Yoo 277 - And then my iPhone was stolen...

The Gregbeau and I went to an awesome Keith Urban concert at the rodeo last night. This post isn't about that. This post is about how tainted that experience became shortly after Keith handed off his guitar to a lucky audience member, blew copious amounts of kisses with his hair tousling just so, and hopped on the back of a truck with his band to be driven out of the arena.

The night was perfect.

And then my iPhone was stolen.

We were in the cattle drive that was the exodus from the AT&T Center when I reached into my coat pocket for my mittens, and realized something was wrong.

"Where's my phone??" I thought. Sinking feelings began.

I immediately stopped amongst the throng and started grabbing at myself as people pushed past me. Awkward. But I didn't care. Grab back pockets. Not there. Grab front pockets. Not there. Double check coat pockets. Not there.

Panic!

"Boo my phone's gone!" (Greg's "boo" nowadays...lame, I know..but it is what it is).

(quick break for a completely non-related word from our sponsors...)

 And we're back.

Boo got a terrified look on his face and I could tell his mind was instantiating the "tornado warning" procedures and deciding just what move to make...or not to make.

I don't handle situations like this, uh, very well...

And I didn't handle the situation well at all. (surprise surprise).

I started playing back in my mind the last time I'd had it. I'd pulled it out to "fan" a local radio station on facebook in hopes of winning more concert tickets. I knew I'd put it back in my pocket after that and hadn't touched it since because I was frustrated with how slowly the network was moving (in the AT&T Center, of all places, *eye roll*). But, it's all I had to go on so I started racing back to our seats in the upper levels.

Well, the thing about the AT&T Center is it's brilliantly designed to get people in quickly and get them out quickly...but only one at a time. At this point, all the escalators were moving in the same direction (down) and all the people were moving in the same direction (out). I needed to go up and in. Less effective.

It took ages and all sorts of crawling thru people and over seats to get to Guest Services on the other side of the arena. And then they directed us to an elevator (out of order) and another hidden elevator (not out of order) usually reserved for people who pay more than $10 for tickets, apparently.

*elevator music*

Resume frantic searching. I tore up the stairs to our seats and my gut sunk lower and lower as I looked over and under and between to no avail.

This is where I really lost sorts and will edit to keep it child-friendly. I was fairly certain at this point that I had been pick-pocketed. The Gregdialer called my phone and someone answered but didn't say anything and hung up soon after. I said some words. We checked back at Guest Services to see if the phone had been turned in. It hadn't. Everyone was gone at this point, so that was a lost cause. I said some more words. We tried for 8 years to find a number to call AT&T and speak with a person. We eventually found a number but never could get in touch with a real person. More words.




You get the idea.

It wasn't pretty. But the Gregpatient handled the situation quite well. Except for that time he mentioned how his phone had insurance and they would replace it if it got lost or stolen. Yeah, wasn't the best time to bring that up.

I just felt so violated! Pictures and texts and emails and notes and EVERYTHING were now most likely in the hands of some creeper thief. I hated thinking about that person. And also hated that I was so attached to an insignificant object and it had such an effect on me.

It still does. I've been so depressed and out of touch without my phone. And it hasn't even been 24 hours.

Pathetic, right?

Even more pathetic was getting reminded by the Kyoo dad (after recounting the story) that until I learn to control my temper in situations like that, I'll need to get really good at apologizing. Twenty-five and I'm still being scolded by my father. *doh! Working on that...

Stupid phone.

So, lest you experience the same outrage, and, since an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure...here are the Kyoo Tips for Protecting Your iPhone.

Or, What I Wish I Would Have Done.

1) Set the passcode auto-lock. Super annoying but, now that I've been violated, I'm positive it's worth it. *dork stamp*

2) Install the Find My iPhone app. It's free and just might help you locate it, whether it's lost or stolen. And there's the nice "Remote Lock" and "Remote Wipe" feature. Now what they need to add is a "Self-Destruct" feature that would explode the phone...and maybe take a limb or two from the thief. But that's just evil...though I'm still not sure I'd have remorse pushing that button right now.

3)  Memorize your service provider's number. Because, if it's AT&T, it's IMPOSSIBLE to find the number on their site. And you're going to want to deactivate that phone pretty quickly if it goes missing. (without throwing a tantrum and expletives and all that).

4) Sync your iPhone with your computer. More than once every blue moon. Because then you might not hate yourself as much when all your photos and recently purchased songs and apps go missing. (or you could sign up for iCloud...probably easier).

5) Actually register you iPhone. You know, so you can remember important things like the serial number should you want to fill out a police report. It helps them prove it was yours, or something like that.

And that's that. Hope your Saturday night wasn't as eventful!

Oh...and if you know anyone selling an iPhone for cheap...send them my way.

Have a great day :-)