Ladies Afternoon at the Bar

On a recent afternoon I sat at a bar. A number of women my age on either side of me. We all vied for the attention of the young men on the other side of the bar. 

But no, this was not a cougar bar with the ladies drinking apple martinis and slipping large tips to the young men. Rather, we were sitting at the Apple store's "Genius Bar", trying to figure out how to get our latest gizmo's to work. 

The Apple Store was one of Steve Jobs so-called inspirational ideas. Put a storefront at the mall where customers can buy all their Apple-related products and devices in one place. Customers can come in and browse, get help and, also, just play with the latest Apple products.

Some people scoffed: customers would never go to a mall to buy a computer. Turns out, the scoffers were very wrong: people come in droves to the Apple stores. 

And did you know--in the afternoons, ladies, of a certain age, flock to the Apple Store? I know. Because I was one of them.

My reason for coming to the Apple Store was a lack of memory. Not the human kind, though I often have that too. The laptop kind.

I thought I’d made an appointment with a “One on One” trainer. As it happens I was confused on the date I actually had scheduled my appointment. No problem. The young men (yes, there are some women who work at the Apple store, and even some older folks. But most of the personnel are young men) at the Apple Store said they could fit me in at the Genius Bar. So there I sat at the “Genius Bar”.

To my right an older lady was saying, “I have no idea what my password is for this…or that…”  To my left another lady was saying, “I can’t believe my laptop is out of warranty. It’s only seven years old.”  Another woman in my age bracket breathlessly pleaded for help, “I can’t find my play list. It was right here just yesterday.”

As I said, my problem was memory. When I repeatedly tried to update the software for my laptop I’d get messages that I didn’t have sufficient memory.

So at the Genius Bar, the nice young man helped me copy all of my photos onto to the thumb drive. You know how easy it is to take photos with an iPhone? And since there’s no film involved it seems you might as well take as many photos as you want. And keep them all. And with the Cloud all those photos were on all my Apple devices. 

The young man helped me delete all the photos from my laptop. After we made sure the photos actually were on the thumb drive. Then he helped me download the new software. While I waited, I browsed some of the latest clever devices--ooh, look at the new iPad Air. An even lighter version of what I already have. Cool.

The Apple Genius Bar gives new meaning to marketing genius and to the Cougar experience. Here we were, all of us older ladies. Sucking the brains and techno skills out of the young men, like—well, like, martinis through a straw. And ready to plunk down our credit cards for new techno toys.

All of this took most of the afternoon. So if any you husbands, are wondering  where your wife is all afternoon—you might want to look for her at the “Genius Bar” in the Apple Store. A least she’s not at some other kind of bar--drinking martinis with a younger man. But Apple martinis might prove to be cheaper.  You may have to watch what new Apple toys she's bringing home.