That’s not accurate. Geniuses take Mac appointments (as well as performing repairs). Technical Specialists aren’t trained to troubleshoot Mac issues. They take iPhone/iPad/Apple Watch/etc appointments.
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Apple Hiring Fewer 'Genius' Employees at Some Retail Locations
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I have been to maybe a dozen Apple Stores and same experience. When I walk past them, I don't get close to them so they don't feel like they have to say anything to me. If I find something I want in the store, I go back to the front and talk to them about it and they get someone to help me. Most of the time, I'll purchase someone online to pick up at the Apple store. Everything I need to know about anything Apple is on Macrumors.com including trivial things like 8 GBs vs 16 GBs and 14 inch vs 16 inch. The reason geniuses are on this site.
Earning lots of money while simultaneously managing your costs are not mutually exclusive. They are both essential and a basic component of effective business management.
Exactly, the position is called OnPoint and literally the employee is only there to check people in for shopping appointments, genius bar appointments and make those same appointments. People slip by them sometimes and then get angry when they are waiting for 25 mins because they didn't know they had to check-in for their appointment.
As someone who works in a store, I wish that not having someone up front worked. When we don’t have people there, customers walk around looking lost and confused or frustrated until they’re either approached or they interrupt someone who is getting helped. You don’t HAVE to speak to someone up front, but that’s the best way for you to get where you’re going.
haha this exactly!! It can get so busy sometimes so not having those people up front to funnel those in it would become a major cluster
Great point and I'd certainly take your word for it over mine, especially since you have first hand experience as an employee. I suppose it could be a case-by-case basis as well.
Ehhh working retail sucks, I was promised one weekend off a month, it almost never happened. I was a Mac Genius wayyy back in the day making 16 bucks an hour, depending on the market I hear they make double that now, which is good.
I did a stint in property management about 8 years ago while I was looking for a proper job......saw the pay stubs of a couple Genius's......$85k.....his buddy who was living with him only was getting paid $61k for the same job. The rates vary widly.....but it did not pay that in 2002 when I was doing it. So really you could do well off that...but I think they confuse it for a stable career. At the end of the day it is no different than working at Old Navy. All things considered.....I'd rather Old Navy LOL. If you think that is crazy...you never worked Apple Retail.
It’s not just you - I’m the same. I guess techies are renowned for being a bit introverted personalities.
However most of my friends are extrovert and they all love physical shopping, asking loads of Qs, etc. my BF went to the apple store only last month, TWICE. To buy an iPhone 13 Pro Max that’s been out for half a year. He asked loads of Qs, etc. I was flabbergasted why he didn’t find this out and order online.
That’s probably why Apple do it.
The masses like it.
Used to work for Apple.
The only qualifier used to determine if somebody would be a good “Genius”, which is a Pro level position, is how good their AppleCare sales numbers are.
They stopped sending Geniuses to training in Cupertino years ago, and started promoting people into the role who had never repaired any kind of computer or phone in their life.
Geniuses are coached and told to send everything to depot for repair. That way they can spend more time on the sales floor selling AppleCare to customers.
Used to be they’d come in before the store opens and stay after it closes to focus on the few repairs they actually had in store. Not anymore, somebody could take apart your Mac and another person will finish the repair later in the day when the sales floor is slow.
Point is Apple only cares about sales now, and people with a service minded culture have left the company.
The only qualifier used to determine if somebody would be a good “Genius”, which is a Pro level position, is how good their AppleCare sales numbers are.
They stopped sending Geniuses to training in Cupertino years ago, and started promoting people into the role who had never repaired any kind of computer or phone in their life.
Geniuses are coached and told to send everything to depot for repair. That way they can spend more time on the sales floor selling AppleCare to customers.
Used to be they’d come in before the store opens and stay after it closes to focus on the few repairs they actually had in store. Not anymore, somebody could take apart your Mac and another person will finish the repair later in the day when the sales floor is slow.
Point is Apple only cares about sales now, and people with a service minded culture have left the company.
These guys have no idea what it's like to take apart a Tangerine iBook. LOL
I was talking to a "genius" the other day and he was showing me how broken the modern equivilent of kBase is. Funny enough....they all search MacRumors for fixes. Couldn't believe it. I remember the old days you would just search with kHot and whatever code word went with the product. It was the same kbase that apple.com used, except we had more permissions. I miss that old kbase.
I can tell you that I thought the same thing. However, data from surveys year after tell you that you are wrong.
I’ve found retail employees have a special ability to sense if you need them. Home Depot and Lowes seem to be magical. I can be reading the label on a product and have 3 different people ask me if I need help when I just want to read the label. Conversely, if I actually need help I can walk the length of the store multiple times and not see a single employee.
If they’re looking for real geniuses they should hire everyone on this forum.
Of course, I'd trade my M1 shirt for a magic mouse with a properly located charging port, but Phil may fire me because I make no sense.
PS: That studio display unremovable power chord isn't any less magical either.
Apparently, ppl with MBPs are more likely to visit Starbucks. MacOS has <10% market share.