No Fucking Way!

So...at work today, at The Fierce Club, I was looking for a business card to hand a potential student, and when I turned around, the guy snatched my iphone off the desk and stuffed it in my pocket. I realized the phone was missing a few minutes later, but by then, the guy was long gone. I had to go to the police station to file a report. The officer was very nice, but of course, my stolen iphone is low on their list of priorities, as it should be. It's New York City.

What really put me in touch with my anger about the situation was that I went to the Apple Store to buy a new phone. The woman who helped me couldn't have been nicer. AT and T could have been a lot nicer. Apparently, the $99 price that Apple and AT and T advertise for the 3G Iphone, which is what I have, only applies if you are a first-time customer, or if you've had your Iphone for a year. I got mine in October. So in their eyes, I am not deserving of the "discounted" price of $99, even though I have paid over $700 in phone bills since October. Apparently random guy off the street who passes the compulsory credit check is more important than dedicated customer, who must pay $299 in order to get the $99 Iphone. They claim the $299 price point is a $200 discount, and if I want to pay $99 to replace the phone I paid $99 for in the first place, I have to wait until the end of October. Apple was very nice. AT and T have set the pricing, and will not allow me to purchase the phone for less than $299, apparently. They suggested I get a refurbished Iphone, which will take the price all the way down to $249. This might not sound like a lot of money to most people, but I teach yoga. I manage a new yoga studio. I don't have $299 or even $249 that is just available to replace my $99 phone. They then suggested, that since I am bound to a two year contract with AT and T, I get a cheap phone until October 30th. The cheapest phone they have is only available at Best Buy. The next cheapest is a crappy phone that costs what I paid for my Iphone the first time around. I held it together until I had been to both the Apple store, and the AT and T store. I lost it when I was wandering around Soho, wondering what I had done to deserve this.

I was feeling sorry for myself, and then I got...really mad. I came home, and kicked the wall, screamed at my roommate, and sulked. I wrote AT and T and asked them to please help me out. I yelled at my Mom. I did all the things that yogis supposedly don't do. I ate a grilled cheese with ham, some chips and salsa, and some fudge striped cookies. I got into an argument with a friend who never has time to listen to me, although I constantly listen, advise, and work hard to help with any problem that friend might have. I acted like a brat.

I know there are a lot of horrible things going on in the world.

I also know my livelihood depends on that Iphone. Business contacts are now lost. I'll spend months getting people's numbers again. Text messages, and photos of Christmas with my best friends from high school and my family are in that phone. Little inspiring photos I took around town, and pictures of my boyfriend in the snow. Notes for a book I wanted to write about yoga.
It's all gone. A really cool app that allowed me to study musculature and anatomy in 3D that cost $20. Another app that allowed me to practice mantra and meditation on the subway.

Yoga teaches us not to become attached. But I was attached to this thing, goddammit. I needed it for my work. I hate to say it, but that thing was a little bit like a friend to me.

This is the fourth time in my life I've had something stolen.

One summer in Gainesville, Florida, my apartment was broken into. They took over 300 cds.
Those cds represented my life from high school to graduate school. I went around to all the used music stores with a list, as instructed by the police. "Hi, I had these cds stolen, will you call me if someone comes in trying to sell them?" Every store said yes, and took the list, and said they would do everything they could to make sure that the thief was apprehended. One day, just before my insurance check arrived, I walked into one of the cd stores. As I flipped through the bins, I saw that many--I spent an hour there and counted over 50--of my cds were there. I went to the manager, and pointed to my list...it was posted right behind the counter, and asked the guy why they had purchased my cds--some of them even had my name on them. He just shrugged and said "that sucks." Would they sell them back to me at the price they paid for them, since they technically knew they were stolen cds? "Nope." My friends and I made flyers and posted them all over town, saying that this particular store was known to purchase stolen merchandise, and we got a lot of people to boycott the store.

I'm not saying that I expect everyone to return their Iphones and cancel AT and T service, BUT...you should know that AT and T don't have your back. They will take advantage of you when you're down, and they are not running their business with any sense of ethics. So, I'm stuck in a contract with AT and T, and their awful reception, and their overinflated bills for two years, and without an affordable iphone until the end of October.

I wrote them and asked them to give me a break. Let's see if they do, but this policy blows.