Broke a speaker/mic connector - any hope?

Please excuse the venting that follows, I just need to get this out...!!

As I was tearing down the machine to get the DC-in board out, I obviously had to remove the connectors on the logic board for the speakers, mic, trackpad, etc. As stated in the guide, they are extremely delicate, so as I got to the LAST ONE, prying as gently as I possibly could, one wire broke out of the black plastic piece that connects to the board, and then as I tried to save the other one, it broke too. The words that I would use to describe this situation are definitely not appropriate for this forum, but needless to say I was furious. I had been doing so well with these stupid things and then it just had to get screwed up. This isn't even my machine, it's a customer's, and even though I insisted she have it repaired FOR FREE under the Apple warranty (which doesn't expire until November 2011!!) she persisted, saying she didn't want to drive 20 minutes to the Apple store in the mall. With this piece now damaged, I'm sure she will be denied any further warranty service. (Sigh...)

My first question, perhaps a rhetorical one, is why do these connectors have to be so ******* fragile? And in general, why are Apple's products so much harder to repair than the other PC brands...I feel they try to make it as difficult as possible and I'm sure there are many who agree. At least this Unibody Macbook is better than the previous generation but these little connectors really aggravate me.

Now, for the real question - is it possible to salvage this connector (don't know which part it's for) and get it to work again? Right now, both wires are loose but the ends are intact, and I think I can plug in the wires though I don't know if they will make contact.

Thanks for reading and any help is appreciated as I'm fuming right now over this problem.