Close Call
The past couple of weeks are just unbelievably crazy for me. Sales are slow at my full-time job which is why I had to work doubly hard to reach our quota — but to no avail, really. We had to resort to making major changes in our websites, especially by bringing down the prices of our products to attract buyers. I’m inclined to blame the dwindling U.S. economy.
At home, we’re also having problems. My dad is being a pain again, as he has been for as long as I can remember. I love my dad, but when will the madness stop?? More on this some other day.
As if these two problems aren’t enough, last night I did something that I regretted tremendously. When that software upgrade icon showed up on my MBP’s screen, I absentmindedly clicked ‘yes’ — not knowing that the upgrade process will take so long! I got impatient after about 20 minutes, so I pressed the power button down to shut the laptop off. When I turned it on again, the screen got stuck on the page where there’s an Apple logo in the center and a loading icon below it. Even after almost an hour of waiting, it still won’t boot properly. Of course, by then, I was already panicking. I may know some stuff about computers, but when it comes to hardware stuff, I’m a big dummy.
So today I brought my laptop to the nearest Apple store from our office, the Power Mac Center in Greenbelt. After work, I rushed to their service center, took a number, and waited for it to be called. When it was my turn, I explained to the lady that the problem occurred after some idiot interrupted the software upgrade process. I didn’t have to tell her that the “idiot” was me, it was pretty obvious. She said that that happens a lot to Macbooks, and the best thing to do is for me to leave my MBP at their store as there’s a long queue of units waiting to be repaired and it will take 2 days up to a week for them to find out what’s wrong with mine. In my head, I was screaming “Oh no, what about my files?? What will I tell the clients?? Will they understand? Should I recreate the mockups from scratch? What have I done??!!”
I just stared with disbelief at the lady for a few seconds. Then, I started blabbering that, because I’ve got plenty of work to do, I can’t afford to lose 2-7 days! Can’t she do something about it now? Where else can I go to get an immediate attention? And then, out of desperation, I played my PUPPY DOG EYES, PRETTY PLEASE WITH CHERRY ON TOP card. Think Puss in Boots in Shrek 2:
The lady reluctantly smiled and told me they probably need to reinstall the software which will take long. They’re also gonna need an installer. Without thinking, I took out the installer CDs from my bag and asked her how I can do the installation myself. I got more reluctant smiles from her — I’m pretty sure she was getting annoyed. Heh. Finally, she took the CDs from me and started working on my laptop. She said she’d take care of it and that I can come back in 2 hours. I thanked her profusely.
I bought a book so I have something to read while I wait. After almost 2 hours, I came back to Power Mac Center. When the woman at the counter saw me, she faced the laptop’s screen my way to show me that the loading page is gone. Seeing the familiar wallpaper on my MBP’s Desktop brought a huge smile to my face. I almost hugged her in delight! When I asked her how much I should pay for their service, she waved it off and told me to just forget about it.
Btw, that woman’s name is Christine. I’m grateful to her for being so cool about everything. See, strangers can be kind. :)
Enough yapping now, this dummy has tons of work to do. Enjoy your weekend!
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