I have had an iPod since its inception. I still own a second generation iPod, with the four buttons in a line on top of the wheel. It needs to remain connected to its speakers in order to function, but we’re talking seven years of existence. Nowadays that it is unheard of for apple technology. The most irritating part about being an iPod owner is that I wish I could boycott it, but I’m addicted. I cannot function without my iPod. Living in New York City does not help my case; because no one drives a car, no one listens to the radio, unless they have a 90’s era boombox in their kitchen so that they can stay up to date on the latest hip hop on hot 97 and power 105.1 like myself. Everyone walks around with their iPod headphones on to drown out the drone of the city. But I digress. One fateful morning not too long ago, I was getting ready for the gym and decided to plug my iPod into my computer to put on some new tunes I had recently purchased. Wrong. My iPod was frozen. It was beyond frozen, it seemed dead. While pondering whether or not it to cry or hurl my iPod across the room, I decided the gym would have to wait until after I fixed my musical DOA. On the subway ride to the apple store I wondered whether or not it would be appropriate to give a technological device a funeral. I tried to think positively as I descended into the humungous apple store on Fifth Avenue. I had never been to this particular apple store, and I was not disappointed. I (kind of) get how people waited for hours on end for the newest version of the iPhone. Kind of. When I walked in I was immediately greeted by an apple employee, someone who (as a PC user) I am genetically modified to hate. It’s like attempting to be friends with a Red Sox fan; there’s always something between you. I explained my problem to him, and like an angel in glasses he told me how to reset my iPod in the future without messing with any of my music. He was helpful without being pretentious, something I find always happens in retail stores devoted to technology, and was thorough in showing me what to do in case it ever happened again. What was truly great customer service was that he didn’t make me feel like my problem was menial, which he easily could have done considering I just had to hold down the middle button for thirty seconds to essentially reboot the iPod. He understood how I freaked out and did his best to assess and then help fix the problem, all the while reassuring me that it would all be okay. Like I said, as much as I sometimes want to hate on apple, I can’t live without it. Or it’s godsend of a support team.
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