A Commercial Moment

Last week, I took my cell phone to the Sprint store to have is diagnosed. It has been a bit under the weather lately. Mostly sniffles, sneezes and hiccups. The symptom that bothered me most was the dropped calls.  I first visited the store on Sunday but apparently the technichian only works on weekdays. So I scheduled an appointment for the next day after work around 6pm. After work the next day, I got ready to leave and offered to let Connor come along knowing this might ease the burden on Megan who had been stuck at home with the boys all day. Connor packed his backpack full of toys and loaded up in the minivan.

Arriving at the Sprint store at 6pm on a weeknight, I quickly realized that most people take care of their cell phone needs after work around 6pm. The store was very busy, but I had an appointment. After a short wait, I was greeted by the "hostess" near the door at her little podium. I’m not kidding, all she does is schedule associates to meet with customers. I still had to wait a few more minutes and finally talked to a sales associate. I explained my problem (excessive dropped calls) and mentioned we had previously had the phone in for a software update that didn’t solve the issues. After informing me that and hardware problems with the phone would cost about $55 for a replacement, he whisked my phone to the rear of the store. "It will take about 30 minutes," he said.

So, now Connor and I have half an hour to kill. I suggested we take a walk around the shopping strip. Connor agreed. We walked a bit and I noticed a nearby McDonald’s. Trying hard to make this outing a real treat, I decided we should get a fudge sundae. Connor ok’d the idea but I’m not certain he really knew what we were in for. I order a single fudge sundae and two plastic spoons. Sitting there sharing ice cream with my 3-year old at McDonald’s, I really felt like we could have been in a commercial.

On a separate and unrelated issue, this McDonald’s had a machine that dispensed DVD’s. Kind of a automated rental box. You could rent them and return them in a slot. How bizarre! That is so unrelated to fast food. They might as well be selling running shoes or something.

We finished our ice cream, walked around looking at seagulls eat trash and climbing on trees covered with ants that resulted in frantic swatting and finally returned to the Sprint store. Apparently the phone was set to automatically pick up the best signal regardless of which network it was on and this was causing my problems. It works better now. It was a fun outing.