AT&T angels

This is just a little side note from our road trip.  

When we switched to AT&T from T-Mobile, I picked out a phone for Cliff online.  I should have known better.  In the first place, it was sort of a smart-phone, although all the people I know who have those say it was the craziest thing they ever saw.  When you get a phone that even teenager granddaughters can't figure out, you know you have really messed up.  Cliff and I don't text or email or any of that stuff from our cell phones.  We talk to people on the phone, and that's the extent of it.  

So Cliff has hated his stupid phone from day one, and I have hated it right along with him.  I kept thinking that when he was due for another phone, I'd get a simpler one.  He wanted a flip-phone with nothing fancy about it.  

His hated phone had been needing  charges frequently during the last several weeks; while we were in Iowa, it totally stopped charging.  We found out we could use it if it was plugged into the charger; otherwise, nothing.  I have a Tracfone, and buy a small amount of minutes each month.  Because we had moved and I had been making lots of calls (especially to CenturyLink), my minutes were gone, so I left my phone at home.  It's frustrating to be two hundred miles from home and not have a working cell phone, and of course at the back of my mind I was wondering if we could ever get a phone that Cliff would be satisfied with.  

Desperate, we decided to find an ATT store somewhere on our way back to Williamsburg from LeClaire.  Thanks to Siri, a lady who lives inside my Ipad, we found there was one just off the freeway in a mall in Coralville, Iowa.

We walked into the store and were met by a young man who worked there.  "How may I help you?" he asked.  

I told him our story, then explained that Cliff wanted a simple flip phone with no frills.  

"I have such a phone," he said, "but it would require a two-year contract and cost $36.  You need to go just around the corner to Target and tell them you want an AT&T Go flip phone.  It won't cost much.  Then bring it to me and I will help you set it up."

The guy was an angel sent from heaven.  

We did ($15), he did (no charge, but we thanked him profusely), and Cliff is a happy camper.  

Just a little fringe benefit from our trip.  

It worked great.  There was a minor glitch Saturday, though:  Cliff could receive calls, but when he tried to call someone, he got a message, "emergency calls only".  Using my visiting sister's phone, I called AT&T for help.  I wasn't optimistic, having heard bad things about their customer service.

I don't know about their customer service in general, but the lady I made contact with was an angel sent from heaven.  She needed the make and model of the phone:  Of course the make was on the phone, but no model number.  She patiently started describing flip phones, asking if that's what mine looked like.  Finally we found the right one.  Then she asked me to take the back off.  My sister and I both tried and failed, so she tried to describe to us how to take the back off the phone.  Everything she asked me to do, it seems neither my sister nor I could figure out, so the lady had to explain even the simplest things, and gradually talked us through everything.  She removed the old phone from their information, system, whatever you want to call it, and added the new one, and Cliff now has a working cell phone.  

WE ARE EACH OTHER'S ANGELS

Chuck Brodsky

I hope I see you later - 'cause it's time for me to go
That's my ride that just pulled over - and it sure was good to know you
So go answer your calling - go and fill somebody's cup
And if you see an angel falling - won't you stop and help them up?

    We are each other's angels - we meet when it is time
    We keep each other going - and we show each other signs

Sometimes you'll stumble - sometimes you'll just lie down
Sometimes you'll get lonely - with all these people around
You might shiver when the wind blows - and you might get blown away
You might lose a little color - you might lose a little faith

    We are each other's angels - we meet when it is time
    We keep each other going - and we show each other signs

Thank you for the water - thought I was gonna to die out here in the desert but you quenched my thirst
Let's break a little bread together - I've got a little Manna - it was a gift
From someone who was passing by and offered me a lift

    We are each other's angels - we meet when it is time
    We keep each other going - and we show each other signs