A Visit to an A&T Phone Outlet

None of the salespeople seemed to want to notice me. And this was a big store in the Garden State Plaza in NJ.
One glanced at me, said he'd be right back, then disappeared.
I went over to a booth with other salespeople.

Was I being ignored because I was shlockily dressed? Old? Overweight? Or is this the way they treat all customers--except the young and good-looking?

I was returning an AT&T phone I had gotten in the mail. Maybe it wasn't defective, but the instructions left me baffled. Because engineers wrote them? Because someone in India wrote them? I swear, I didn't know how to turn the phone on and off until I called customer service!

I had asked for a simple phone--one that didn't take photos and didn't boil eggs in the morning. "This is the simplest we have," said the AT&T person, Chris, on the phone. And sent me this phone that takes pictures, text-messages and translates Sanscrit into pidgeon English.

Back to GSP AT&T: The salespeople were agreeable to replacing my phone. I asked for a simple one.

"We have only one phone here," said one salesman. Didn't take photos. No flip-top? I asked. No.

I had trouble with the phone, a Nokia, immediately. It locked. You can to press a button in the center, then press * to unlock it.

Jesus! Is that tough! I finally figured out that you have to press the * ever so lightly for it to work. And then it takes me four or tive or six tries.

At 430am I woke up from my sleep and remembered that the salesman had said, "We have only one phone here."

There were hundreds of phones being sold! They were all over the place!
Was this a problem phone they had palmed off on me?
I wouldn't be surprised.

Some salesmen seem to play a game: Stick it to the customer.