Last night was a hectic night. I woke up at 2am and couldn’t fall back asleep until 4am. I promised my boyfriend, Jon, that while he was at work, I would wait in line to get him his iPhone. My alarm clock was set for 7am. I hopped into the shower, got ready and by 8:15am I was on the road with my younger brother, Conrad, who said he would wait with me all day to get the iPhone. I got to the bank as soon as it opened, 8:30am. I withdrew the money needed and headed to the mall.
Upon arriving at the mall, I made sure to park the closest I could to the Apple store. My brother and I walked into the mall before 9am. Walking towards the Apple Store, we already started to see people lined up, so we started counting, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and we would be 12 and 13! Not even 5 minutes passed by and mall security directed all people to head over to the Mall Security Center. My brother and I started speed walking. We approached the place and had to sign our names and were then given a ticket. I got ticket #5 and Conrad got ticket #6. SWEETT!!!! They told us that we had to be in line by 4pm or we would lose our place on the line. We then headed home and were home by 10am. All this work and under 2 hours!
When I got home, I was in a good mood, so I decided to clean my room (and boy did I clean it…lol). Around 12:30pm, we headed back to the mall to avoid Mother Dearest asking us to do more chores.
Getting here, people were already lining up. I asked Mall security where should I go, the kind lady told me head to the front of the line, where the man security guard asked what number I was and I would be placed inline accordingly. Numbers 1-4 were not there, so I sat first on line from 12:45pm till 3pm. We took our seats right in front of the entrance. What is so awesome about waiting for the iPhone is that if one needs to leave for any reason AND you have a ticket, you may do so and you may walk around the mall. It is uncomfortable sitting on the floor and having every single person gawk at you and ask you what you are waiting for (I mean seriously, turn around and look up…APPLE…duh..and then you have the huge iPhone in the display window…stupid people), but that is a small price to pay for what I am waiting for and for who I am waiting for it. After sitting in front of the Apple Store, Mall Security started to tell people that we needed to move because it was a “safety hazard.” Now, there are about 4 representatives from Apple guiding us anxious iPhone fans to another part of the mall. So we moved, and still waited.
At 2pm Apple had all their employees in the store, clapping and shouting and the crowd was going insane. Within minutes, employees were tapping up black curtains so that people passing by would not see the wonderful preparation for the release of the iPhone. Time was definitely passing by very slowly. Mall Security allowed people WITH tickets to get off line and walk around the mall until 4p.m. At 3:50p.m, the Apple Store took down the black curtains and inside of the store was visible to everyone. They had replaced all their computer ads with iPhone ads and the first two tables had 5 iPhone’s each. One of the big iPhone displays had a countdown going, which showed the minutes and second till opening. It looked awesome! Every ticket holder hurried back to their place in line for the remaining two hours. The first hour flew by very quickly. The second hour however, people were starting to get restless. Nonetheless, everyone continued to patiently wait.
At 5:50pm, about 50 Apple Employees ran out shouting with their hands in the air and high-fiving every single person on line. Everyone’s blood was definitely pumping. Everyone waiting stood up, as it was less then 5 minutes to go. Time was ticking. Everyone stood anxiously as one Apple Employee yelled “30 seconds” and then again “20” seconds and finally “10” and then started counting down as if the ball was going to drop on New Year’s Eve. 6pm, everyone was screaming and yelling and at that very second, Apple was allowing people into the store 8 people at time. Conrad and I were in the first people to go in. All employees greeted us with a warm welcome and open arms. The Store Manager of Apple directed me to the cash register closest to the door. The Apple employee behind the counter asked me 4GB or 8GB, I replied 8GB. She then scanned the iPhone and the total came to $640.93. I took out my cash, double counted, and handed her the money. She placed the iPhone in a very neat and elite black bag that had the iPhone printed on it. The bag was almost as good as the phone (just kidding). I took the bag from her and headed towards the door. On my way out the Apple employees were shouting and clapping, as I was the first person to walk out of the store with the revolutionary iPhone.
Mission accomplished.