Welcome to completely baseless, unsubstantiated claims that you cannot verify. Has anyone ever worked in retail before? If this was not Apple no one would be reporting it as this kind of thing happens ... all the time.
Seriously. I'm not to happy about the guy either, but let's try to base our speculation on at least some fact.
Actually anyone who has stepped into a Dixons/Currys/PC World over the years in the UK can substantiate that claim.
They have one of the worst reputations in the business, with staff that are not knowledgable about their products and who quite frankly don't give a crap as long as they can sell you their extended warranty that is not worth the paper it's printed on let alone the extortionate price they charge for it (AppleCare is cheaper for far superior cover).
There are normally only one or 2 staff on a warehouse sized shop floor, with maybe one other on the tills.
The only reason people shop there is that they have the advertising clout to ensure that others don't get a look in.
And yes I realise that is probably similar to Best Buy or any big box retailer, but the point is, Apple is not a big box retailer.