I can’t speak for anyone else out there, but I have a few hot button issues that make me illogically upset. One of those things is when electronics don’t work properly. If an electronic item craps out, it sets something off in me that makes me weirdly ill at ease. It’s like some secret hidden awfulness that occasionally shows its face and reminds me that electronics can be like waiting for that big earthquake. Every time we use them, we are tap dancing on those fault lines and we never know when “the big one” will show up.

Blechhh.

Monday night I was sitting down at my desk and went to open up the lid of my laptop. I hear this awful crackling sound and hear tiny pieces of plastic crumble off and fall to the table. I tried to open the lid, but every inch made the sound worse. I finally managed to open the lid to a position where I could see the screen, and the plastic frame on the right side had completely separated from the screen.

I was immediately full of prickles.

The screen itself was still functioning, but I could not, for the life of me, get the frame to snap back into place. If I tried moving the lid at all, it would separate even more.

Multiplying prickles.

I got really frustrated. And upset. I just bought this computer in April of this year. It was fairly late in the evening, so I knew I’d have to wait until the following day to contact the manufacturer.

I keep meticulous records and organized files, and I went to look for my warranty information. It was nowhere to be found. Somehow, when I got this computer during the worst of my 2017 Big Sick, I somehow lost those documents.

Strike one for me.

I was so peeved all night that I couldn’t sleep well. I woke up cranky. Like, cranky cubed. I called Amazon to ask what could be done. They told me it was up to Acer, the manufacturer of the computer. I called Acer. They were of no help whatsoever. I told them I couldn’t send it in and be without a computer for two weeks and asked if there was an authorized repair center that they might be contracted with to fix the frame. They said no. They did tell me if I went to someone locally to have it repaired it would void the warranty.

Now I almost never get snarky or rude with people, particularly customer service folks, but this guy was talking to me like I was some sort of idiot, and when he told me about the potentially voided warranty, I said, “Oh, you mean the warranty that isn’t helping me at all?”

He became more and more obstinate and I finally got so frustrated that I burst into tears (and I hate crying in front of people or on the phone), told him I had to hang up, and hung up.

During that call, I received an email from Amazon saying if I didn’t get anywhere with the manufacturer, to contact Amazon again to see what could be done.

I figured I didn’t have anything to lose, so I contacted Amazon again. I was connected with a lovely man named Jonas who was so kind and understanding of my situation and, at one point, asked if he could put me on hold for a few minutes while he checked into something. I said, of course, and away he went.

When he came back a couple of minutes later, he told me I could send the faulty computer in for a full refund if I also purchased the same computer again before we got off the phone. He had basically worked out a straight exchange so I could have a properly functioning, brand new computer.

I broke down into a very different set of tears.

I was already worried about having to spend who knows how much to have this computer repaired. I was even more concerned about having to replace the computer completely. That he managed to work this out to where I would have a brand new computer for basically no extra charge, well, that left me floored.

I thanked him profusely and told him how grateful I was and how much I appreciated him finding a solution that worked. He was so sweet, I just couldn’t believe it. He turned a thoroughly frustrating situation into one that left me happily dumbfounded.

I sent a missive to Amazon singing his praises. He deserved every word.

I got the notification last night that not only did my new computer ship, but that it would arrive the next day: today.

I’m betting he arranged that, too.

I know I will have to set up the new computer and that it will take some time, but I am still so grateful. I backed up all my data last night to an external drive, so I’m as ready as I can be for the passing of the baton.

I know this isn’t gaming-related, but I have similar struggles when anything electronic goes wonky. That could be anything from a computer, to a controller, to a hard reboot of a console. Goodness, that just made me think of my max level character from the first Borderlands that somehow turned into a corrupted save file. Talk about upset.

I try to handle these situations when they arise to the best of my abilities, but something about electronics failing or malfunctioning sets me off in a way I can’t necessarily explain. I’m just so grateful this situation is in the process of a surprisingly wonderful solution.

Do you experience struggles when electronics malfunction? Or at other seemingly strange things?