I “accidentally” bought an iPhone Pocket.
Disclaimer: Inspired by true events..near the end of November 2025.
My wife wanted to go visit her brother who just had a baby, and it’s quite a hike from Charlottesville, Virginia all the way to Paterson, New Jersey. I had to come back two days later for work, but we still managed to make a quick trip to New York City, four years after our last one. A great way to spend time with the wife and kids.
The trip was a selfless trip, all about them…
We’ve gone to the city many times, so it was my idea to try something different, a place more cultured, more “boutique,” with a different but still authentically New York City experience.
“Let’s go to SoHo.” I said. Plenty of things to see on the way there, and plenty of spots to get quick bites to eat. A little bit of Belgian fries with powdered parmesan, some Yemeni coffee, great architecture, and cobblestone streets that would bring tears of agony to any Ferrari owner. A world of cultures densely packed in one place.
A new experience for the kids with more cultural exposure. I’m serious…
A lot of the fun is just driving around in NYC, seeing how people interact, and how traffic rules gradually mean nothing the deeper you get inside. The craziest thing we saw before we even parked the car? A well-dressed man in hot pink wearing what looked like a beachcomber straw hat, wrestling with his dog who was upside-down, full monty view of its junk, all to try and tighten his dog vest so he doesn’t get cold.
Aaah, New York City.
For our family of six, the real challenge was walking, since the sidewalks are crowded, barely wide enough for a stroller, and one wrong step on an uneven sidewalk (a hallmark feature of NYC) could smash your head down a set of stairs right into an Italian bakery, no mob activity required.
Challenge #2 - finding a bathroom. It’s already impossible to find a bathroom in the city, but I heard you can go to an Apple Store and use the bathroom without being harassed to buy something. Perfect for the little ones. There happens to be an Apple Store in SoHo not too far from us, so we headed there to freshen up.
Wow what are the odds that there happens to be an Apple Store nearby? Crazy…
I was getting a sip of ice water from my Journey water bottle while standing near the iPhone booth, when my daughter bumped into me as she was making a beeline towards an iPad Pro. She jostled me enough to make me spill ice water all over my shirt and shoe. It’s one of those sneakers with perforated holes, so my sock was soaked.
It was a shock to my system as the iced part of my shirt velcroed itself to my chest, throwing off my reflexes. A cold shiver down my spine and drenched sock sent my brain into a frenzy and made me scream in horror.
It was like a scene from a Michael Jackson music video. I’m screaming, twitching from all the cold and shaking my leg, screaming:
“Oh my God it’s icey!”
“My yucky sock!”
Several of the Apple employees heard me, and well, they quickly rushed away which made me feel uncomfortable and self-conscious all of a sudden. Nobody else really batted an eye, because after all, it’s New York City.
I’m thinking those employees went to get a mop to clean up the mess, but they ended up coming back with an iPhone Pocket. I asked them, why did you bring me this?
“Well we thought you were so excited for the ISSEY MIYAKE sock* so we got you the last one in stock,” said the Specialist.
They mistook my expressions the wrong way.
“Umm, no” I said. “I was just expressing my feelings about how icey I felt, and how yucky my sock feels.”
Apparently the, “OMG it’s icey! My yucky sock!” sounds a lot like, “OMG it’s ISSEY MIYAKE sock!”
Still shivering from the wetness all over my torso, I grabbed my phone to call my wife so she can supervise the kids while I go clean myself up in the bathroom. My hand was shivering, and my quivering thumb accidentally tapped the Power Button twice instead of once activating Apple Pay. The employee with the iPhone Pocket noticed my Apple Pay screen, and tapped her little iPhone kiosk gizmo to my iPhone Air, completing the transaction.
Everything happened so fast…I don’t know if I got high off some weed fumes as we made our way to the Apple Store, but I was now the owner of an iPhone Pocket. Before I “accidentally” spend more money, I decided it was best to leave now that we have 5 empty bladders and a clean diaper.
In retrospect, it’s kind of crazy how I happened to end up in the only store in the USA that was selling the ISSEY MIYAKE iPhone Pocket, and they had it in stock.
TOTALLY didn’t expect that to happen.
*Actually how the events played out - I made a reservation that morning while in New Jersey and they had a few colors in stock at SoHo. Went there like a normal person (with family) and I said, “I’m here to pick up my iPhone Pocket.”
“Oh, we call it the sock,” said the employee.
No drama, no flair, but the Belgian fries and Yemeni coffee were real.
So was the man in hot pink.
It was a symbiotic affair where everyone in the family got something out of the trip.