Last month I drove over 100 miles in one day to spend $150 on two Macbook chargers and two cables, only half of which work, to replace the one I casually left in my office after an in person work event back in Boston (while I was still living up in Maine).

How did this happen?

The adventure started the evening before, when I got back to Maine after a week in Boston and New York City. NYC for play and Boston for a couple of “team days” at the Broad. A minute after unpacking my laptop, it informed me that it would go to sleep soon unless plugged into an outlet. No problem, I thought, as I reached deeper into my backpack, where I **always** stash my charger when I travel. It wasn’t there. I looked more carefully, unpacking everything in the bag onto my parents’ dining room table. No luck.

My parents don’t have Macbooks, so I didn’t bother to wake them up and ask if they had the right charger.

Not wanting to panic, I texted my brother, who lives about 15 minutes away. He’s an elementary school principal, and elementary school staff almost always use Apple. He thought he had a cable, but not the power adapter.

Still not panicking, I opened up my personal computer (fully charged) and did the handful of task I needed to do that night – being very, very careful about how many apps I had running and how bright my screen was – while I mulled over my options. I figured I would run into Walgreens in the morning – stopping for a latte at my beloved Cafe Creme – and pick up a new one. Half an hour gone and done. No problem. I went to bed, resting easy.

When I woke up I was almost looking forward to my trip into town, even if it meant getting a later start at work.

Not the $$ I would spend on the charger I had carelessly left in my office, but the Cafe Creme latte, for sure. I headed out in the cool, crisp autumn air. The drive into town from my parents’ house is gorgeous, and morning is my time. I was optimistic. Happy despite my stupidity (carelessness).

I had to ask at Walgreens, but sure enough, they had the adapter and the cable in an “Apple compatible” knock-off brand. It was a third the price, too. Hooray. I grabbed it, then stopped to get my latte and head back to Georgetown, only 45 minutes late starting my day.

The first worrisome sign

But when I plugged in my laptop, ready to get on Zoom for my first meeting, it was immediately clear something was wrong. The charge icon didn’t come on, and I was late, so I did the meeting on my phone and left the computer plugged in. After the meeting, a little digging revealed that the charger only worked if the laptop was asleep, because it couldn’t handle the power required to charge and operate at the same time. OK. I figured I’d do non computer stuff, let it get a full charge and then work off battery the rest of the day. I took a longer and early lunch to let the battery fill up.

Sadly, when I opened her up after a full three hours charging, it was only at 25%. A little more experimenting revealed that this particular charger (did I mention it was off-brand?) would only get my laptop up to 29% charge and it would loose charge (though less) when I was actually using the computer. Ugh. This was not going to work.

I was starting to panic. Feeling desperate.

I called Staples in Brunswick (20 minute drive) to ask if they had an actual Apple charger in stock. I was so grateful to Brian, who told me cheerfully that yes, they did have it and he could put it aside for me. Equally cheerfully, I told him I would be there this evening after supper.

Staples to the rescue?

I showed up at Staples at 6:30, plenty of time, since they were open until 8:00. Unfortunately, Brian (or was it Ben?) had been led astray by the computer-based inventory list and there was no compatible charger or cable. We looked. In the right section, the wrong sections, and even in back. No dice. I don’t function so well or so cheerfully at night, so at this point I was starting to panic. A little.

Luckily Eric, behind the desk, was super helpful (also a little bored??) and called around to “local” Staples to see who had the charger AND the cables I needed.

After the third try, he lucked out with Staples in Augusta, who had one left (the person confirmed that they were holding it in their hands, and they would wait for me).

If you’re not intimately familiar with Maine, you may not know this fact: Augusta is an hour away (remember the store closes at 8:00!).

I did the math: my car – not fully charged – would not make the trip if I drove much over 65mph. I thanked Eric profusely and headed to Augusta in a hurry.

Driving an electric car makes you very conscious of every thing that makes a car less efficient: the heater, the defroster, high speeds. It was a cold night in Maine and I was in a time crunch – I needed all of those. I listened to the funky radio station I had found the day before (WCZY), my eyes and mind switching between the battery gage, the speed, and the miles to go (also the miles it would then take to get home, which I had looked up before leaving, though I didn’t have a plan B for if I ran out of battery).

Success at Staples #2

Thanks to Rayleigh’s trusty built-in GPS, I got to the Augusta Staples with ten minutes to spare. I thanked Eric cheerfully, plunked down my credit card, picked up the goods I needed and headed south and east for home. When I finally slid into the garage at 9:00 (sometimes my bedtime), I had 15 miles on the battery and my new charger and cables in hand.

I plugged in my laptop, snuggled into my PJs, and thanked the supply chain/technology/global trade spirits that I could do my job the next day.

Thoughts that also went through my mind

This is a first world supply chain problem. The pandemic has been bad for supply chain issues, but what if it gets worse? There’s a lot of people in the world who truly cannot get that thing they desperately need. This could become the norm. What if one day it’s me, living somewhere in the USA, who cannot get the doo-dad I need no matter how much money or time have to throw at it?

This may be my first time ever actually pondering the possibility of an apocalypse in my lifetime. It was not a fun thought.

I hope your Thanksgivings were more joy and less foreboding and worry than this!