proud!

On reflection...on reflection everything is fine....and Vodafone- a Wonderful Company. They even have an Advent Calendar Draw leading up to Christmas and you can win phones and other great stuff...how cool is that?



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