Goes around, comes around, but it won't turn on

karma |ˈkärmə|
noun

• informal destiny or fate, following as effect from cause.

Nothing lasts forever - except the stop light next to my house, in the morning, when I'm late. Anyways, that's what I told my buddy when his first generation iPod shuffle took a dive.

He'd been having problems with it off and on, so when he brought it in to work and told me that neither iTunes nor Windows could recognize it I wasn't too shocked. We tried it on my Mac to see if "it just needed some Apple lovin'", as he put it. Turns out it worked on my Mac - that really set him off. He'd just transfered some music on to it the previous night after upgrading to the latest version of iTunes. After reading some sites he got it in his head that it was an Apple conspiracy to get rid of this version of the shuffle - although after our experience he may be on to something.

After about an hour of messing with this thing I was thinking, "why can't someone who works with technology for a living, who has used the heck out of this device, and deals with change constantly in his professional life understand that things wear out and technology changes to newer and better things. Surely he's considered that it might just be time to buy a new one." But, as if it were a life long pet who'd become part of the family, he just couldn't let it go. So being the friend I am, we took it to the vet - the genius bar at the Apple store.

We made our appointment online. We showed up 15 minutes early as they asked. Right on time they asked to see the iPod and wanted to know what the problem was. We told them. We had brought the original packaging and receipt. They scanned the SKU and informed us that it was out of warranty and that there wasn't much they could do. Odd... the guy didn't even plug it into a computer to try it out until my friend finally asked him - even then he just said, "yep, you're right. It doesn't work." They haggled a little more and they were finally willing to give him 10% off on a new shuffle.

And then, as we were getting up to leave, they guy behind the bar said, "I guess it's just time to get a new one." The very words I had uttered earlier. But, somehow it didn't sound the same coming from him. It really rubbed my friend the wrong way - especially the next day, since he was able to take it home that night and get it working again (even though it broke again later that day).

[Fade to black]
[End Scene]

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[Curtains Rise]
[Jeff is walking into his living room from the garage]

Hmm... I wonder what's on television. [kicks off shoes, plops onto couch]

[grabs remote and turns entertainment center on]
[picture comes on but the sound from the receiver won't get any louder]

Well, I guess it's just time to buy a new one, Karma... you cruel cruel mistress.