I got my iPhone!

There is an Apple Store and four AT&T stores within 10 minutes of my house in south Charlotte, NC.

This morning at 10 a.m. I visited the AT&T store that no one knows about. There was no line for the iPhone!

A quick trip to South Park Mall to the Apple Store and at 11 a.m. The 70+ people in line were in a party mood.

At 3 p.m. a friend called and said there were 300 people in line at the Mall, so I went back to the AT&T store on Park Road.

—–

Rita and I were fifth in line at 3:15 p.m. Pizza Hut delivered the pizzas at four and we had our own tailgate party. Nice people all around us and we immediately start chatting and trading business cards.

A pleasant but warm and humid afternoon, sitting in the shade with a gentle breeze keeping things from getting too sticky.

Finally, about a hundred people were in line as 5 o’clock

—–

6 p.m.

The nice people at AT&T greeted us warmly. The first ten in line, please. “Step right this way, Darren will help you.”

Darren takes our order and calls out “Two Four-gigs!”

Manager Stephanie goes to the back room and punches the secret code into the door lock. The scowling Sheriff’s Deputy’s glare defies any who would attempt unauthorized entry.

Smiling Stephanie returns with an armful of black boxes and distributes them to the checkout crew including Darren, who proceeds to enter the barcode numbers, and my driver’s license number. and my social security num . . .

Ooops!

Gotta start all over.

“What’s your residence phone number?”

He got so far and no further. Once they tried to authorize my credit the system would hang.

For everyone.

For forty minutes.

The system would go down, then come back, then take an order, then refuse to take an order.

Meanwhile the good folks starting with # 11 in line are out there waiting to come in and it’s ten to seven! They’re sharpening stakes and getting pitchforks from the trunks of their cars.

Finally success!

One clerk says “Don’t try to authorize their account . . . just sell ’em!”

—

Finally home at 7 p.m. with two iPhones.

I was going to post pictures, but y’all already know what they look like.

Dan