Photo Friday: Epic Fail

"Ooo, it's photo Friday!" I thought to myself. "Finally, I can showcase my mad ceiling skillz!"

Yes, after a FULL DAY of spackling yesterday (okay, 8:45am - 3pm, which is a full day for a teacher!), I finished spackling the beadboard cracks in the ceiling. I was planning a post including heavy analysis of my painting technique, why I needed to spackle instead of just shove more paint at it, etc. None of this makes much sense without pictures to detail it, so I went to take pictures, and...oops. Oh yeah. No camera.  Chris and I have had such trouble with our SmartPhones that we dropped them off at the Sprint repair center last night. Here's a snippet of the conversation I had with the Sprint customer care rep on the phone yesterday morning:

Me: So there you go.
Sprint: Wow, I'm sorry to hear all that. It sounds like this has been frustrating for you.
Me: Well, it's going to be frustrating for you if you can't help me sort this out.
Sprint: Okay. Here's a help ticket. (lists 15 digit number) Bring that to your local repair center and they will see my notes. I've put in your account that since both phones are insured, you are both eligible for replacement devices due to the extent of your issues. Just give the repair center staff that number and they will replace your devices.
Me: Are you SURE? Are you LYING TO ME? You folks have a tendency to make things up.
Sprint: It's all in my notes, ma'am. 

Now, I'm not stupid. I've been through this before with Sprint. I've been a loyal customer since 2002 (almost TEN YEARS. omg.) and the only reason that I've been loyal is because I call customer service at least 8 times a year and demand satisfaction for poor quality products, usually resulting in discounts that make it impossible for me to switch to any other service. Even now with data plans, we get a pretty sweet deal due to my long history of waiting patiently on hold. There was no way I expected new phones out of this, but I tried to stay positive as we sat in the Sprint store last night.

Store guy: Can you describe what issues the phone is having?
Me: Well, here's this ticket number.
Store guy: Oh, I can't access that information.
Me: What? She has a complete list of my issues with that ticket number. She told me to give it to you.
Store guy: Yeah, they always say that. I can't actually access the tickets. I have to take a list of the problems down so that the repair people can try and recreate them.
Me: Okay, well...(lists 10 minute list of problems)
Store guy: (finishes one-finger typing 15 mins later) Okay. We're going to need your phone overnight. 
Me: WHAAAAAT??? It's my only means of communication! This is 2011!
Store guy: It's what we do, ma'am.
Me: Arghh...ummm...argghghhhhh...what am I supposed to do in case of emergencies?
Store guy: I don't know. This is what we do. We have a procedure.
Me: Okay. (deletes facebook, banking, email, horoscope in a huff) Well, you'll need his phone too because they're having the same problems. 
Store guy: Okay. I'll need a list of the problems for that device.
Me: THEYARE THE SAME PROBLEMS. COPY AND PASTE.
Store guy: It doesn't work that way, ma'am.
Chris: Here's my phone. Here are the problems.
Store guy: Okay. I'll see you tomorrow at noon.
Chris: You'll see her. I have a job. Luckily she's a teacher and can actually come down here at noon on a  Friday.
Store guy: Umm...okay.

Prediction: I will get to the Sprint store today at noon and will be told one of the following: a) We tried and tried our hardest, ma'am, but we just can't recreate your phone's problems. Perhaps a psychiatric evaluation instead? Here's your crap phone back. OR b) Oh, we're swamped here today - come back around 4pm, at which time the 17 year old kid working on your phone out back will have completely stolen your identity and headed to Vegas with the balance of your savings account. OR c) Wow, this phone is awful. Here's a brand-new iPhone. (A girl can dream, right?) Stay tuned.

That's the long explanation as to why there's no photo this week. But wait! My old fashioned camera, long forgotten in the recesses of my pocketbook! Which, of course, has a dead battery. It's now charging. Epic photo Friday fail.

Best part of today, though? I brought in some labor (in the form of Chris' unemployed college student brother) to do the sanding that I can't reach. Maybe I'll have photos of this soon? And maybe I'll get my phone back someday? Sigh. That's the long explanation of why there's no picture this week.