Now it would be funny for Apple to install signs outside the bathrooms "Executive Washrooms"
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Angela Ahrendts Says She Views Apple Store Staff as 'Executives'
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Apple fluff pieces do the complete opposite of what I suppose is their intended purpose.
It's been a while, but I think I'm having another of my "anti-Apple" years.
It's been a while, but I think I'm having another of my "anti-Apple" years.
More surprised that he didn't work in his tired: "What kind of successful business do you run?"
OT: Ahrendts is like a lot of executives. Myopic in a sense. Viewed from the prism of the executive suite, telling employees they're looked at like executives sounds inspirational in a "we're all the same" motivational vacuum. Reality is most often entirely different. Trite platitudes rarely motivate and often have an opposite effect. There are plenty of ways to show appreciation to the rank and file. What she did ain't one of 'em.
Nick Farrell over at Fudzilla refers to it as the 'fruity cargo cult's tame media'.
Woo wooing syncophants endlessly brown nosing and leg humping their iDeity.
Goebbels would be envious.
I don't know what's more disturbing.
That she made those comments
or that she might achooley believe them.
The reality for those 'executives' is more like this.
Former retail specialist at Apple. We did get stock options, although I can't remember the actual options. My pay was actually pretty good - $16 a hour. Clearing up a few misconceptions here.
exactly my experience as well. I was a genius for about 3 years, consistently got high NPS scores, closed over 10% of our stores appointments, and was seen as an asset by my team. Unfortunately for me, I had the stones to try and come up with better solutions to problems and I was labeled as a negative influence. I never once came with a complaint I didn't have a possible solution for, but because I challenged them, they saw it fit to just get rid of me. NPP (internal ratings for employees to give feedback to management) for our market was consistently awful. If they really cared, they'd see that trend and remove the people in charge instead of constantly promoting them and their friends to positions of greater power.
edit - i was making $21/hr with about 5 hours of OT per week out of school, so I wasn't slumming it by any means.
It's only tired to people who've never run a business with their own skin in the game (their own neck or net worth). Lots of academics and pundits would go bankrupt if they had to actually eat their own dog food.
So, why is store employee retention so high, putting up with all these empty platitudes, if most could get better pay elsewhere?
What's worst is that I have not seen a single change to th
Trust me when I say you will get nothing, but a pathetic and laughable answer from her. You will either hate her answer, or you will walk away thinking "Wow, I will never come up with that answer in a million of years....".
I had a friend/colleague like this, extremely cunning, and possible the most useless person at work. I helped him with many things over the years. Eventually when I needed help from him, he dragged on and on for weeks. I eventually told him to forget about it, and pretend I never ask (I made it clear that I was pissed off). He simply said(in a very nice tone) "Thanks for your understanding! We have been busy with many things, but I'm glad you understand.". That was pretty much the last straw. The characteristic of these kind of person, they will never get mad at least not in front of you, and as much as I hate that, that's the one lesson I learned from him.
*cue in Bianca Del Rio: "really, queen?"*
What a load of PR friendly baloney. When I worked in a store, I constantly outperformed my colleagues in the same role as I, created half a million in revenue working only 16h/week and never saw any sort of performance bonus like executives do. i didn't even receive my final pay on time...
I'm not saying she doesn't value the retail team because it would be stupid not to value those people, but you can't really expect to say that you view people who are paid around 10-16-20/h as executives.
That's just dumb but it's unfortunately a symptom of what's wrong with Apple Retail.
What a load of PR friendly baloney. When I worked in a store, I constantly outperformed my colleagues in the same role as I, created half a million in revenue working only 16h/week and never saw any sort of performance bonus like executives do. i didn't even receive my final pay on time...
I'm not saying she doesn't value the retail team because it would be stupid not to value those people, but you can't really expect to say that you view people who are paid around 10-16-20/h as executives.
That's just dumb but it's unfortunately a symptom of what's wrong with Apple Retail.
There are so many great people working at Apple on creating and supporting the products we all love. But it's pretty evident by now that the high-ups at Apple have fallen under their own "reality disortion field".
There seems to be little direction from the leadership, other than trying to turn tech into a seasonable fashion.
Consistently lots of empty buzzwords coming from Tim and team, and it's becoming a pattern just to desperately keep stock price up.
My advice to them is to speak with actions and not with words. That is the only way to restore confidence in Apple for many of us.
There seems to be little direction from the leadership, other than trying to turn tech into a seasonable fashion.
Consistently lots of empty buzzwords coming from Tim and team, and it's becoming a pattern just to desperately keep stock price up.
My advice to them is to speak with actions and not with words. That is the only way to restore confidence in Apple for many of us.
Simple answer: Laziness. If I wasn't fired, I would have begrudgingly stayed on because it paid enough for my lifestyle. Others I worked with that are still there are falling into the same boat.
Dream on.Will she start paying them as Executives as well? Count me in then...
[doublepost=1453994559][/doublepost]
They're probably glad you left. I know I am.
Mind you, there are nice perks to the job but that's all they are: nice perks. Many would make a difference in extreme cases (like health insurance), but none actually significantly improve the quality of life of base retail employees. And by that I mean that they don't pay high enough for one to live confortably.
Again, it's not bad for retail but really inadequate for her to say she views them as executives.
Last edited:
If you got paid over a mil a year and were given additional 10's of mil in stocks i believe you could hold a straight face saying anything they need to hear.
Or Parking spaces. Hell; what about the "Executive cafeteria" where the chef personally prepares each executive's favorite dish.
You're obviously not clued in to what the "tired" comment was about in relation to the person who overuses it. Otherwise you would have saved yourself some keystrokes. It sometimes happens when you enter a conversation without knowing the context. I've done it myself a time or two. No biggie.
Why is employee retention so high? Myriad reasons, the least of which is being called executives. Afaik, Apple's retention rate has always been high. Relative to the industry, Apple pays a competitive wage for retail employees. A lot of people who work retail for Apple are fans of the company. Some simply like the cachet of saying I work for Apple. It's a combination of all those things and more. Could some feel good because an exec says I look at you as an exec just like me? Yeah. I'd be hard pressed to believe it has an affect. That statement in particular would have had no affect on retention because she just made it. Fairly, she might have been saying it and we just don't know it. Although, if she was I think we would have known before now. Just my opinion.
Your question about most having the ability to get better pay elsewhere... how did you form that opinion?
She is so out of touch with these comments. Just shows how far removed she is if she actually believes that.
Hardly ever go to an Apple store anymore ... they need to stop using the terms Genius and Genius Bar ... because they're anything but.
So, Angela is either lying or delusional.
Or maybe executive Genius is an oxymaroon.
While all this is entertaining and ridiculous at the same time, VERY few here know what it is actually like (horrible) and this is just offensive.
Yet... everyone here, or mostly everyone, will still buy several Apple products this year, in the end Apple wins. Again. Congrats.
[doublepost=1453998044][/doublepost]
Its like a Helpdesk Level 1,
1. Did you reboot your phone. (Yes I did).
2. Did you restore your phone. (Yes I did).
3. Did you restore from backup or as new phone? (Started as new).
4. So you did all that and the battery still doesn't last more than 1hr? (Correct)
5. Well lets go ahead and do diagnostics, our test show the battery is healthy (Well it isn't)
6. Hmmm, lets go ahead and repeat steps 1-3 and because I am doing it, I can say it was done properly (Yea ok sure).
7. Yea, odd it still has an issue. Let's replace the battery for a one time fee of $99.99 (But I am within Warranty).
8. Hmm, let me see what my manager says. (Yea ok)
9. Sir, as a gratitude for being a valued Apple customer, we will replace the battery free (Ok, but my phone is within warranty so that is obligatory for you)
10. Sir, 5 more hours and your phone will be done (Good god ok, Ill come back in 5 hrs).
Yet... everyone here, or mostly everyone, will still buy several Apple products this year, in the end Apple wins. Again. Congrats.
[doublepost=1453998044][/doublepost]
Its like a Helpdesk Level 1,
1. Did you reboot your phone. (Yes I did).
2. Did you restore your phone. (Yes I did).
3. Did you restore from backup or as new phone? (Started as new).
4. So you did all that and the battery still doesn't last more than 1hr? (Correct)
5. Well lets go ahead and do diagnostics, our test show the battery is healthy (Well it isn't)
6. Hmmm, lets go ahead and repeat steps 1-3 and because I am doing it, I can say it was done properly (Yea ok sure).
7. Yea, odd it still has an issue. Let's replace the battery for a one time fee of $99.99 (But I am within Warranty).
8. Hmm, let me see what my manager says. (Yea ok)
9. Sir, as a gratitude for being a valued Apple customer, we will replace the battery free (Ok, but my phone is within warranty so that is obligatory for you)
10. Sir, 5 more hours and your phone will be done (Good god ok, Ill come back in 5 hrs).
I laughed out loud when I saw this headline on my news feed. I couldn't wait to open up Macrumors and read the comments - You guys aren't disappointing.
I have to say that Angela has underwhelmed me so far. Of course, I have no idea what she does, which I think is part of the problem for many. Has she changed the working conditions? Has she created new rewards systems? Any new kinds of communication approaches with the stores? Has the salary structure changed?
I love going to the apple store and almost always the folks there are very friendly and helpful. But that is nothing different that before Angela was there. The only thing I have seen since she arrived was the complete mess of a the Apple Watch launch. I heard the Macbook was a little better. The iphones were as always.
Opening stores are years in the planning so even the stores opened under her watch were probably planned way in advance.
So, what has she done to earn her salary? Maybe there is a lot under the covers and she may be doing a fantastic job. However, this article gives me nothing to say - "ah that's why she is such a great addition to the team."
I love going to the apple store and almost always the folks there are very friendly and helpful. But that is nothing different that before Angela was there. The only thing I have seen since she arrived was the complete mess of a the Apple Watch launch. I heard the Macbook was a little better. The iphones were as always.
Opening stores are years in the planning so even the stores opened under her watch were probably planned way in advance.
So, what has she done to earn her salary? Maybe there is a lot under the covers and she may be doing a fantastic job. However, this article gives me nothing to say - "ah that's why she is such a great addition to the team."
Theres nothing wrong with just being a member of staff. Just treat them right and pay them well and then don't bother with this executive bs.
Former Specialist here too. It was a 2nd job for me, mostly for something to do.
When I started back in 2008 (part-time), they started me at $11.25/hour (in a state whose minimum wage is still $7.25/hour).
That's $4/hour more than minimum wage. For a part-time retail job. Seven years ago.
They also gave everyone (including the part-timers) a monthly parking pass for garage parking. Or they'd reimburse you for a public transportation monthly pass, if public transportation worked out for you.
Slave wages? Really?
Also, the employee satisfaction surveys I took were all done via 3rd-party online surveys, and were done anonymously. There was no intimidation to give perfect scores.
Last edited: