Broken & wrapped for use
On my first morning in Caye Caulker, Belize, trying not to wake a roommate, I pulled out my bag, which sent my hiking shoe to the ground a few feet below — with iPhone inside it. It was the one day the phone was out of its Gelz Silicone case, which gave it bounce and kept the screen from touching the ground when dropped — and the result was a sad looking screen one-quarter full of fractures. Over the next days I found a plastic protector and I kept the top peel-off plastic on too, adding tape to allow continued use and keep the fragments in place. But I pretty much stopped using this iPhone as it is my sole Internet connection.
A few nights ago I showed it to the fantastic Danny Aisenberg, of Datek, a systems programming company. I had known Danny for exactly two minutes but he immediately said, “I can fix that for you.”I cannot begin to describe my feelings of joy and hope and shock as I heard Danny’s words.
A few days later I was at the Datek offices learning all about the various restaurant and inventory and maintenance systems they sell, set up, or custom program for businesses not only in El Salvador but all over the world. And as I enjoyed the men and learning all this, my screen was replaced. My new friends actually went out to buy the screen for me, then did all the taking apart (including heating to unglue), and handed me my iPhone looking perfect with a shiny new screen!
This is huge for me! I was so afraid of fracturing the screen further and being without all communication. It was enough that my Mac and other iPhone were stolen. When this one cracked it was crushing. Now I will look at and use this iPhone and think of the Datek crew with huge smiles! (And I also know that when I go to a restaurant here in San Salvador, chances are good that these are the guys behind the system running the restaurant.)
(Oh, that guy on the end… It’s his “thing” that he never smiles. He wouldn’t break that, even for me.)
PS: In case you are wondering, I did have another case for my iPhone. It was the ARC from Radtech and it was on my other iPhone the day that phone was stolen. The case pictured above is the Gelz case.