I continue to have problems with all the stuff in my left pocket.
Today I bought a new set of earbuds for my iPhone. This is the original 2G model, almost three years old, and I’ve probably gone through ten or fifteen sets of microphones.
At first it was hard to find them. I had to either pay a fortune to Apple, or get really cheap ones on eBay. I would buy several at a time because some didn’t work at all, even when they were new.
Today I bought a decent set at the kiosk at the mall, and I asked the nice lady there if other people replaced their earbuds as often as I did — or if it was just me.
“The truth,” she said, in her heavy accent. “Just you.”
The reason for this is that I keep them in my left pocket, along with:
• my bank cards, license, and other cards, bound by a rubber band — the things one normally carries in a wallet. I don’t use a wallet because I don’t like sitting on small, hard objects.
• my pedometer
• my nicotine gum
• drops for my eyes
When I get a phone call, I grab the phone and the earbuds. Sometimes they get caught on the pedometer cord, which attaches to the side of my pant pocket with a tiny clasp.
Sometimes they get snagged by the nicotine gum.
If the earbuds are tangled, then I have to really hurry to get them on while the phone is ringing.
They take a beating, but I don’t know where else to put them.
If I leave them at home or in the car and get a phone call — without using the earbuds — I can’t hear a damn thing.
I don’t like wearing them around when not in use.
So it’s a bit of a problem — but not much of a problem. That is, it’s a problem that’s not worth solving.