So wait, you're implying that you somehow deserved more after a long tenure in retail and that your choice to have children somehow should have made them accommodate that not only with pay, but also more excitement? You worked in a store, and those jobs aren't really designed to be a career on which to raise a family anyway. If anything, I'm amazed that with the claimed degree you didn't secure a better position and salary sooner. Also, I wouldn't be so quick to look down on those retail workers who don't have degrees or seem "less talented" than you, and wonder why you even feel the need to go there with your skill set. Your post comes across very much as you saying that you were too good for the job then, and that the people there aren't good enough for you now.
Tenure and expertise in a role should be considered if you want to retain your top talent, something Apple Retail is indifferent about. The job wasn't un-exciting, but do the same thing for 7 years and I promise you'll want a change.
Fact is, you weren't there, and you don't know me or those who have tended the bar for 7+ years. If you put in 5-10 years with a company and you're a top performer and lead your team in net promoter scores, it's not unheard of for these special folks to be rewarded with better shifts to allow for flexibility as they grow in the role and wish to have a healthy work/life balance (for many that's getting married or starting a family, for others at Apple it means traveling the world). Some store managers did this for their people, others did not - mine did not.
Your statement that a retail job isn't designed to be a career and my degree would have me consider other options
is actually the
insult to anyone who chooses Apple stores as their career, as my Assistant Manager former roommate did, even if I agree with you and feel people with more experience should aim higher. I graduated ahead of the greatest recession the US had ever seen to that point, so Apple was a safe bet for a 22 year old with a lot of Apple knowledge - and the stock did extremely well and allowed for downpayment on a home.
What I'm saying here is that the store has a Peter Pan issue, people get older and gain knowledge, the store stays the same -- it doesn't offer more challenges or career growth, so the best folks leave. Apple used to pay Mac Geniuses over 6 figures when the stores opened in 2001, most of them former Apple engineers, they eventually realized they could pay 1/3rd of that and the customer would be fine with it, especially as the iPhone became a hit and needed massive amounts of staff to support it.
These days, most of my corporate desktop engineers come from Apple Stores, their customer service skills are insanely good, we offer better pay/hours/benefits, and if you teach 'em a little Windows and Active Directory they're pretty much all set. Apple Retail was the graduate school I didn't have, but life is chapters - and you eventually turn the page and start the next one.
