Reply to hh's response a few posts above....
hh :
Yes, this is the direction I was thinking. If Apple's foolish enough to provide significantly sensitive corporate info to a mere retail employee, *shame on Apple*. Mistakes like this are bound to occur, day in and day out.
Ok, I somewhat agree with what you stated. However, you are, in a sense, removing any responsibility from the employees themselves (or, possibly you're just being sarcastic). Employees still must adhere to ethics policies and constantly ask themselves "am I supposed to be doing this?". If you're not sure of the answer to that question, ask someone above you so that the issue becomes *their* responsibility.
The private, behind-the-firewall access is provided to the stores so that MG's can get access to Apple's "internal" kbase articles, not viewable by the public. However, I would certainly approve of any decision made to yank access to internal file servers from the retail stores - all necessary software is MAILED to the stores via FedEx for installation on back-of-house and front-of-house systems, so it's entirely unnecessary to allow access to internal file servers at the Retail stores.
Exactly. And since the Retail environment is inherently insecure, so Apple's a fool if they think that they can prevent simple screenshots of some of this stuff from ever getting out.
And on these lines, I think the next time I go into an Apple Store, I'll take along a personal Digital Camera and play the legal role of a screen-in-public-view Paparatzi, if for no other purpose than to show Apple that their Retail-level NDA is an excercise in futility.
I disagree there - Apple shouldn't have to take measures to
prevent those types of incidents. Well, let me restate that -- Apple DOES take measures to prevent "leakage" of confidential information - it's called "You're f'n fired, b*tch!". ALL employees know this, but apparently this didn't phase Adam.
Retail employees are told time & time again NOT to commit such acts as they violate Apple's NDA policies. Adam might not be all that bright, but he's certainly not a Lemming - he can make his own decisions and must certainly held liable for the consequences of those decisions.
As for the
digital camera idea, about 6 months ago Apple enacted a policy that CUSTOMERS are NOT permitted to bring in digital cameras to take any sort of flash photography/video inside of the store, unless they bring the camera in for a training session and are CONSTANTLY supervised by an employee of the store. If you have trouble believing what I say, stop by your local Apple Store and speak with one of the managers about this. So, that basically shoots down that idea.
The dillemma that I see is that by many reports, Adam was providing superior customer service, and that's Apple's loss.
Apple has to realize that young people are prone to mistakes, and that when you have an employee who the customer likes, you have to forgive minor indiscretions such as this one appears to be.
I would disagree that firing Adam was a "loss" for Apple. He was a sales associate, not some vice president or virtuoso software developer that Apple depends on. I'm not going to argue whether or not he was excellent at selling Apple's goods, it doesn't really matter if he's the best sales associate from here to Mississippi, he violated a fairly major policy. If anything, firing Adam was a
gain for Apple - he definitely won't be leaking any more confidential information, AND, Apple freed up some payroll (
most of the Apple stores are still grossly over-hired and over-staffed).
This is where I have to bring in the "life just ain't fair" concept. Yeah, people undoubtedly make mistakes, but I would say that what Adam did was too intentional and blatant to simply pass it off as a mistake. I'm sure that at some point this thought, or something similar crossed his mind "hey, maybe I shouldn't be taking screen shots of sensitive information". Then again, I'm not a mind reader, maybe Adam was stoned or under the influence of some other substance and therefore his decision-making was impaired....but, oh, I forgot, this is another policy violation worthy of instant termination.
Let me state for the record that I LOATHE Apple as a company. I worked for them as a senior software engineer for a couple of years and they were, by far, the WORST employer I ever had. I absolutely love it when I see employees that have the balls (or lack the intelligence) to leak company information. Apple sucks as an employer, but I still like their products. Anyone who says "oh, Apple is an awesome company to work for" is either in their first month of emploment there, NOT really employed by Apple, or is just BS'ing to mask their contempt for the company.
Several buddies of mine currently work at Apple stores (most are there part-time, some are full-time - I pity them), all of them are currently seeking employment elsewhere when not at work. The only reason they've stayed there is due to the employee purchase plan (25% off a Mac system makes part-time employment worthwhile if you can tolerate the stupidity of the idiot retail managers).
So,
hh, you brought up some decent points but I definitely would say that you are biased here - you're too pro-Adam. Look at the larger picture, he is certainly responsible for his actions, no matter how little or how unimportant the screenshots may have been regarding "sensitive" information. The facts are clear - Adam took screenshots of something he shouldn't have had gotten into in the first place (he wasn't an MG or a Manager so he was DEFINITELY not permitted to even see that information), he
most likely knew the consequences, and went ahead and did it anyway.
I rest my case.