It always seems to happen this way: as soon as I am about to embark on a long trip, my big iPod breaks. This occurred two years ago three days before I was to leave for Japan – and let me tell you, a Nano would not do on a 13 hour flight. Same thing – a week before I take off for Colorado, my 30GB iPod gave me the sad battery face (seriously, it should just say “$70 repair” instead because that’s what it means). So I prepared myself to shell out some cash for a new battery and call it a day.

Because it’s me, this is totally not what happened.

I went to my local Apple Store in Suburban Square (Ardmore, PA) on Wednesday and spoke with a concierge about my problem. He assured me that the fix would be done by Saturday at the latest, since I had to leave town on Sunday. We scheduled an appointment with a “Genius” for Friday at 1pm, the next available appointment. He didn’t check to see if the battery was in stock then – and in retrospect I should have asked – but assumed that he would get the part in by Friday if they didn’t have it, since he knew a customer 1) needed that part and 2) could not wait to have it sent in and 3) with only a Nano, would end up killing her friend Kim on their cross-country drive.

I show up on Friday, surrounded by people with iPhone issues (dude, I’d totally be on that bandwagon if they hadn’t contracted with AT&T, but that’s another story). My personal Genius said yep, you need a new battery and OF COURSE they were completely out of stock. I state, somewhat irately (the first Genius wasn’t really that nice and blamed me for not checking on the stock on Wednesday), that it needed to be done, please call the King of Prussia store – anywhere from here to Delaware – and get me the part and an appointment. He stated that he didn’t have time to help me and grabbed the man who eventually become my Apple Store savior – Dan in the black shirt.

Thank god for black shirt Dan. After hearing my sob story about the stresses of moving across the country (I know – I’m moving to freaking paradise, finally going to grad school, and getting a dog… my life is soooooo tough), he called KOP (who OF COURSE also didn’t have the part). Sensing that I had completely given up hope (literally, head down on my Fat City Reprise purse, completely dejected, and wondering how many times I’d hear Miley Cyrus on shuffle all on my Nano), Dan vowed to figure something out. I expected, I guess, that maybe they would forward my info to the Apple Store in Boulder and hook me up or maybe let me purchase a replacement 30GB (since they no longer sell them) for the price of the repair.

I was offered neither of those options. I saw the Holy Grail of ridiculously amazing customer service.

Since there were no 30GB iPods in stock (OF COURSE!!!), I was going to be given a brand spanking new 80GB iPod for the price of the repair. Holy shit. Insane – I don’t even have enough music to fill that. I looked at Dan and tried to not cry, which freaked him out I think, because he got that “Oh Christ, please don’t freak out” look on his face. I assured him that I was thrilled, just because shit like this doesn’t ever happen to me and I had been super-stressed out. He then made it better by telling me that it would be easier if they charged me nothing. NOTHING.

Because Apple cares about their customers, I got an 80GB iPod for free.

Now, I think this is just an instance of good karma… I wouldn’t expect to just be handed iPods when you walk in. They definitely saw my case as a special circumstance, especially since I had been promised that the repair could be completely by a certain date. And I tried to keep my composure (although I’ve been an emotional headcase because of this stupid move and leaving my friends), which I think helped my case a bit. I was just really pleased to see that they value their customers – I’ve been pretty loyal to that store, having purchased my two iPods, my mom’s iPod, and my MacBook there. But I think this was just Gaia’s way of telling my misanthrope self that humanity have some redeeming qualities (like the patience of Dan in the black shirt). Well done, Sub Square Apple Store – not only have you redeemed my faith in humanity, but you made a long road trip much more bearable.

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