Our store was in the mid 50's.
I worked at CompUSA, Best Buy, Office Depot, and Apple (before moving onto the Corp. World.) My fav. job by far was CompUSA with Best Buy a close second. Apple to me was just so polarizing. I loved Apple but hated the way retail employees were expected to act and were in return treated. I also hated how we Apple retail grew out of control and instead of quality employees (managers included) Apple went for quantity. Apple Retail in my eyes too spent to much time emulating other businesses instead of carving out its own (everything was do it like the Ritz Carlton or the Gap.) Gapple FTW!
1. I miss CompUSA, Circuit City, etc. as most cities have only BestBuy or RadioShack for their electronic/computer needs (NYC has TekServe which I try to frequent)
2. Was a Clientele Specialist at a Banana Republic in the '90's when Mickie Drexler was the GAP CEO (GAP owns "Old Navy" and "Banana Republic" - purchased around 1984 from a married couple who ran it as a Safari based retail store). Drexler KILLED GAP as he opened too many locations too quickly, including Banana Republic. He also restructured the merchandise for Banana Republic by eliminating unique items such as sports wear, home goods like beddings, pillows, dishes, silverware, candles, etc. and more fashion forward clothing (i.e. poorly made baggy "basics", fit guys that need tailored shirts w/ smaller waists were SOL). Now Drexler is on Apple's board.
- I used to work at a small Apple retail store then a larger location, first as a "Floor Specialist" then as a "Genius". At first I was excited, my co-workers seemed enthusiastic, the company was growing, Mac's were selling.
It was great to see repeat customers who just switched come back asking for you specifically.
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Then the curtain was pulled back. Every store had to have a customer rating of 8 or better. It was beaten into us to make sure customers left as "promoters" and not "detractors". Receipts had our employee information with an online survey for customers to complete.
No matter how hard you worked with someone, the huge increase of Soccer Mom's and "fashionista's" from 2007+ wanting their damaged iDevice replaced was awful, most threw fits and degraded employees.
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We couldn't refer to the APP as a "warranty", ever, as it gives the impression that Apple products break, we had to refer to it as a "guarantee".
As a Genius, the alarming increase of iDevice repairs/appointments was staggering. IF I got a Mac system I was excited.
Most days I had to deal with customers who came in with their guns blaring. Nothing I could do or say would satiate them. Many claimed their iPhone was lost and demanded a new one which Apple/AT&T cannot do as the customer may be lying.
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Apple began tracking online forums as customers began posting on which locations had Genius bars with lenient policies. Those locations were reprimanded and restructured, and Apple changed their policies on iPhone replacements. Geniuses were forced to get every job verified by Assistant and the General Manager, which meant slower repairs and appointments and more complaints.
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Most Floor Specialists are minimum wage high school and/or college students that don't know ANYTHING about computers. I had to explain IPS panels and how they are beneficial to Apple displays, or RAM or SATA or GB's etc. This mean that customers came to the bar with issues as the "Floor Specialist" misinformed them when selling their product, and demanded a refund or replacement. Of course, we took the heat.
In the end, it was an awful experience. Sure, retail is retail, however Apple changed from a computer company to an Inc. electronics company, and OS X and Desktop systems such as the affordable PowerMac's were replaced with overpriced, overpowered and infrequently updated/behind the tech Mac Pro Xeon server systems. This meant professionals who use Mac's for their work that supported Apple in the 90's who couldn't afford Mac Pro's and iMac's used to use mobile processors had to go else where. This coupled with the huge boom in the iPhone and iOS meant big bucks for Apple in supplying large quantity/low quality products while leaving OS X users behind. The last time I worked at Apple, we had t-shirts that promoted Leopard, "A New Mac for your Mac". Then those were replaced with iPhone *****, now nada.
