I’d like to know who the little wizard is that is on the other end of all these electronic devices that is telling you, “you can’t do this, or you have the wrong password, when you damn well it’s the know it’s the correct one, because you just changed it, per instructions of same techno-wizard.
I have spent the last five days banging my head against a virtual wall over a new iPhone 8 Plus that wouldn’t back-up my data, wouldn’t install the latest update, wouldn’t acknowledge my new Apple ID, actually informed me I was going to lose all my purchases from the last two years in the App Store and on iBook and where ever else if I didn’t give the correct password to a now obsolete Apple ID. (But yet again wouldn’t accept the correct password for that ID). My “issues” actually stumped the poor fellow (Jeremy) at the Genius Bar. I’m sure he was wishing Apple served something stronger than the massive doses of electronic counsel he gave out each day, by the time he was done with me. No such luck.
Jeremy hung in there. He said let’s try one more thing, and when he asked me to do it, I looked at him and said,
“Already tried it.”
Well let’s just try it again,” he continued.
“O-kay.” I agreed, but I NEW EXACTLY what was going to pop up on that screen…”INVALID PASSWORD.” I hit the return key. It might as well have slapped us both in the face. Just what I expected, those two dirty words. That was when he told me to press the prompt that said, skip this step, and immediately up popped another window telling me I was going to lose all my purchases made with my old password. “This has got to be some software glitch,” he said.
“I don’t think you will lose any of your purchases. Go ahead and press the prompt.”
I must have looked at him like a terrified puppy.
“Go on.” He repeated.
“But what if I lose every thing?” I whined.
“We can probably get it back.”
Mmmmm. Probably. I didn’t like that word. He was urging me onward with his eyes.
I pressed the key and shut my eyes. Then I peeked a little with my left eye. I think it said it was transferring data. Just how completely we would have to wait and see. I had to trust this guy. What were my options? To listen to this machine that had been spitting out false information for the past five days? It definitely had found its plaything to screw with, because it had me going, big time. I’m ashamed to admit it. I had meltdowns that will never ever congeal into human form again. I lost blood vessels. I turned a new shade of purple. I became this years scariest Halloween costume. You must understand where I’m coming from by now. I was not a pretty sight.
While my iPhone 8 plus was transferring data, Jeremy stepped away momentarily but arrived back just as the screen brightened with, Data Transfer complete. He scrolled through quickly to see if all the apps were there. They seemed to be. iTunes just finished up its installation and he opened it and my music was all there. Everything seemed to be there. Everything. Everything. All this aggravation because of a glitch that leaves you stopped, dead in your tracks. You don’t know whether to go forward and bypass the problem or try to find the source of the problem. When I thought I beat the monster, it grew another head and popped up somewhere else only to test some other poor unsuspecting person.
So I don’t know how I faired with all this. I don’t know if I failed miserably or if I just failed certain parts. And was this only a test of my patience or was it also a training session for Lois, at Apple Inc. who spent two and a half hours on the phone with me, and for Jeremy at the Genius Bar who had to choose between a glitch in the software or a problem with my account, which if it had been, he would not have been able to assist me. I know they both showed a lot more restraint. That is for certain. But then again it wasn’t their problem.
I know I don’t like feeling this dependent on technology. Life has become quite complicated in the quest for simplicity. This I believe with my heart. We never needed smartphones or tablets or the fast and easy to live and be happy when I was growing up. Don’t you ever wonder how we made due without all of this? Now, we as individuals need this technology to get by in this world. Don’t you think? But it never stops. It keeps building upon itself. One upping the next. I just heard there will be sex robots in the next year or two. And they will be the lover of choice by the year 2035. I’m doing some mental math. Will I be dead? I don’t want to witness this. I hope I’m pickled by then.
Well, that’s all I have for now. I thought I’d share a little of the techno-tornado that whirled around here all week. But I now have a working iPhone 8 plus…fingers crossed. It must be an item that is going to serve me well, because they say, good things aren’t easy to come by, and this little gem wasn’t easy to come by.
Miranda Ö
THE MAGIC PEN 
This is both funny and painful at the same time.
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