the story of the iPod Touch

once upon a time, a girl really, really, really wanted an ipod touch. she was tired of coveting other people's, so she hoped that santa would buy her one for christmas. when santa said, "hell, no," she was very sad.

"well, i did get a bonus at work," the girl thought. "maybe i could buy one of my own."

so she looked. and looked. online, in stores, on the train. they were a bit expensive and the girl knew she should probably spend her money on more responsible things, like her 401k or her financial planner.

one day, she was buying some christmas presents on amazon.com when she decided to see how much the ipod touches were there. they were cheaper than at the apple store, although not by much. "should i do it?" asked the girl.

then the answer showed itself to her in the shape of a promotion from audible.com. it was $100 off an audible.com compatible device if you signed up for a year's subscription for $14.95. now, if you don't know this girl, she can be very patient sometimes, but when it comes to actually deciding to do something, she can be very impulsive. without reading too much of the fine print, but checking out the audible.com website, she signed up. she got her $100 off coupon and ordered her ipod touch.

finally.

the girl's husband was impressed. "wow, that's quite a deal," he said. he was considering buying a larger ipod for himself. after a few moments of looking at the promotion online, he asked, "how well did you read the fine print?"

"uh," the girl replied.

"you do realize that it's not $14.95 for the whole year, but it's $14.95 a month for a year's subscription. your $100 off coupon just cost you $180."

so she thought about buying another one to replace the one she'd have to return. but the price had gone up! and they were out of stock! now what???

the girl waited until the no-good ipod showed up. and waited. and waited. she went in to work on her day off in hopes that the package would show up. no dice. she asked one of her coworkers if she could be on the lookout for the package, since it also had some christmas gifts in it. her husband stopped by her work on the snowiest day of the year to pick up the unusually large box. she opened it and looked at the small, white package longingly, but knew that she shouldn't get attached, since she had to send it back.

the girl called amazon.com. "you have to return the device and then contact audible.com to cancel your subscription."

"but i don't want to return it! i've waited 6 months to own one of these beautiful pieces of electronic genius! can't you just return it over the phone and rebuy it right away without the promotion?"

"no, we have no way of doing that."

"sigh," said the girl.

so she tried one more time to see if they were in stock on amazon.com. the tides must have turned, because lo and behold, the ipod touch was in stock again! and it was the same price it had been when she ordered it the first time! she quickly ordered another one, repackaged the old ipod touch, and sent it back to amazon.com in the mail.

and she continues to wait. again. hopefully she'll get in time for her birthday.

and that is the story of the ipod touch. sigh.