It´s simple, really....I hate cell phone companies

Friday September 24, 2010 6:23pm – Spain
What do I hate?! I hate cell phone companies. Not only do I hate cell phone companies in the US, I now hate cell phone companies in Spain and I’m sure I’d hate them in any other country I happen to visit. I hate them with a passion that transcends all evil (that doesn’t even make sense but it sounds mean).
This morning at 10:00¸ I met up with my friend Juan Carlos and after dropping a paper off at his university, he was a trooper and we began our adventure of finding a cell phone. We traversed to all of the popular cell phone companies to find catalogs of the cell phones. This took about an hour and then we sat in a plaza to start our search for the perfect phone for Emily (but I think I was a bit disillusioned that something would measure up to my iPhone and I was sadly mistaken). Since I am not really a Spanish resident (yet) and don’t have a bank account (yet), I have to get a pre-pay cell phone and those options are much more limited than if you have a contract (much like the United States). Well, I decided upon a company and three phones I wanted to see. So we went to Orange (the company I chose) and asked to see the phones. Easy enough, right? Wrong! The woman didn’t have any of the phones but she said that another store had them. So Juan Carlos and I trekked all the way across town only to find that none of the ones that I wanted were at that store either. So it was onto another company to see my second option of phone (which was still a nice phone). We hiked to Vodafone and asked to see this particular phone which said in the catalog “pre-paid.” Well, the woman told us in so many words that this particular phone could only be purchased if you have a contract. Strike 2, 3?! Feeling very defeated, we did the next best thing……we drank. At this time, our search had gone on for 2 ½ hours and we had nothing to show for it. We sat and had a beer and a tapa and discussed our options. Juan Carlos suggested that we go to this place called The Phone House. And yes, the name is in English. However, the whole time, I thought he was saying “let’s go to the FUN house.” Ohhhhhh boy. This is a place where they sell phones for all of the companies. I found one I liked there with a company that is not as well-known. However, it was nearing lunch time and Juan Carlos had to go home and so did I. So we parted ways (at 2:30 – almost 5 hours after our adventure began and with empty hands) and agreed to meet at 4:15 to buy the one we had picked out. The woman at Phone House assured us that the store doesn’t close for the afternoon like the rest of Spain.
Imagine our disappointment when we met each other at the Phone House at 4:15 and it was closed. I think that was maybe strike 15 of the day? Juan Carlos had to go to work at 5 and so we walked toward his workplace and we happened to find an open Vodafone store on our way. I said “hey, let’s go in and see what they have – it can’t hurt.” Lo and behold, they had the phone that I wanted earlier and it could work pre-paid and not only with a contract!!! It was like the heavens opened up and angels started singing. I quickly made a decision that this was the phone for me (and most of you know Emily and quick decisions don’t go together). It’s an LG Cookie Fresh (what a name, right?) It has a touch screen and it’s pretty nice. I have put in most of my Spanish contacts and am good to go. I don’t really want to walk anywhere for days – I think I covered just about every square inch of Granada in my search for a cell phone. My feet hurt so bad.

Here is a picture of my phone (of course they didn´t have it in pink and mine is black but I was not into being too picky at this point in the day.)

So, after this long and drawn-out story (I’m sure most of you stopped paying attention in the first paragraph), I’d like to reiterate that I hate cell phone companies. That’s all for now!