Apple Store Worker Says Staff Routinely Get Death Threats From Customers

Matthew.H said:
Unfortunately this story doesn't surprise me. I used to work at Curry's/PC World and you do get rude and abusive customers. Although I never received deaths threats. These days you just seem to get people who have no common sense or morals. Always treat others how you'd expect to be treated.

Yes it's annoying when products break but nothing gives someone the right to go to the store and start hurling abuse at members of staff. Anyone who does that frankly should be escorted off the premises and banned from the store.
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THIS.

I wish people would understand that yelling at the lowly retail employee will get you no where. THEY are not the one who made your product or caused it to break.

I understand the customer being upset at something breaking/not working that they paid for.. but that doesn't give you the right to bully/attack the employee at the store.
 
IJ Reilly said:
Actually neither of these things are true, according to the article.
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In addition,

  • The company doesn't promote from within -- total bull crap. Crappy, poorly run companies don't promote from within, but from the outside. Is there an issue with "promoting" part-time workers to full-time ones? Didn't realize that was a big deal.
  • Confidentiality agreement prevents employees from taking selfies in the Apple shirt --- Again, total bull crap. You pay your employees pocket change. They can take a selfie in their Apple shirt if they want to. Worry about innovation instead of stalking your employees on facebook.
  • Mandated one hour work shifts. Explain to me why an employee has to waste an extra unpaid half hour per day? Apple should only allow for a half hour lunch so the employees can go home half an hour earlier and not have to work what is technically a 9 hour day.

Also, it never says the Samsung point is not true. Show me where it says that in the article.
 
Instead of Apple trying to change the Chinese business model, Apple has embraced the Chinese model instead. Employees are nothing more than rats to them, and thus treated that way.
 
cardfan said:
Sounds like someone who works a crap job.. 12/hr is a joke. Working at an apple store is about as "professional" and possibly even worse paying than flipping burgers or being a dishwasher. Some of the stupidest people I've met are apple store employees who try to "help" you. I try to avoid going there if possible as the stores are pretty awful and prefer online. Then again, the majority of people are pretty stupid. These kinds of crap jobs will always be in demand.
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I can't contest to Apple Store employee's knowledge and or assistance. But in any case, calling people "Stupid" or "Pretty Stupid" is rude and sophomoric. Everyone needs a job for a reason or another, and for you to call an Apple Store employee stupid, regardless of how talented they are or not, and says a lot about your character as a person.
 
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Apple can and should be paying their bottom level employees more than $8/hr. The company is sitting on billions, they can afford to be a tad more generous. Particularly when they're paying their chief executive hundreds of millions - he's not the one selling the products, is he. The world is messed up.
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cardfan said:
Sounds like someone who works a crap job.. 12/hr is a joke. Working at an apple store is about as "professional" and possibly even worse paying than flipping burgers or being a dishwasher. Some of the stupidest people I've met are apple store employees who try to "help" you. I try to avoid going there if possible as the stores are pretty awful and prefer online. Then again, the majority of people are pretty stupid. These kinds of crap jobs will always be in demand.
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Whilst I can't agree with calling employees stupid, I've certainly dealt with some pretty clueless Apple Store employees - never Genius bar staff though. Those guys are always amazing. This one woman I dealt with had no idea about the replacement policy they had, another woman had never touched an Apple Watch before. But they were both probably new. Only time I've had a bad experience in an Apple Store.

Oh also that time I was in the Convent Garden store and I waited about 10 minutes for a member of staff to even acknowledge me. But it was Christmas and it's a huge store and it was very busy. A woman even brought her dog in.
 
scaramoosh said:
They need to call them something else, calling them a genius gets them a lot of hate from the get go.
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There are haters. And there are low lives. Those who hate someone because they are called a "genius" probably can't spell it. Most people like to go to a store where the person supposed to fix their problem has the confidence to call themselves a "genius".
 
I read the whole article, and it seems working at an Apple store is incredibly...normal.

It's a retail job. You get retail pay, you get retail promotions (none), and you're expected to be there for a while while going to school and then leave. Apple store isn't a career. It's a place where you can put in some part-time hours for a while until you get a real job.

Personally, I'm glad their employees aren't on commission. I hate being sold something. Any time I've had to buy something from someone who is on commission, I end up spending more money that I wanted to and hating them for it.

From reading the article, it seemed like the girl in the store hasn't had a lot of jobs. The way she described employee reviews and being called out for not doing enough. All that is what it's like to have a job.
 
smacrumon said:
For goods purchased in England or Wales, these rights expire six years from delivery of the goods and for goods purchased in Scotland, these rights expire five years from delivery of the goods."
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Doesn't mean your product will be fixed. By law, the seller has to fix your product if it doesn't last for a reasonable time, and you can prove that the defect was there when you bought the product. For computers, "reasonable" is usually around two years. I read somewhere that Apple's policy is to repair "if the genius believes that the defect was there when you bought the product" (that is even if the genius believes you couldn't prove it).
 
Fancuku said:
When I tell my left leaning friends that Apple are the most ruthless company out there and all the environment and social justice stuff are all smoke and mirrors, they tell me I am crazy.
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£8 an hour for a retail employee in the UK is above average.
 
If you ever notice, ..many times staff hop as they leave the front of the store. Since most stores are only one story high, and a sprained ankle is the worst that's been reported to the press, that has allowed them from installing the suicide nets seen at Foxconn.
 
wigby said:
Having trouble believing any of the positives or negatives mentioned in this story. Discount on AAPL shares? I don't even think that's legal in the states but maybe legal in the UK. Sure death threats happen but no, they are not typical and say more about the way that particular Apple staff member handles issues than about the customer making the threat.

However all of the NDA stuff sounds right and make sense. I'm sure other secretive companies have the same policies. All the non commission sales stuff sounds right too.

And I've seen many Apple staff using non Apple phones. They seem fine working there and that's what it comes down to - the stores wouldn't be as successful as they are and have so many employees working there and trying to get hired if half of these problems were real.
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They do get discount on shares: my ex worked for Apple.
 
The article - the interviewer in particular - seems to have an anti-Apple bias. Other posters have commented that it's a retail job and sounds like every other retail job.

So retail employees can't afford Apple products? No, and Currys employees often can't afford 85" 4K 3D HDR TVs. Mercedes sales staff often can't afford the AMG GT. No big deal.

Apple Retail staff don't receive commission on sales, but this is for the benefit of both staff and customers. Staff don't feel under pressure to mis-sell and customers can feel assured that advice is unbiased. I would be surprised, however, if the top sales' staff weren't recognised in other ways - such as an improved hourly salary at review time. If, however, you are a top salesperson and aren't being recognised ... go and work at Currys instead. That's the world of work, sadly.

The fact that Apple retail staff are "reviewed" by colleagues and customers is a little unusual in the retail sector, but it's not unheard of in the wider world. It's often called 360 degree feedback and happens relatively often in the white-collar world - particularly as part of a development programme.

If there is any justified criticism of Apple in the article it is around the policy of promotion from within. It should be possible for staff that want to build a career, and do the right things, to progress within the organisation. Having said that, the interviewee seems to work in a large London store and it doesn't surprise me that the powers that be would want experienced managers in charge. This employees experiences may be atypical and it shouldn't be assumed that, at other stores, it is as difficult to be promoted as she makes out.
 
simonmet said:
It sickens me that there are jerks out there that take their problems out on Apple staff that are just doing their job and don't make the policies..
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These jerks also don't realise that Apple staff has a certain degree of freedom in their decisions. And a death threat isn't going to get your phone repaired.
 
"a detailed interview with someone claiming to be a UK Apple retail employee which provides an intriguing insight into what it's like to work in an Apple Store.

The interview is unusual because every Apple staffer signs a confidentiality agreement on their first day in the job, which apparently prevents them from speaking publicly or announcing their new employment on social media, and even bans them from taking a selfie wearing their Apple T-shirt.”

So basically this is an anonymous hit piece by someone who “claims” to be an Apple retail employee. Nice. And because it’s on the Internet it must be true, right? Funny that these hit pieces always seem to conform to the standard memes established by the iHater hive mentality.

And the resident haters who constantly infest this forum take it as the gospel truth. How convenient for them.

Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth?
 
Hate to break it to you, princess, but it comes with the territory. Buck up. I worked numerous customer service jobs when I was in college and had my life and safety threatened many times by angry customers. If you can't take that kind of pressure and have no instincts for dealing with intense interpersonal interactions like that, you should find another line of work. It's that simple.

But of course, since Apple has some pretty deep pockets, I'm sure someone out there is contemplating how this situation could be rectified with cash payouts for the "victims."
 
wigby said:
Thanks for the clarification and education. How does the discount work? Do you get a reimbursement after you purchase shares? What's your limit?
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Every US company I worked for (in the UK), they take some percentage of your salary out every month for six months, and at some fixed date after six months you get shares for that amount with 15% rebate. The 15% rebate is taxed as income. So if you saved £850, got £1000 worth of AAPL, then you have to pay tax on £150. Not a very good deal, but the best that US companies can do for legal reasons.

Working for British companies usually gets you a much better deal. Usually you start a share purchase scheme running 5 years, the share price is (price at the start of the scheme - 20%), and after five years you get shares at the price of 5 years ago, minus 20%. With that kind of scheme, if you were in a five year scheme starting May 2011, your savings would turn into AAPL shares at $36 each. Tax free until you sell them, when you have to pay tax on the profits.

But that's not Apple's fault, that is non-UK vs UK companies.
 
scaramoosh said:
They need to call them something else, calling them a genius gets them a lot of hate from the get go.
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At least Apple customers have a real person they can talk to face-to-face. Ask a Dell, HP, Samsung, or Microsoft customer how they contact those companies. Or how about those Geek Squad bozos at Best Buy?

Now I know people like you think you know everything and walk into a store with a superiority smirk on your face. You look down at lowly retail sales people with disdain. So yes, I can see how you might be angry at one those lower cast humans being called a “genius.” It offends your superiority narcissism sensibilities.
 
lkrupp said:
So yes, I can see how you might be angry at one those lower cast humans being called a “genius.” It offends your superiority narcissism sensibilities.
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How dare they assume they're more intelligent than me! How pretentious! I will. Kill. Them. All. :mad:
 
dannyyankou said:
And how is it Apple's fault that an employee receives a death threat from a customer? Based on the article, it seems like if you bring situations like this up with management, they take care of it. Retail isn't meant for a meaningful and sustainable career, it's mostly for college students or people trying to get back on their feet.
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Well, that is not uncommon in retail, and in UK retail many stores have a disgusting habit of letting people get away with it. If I could run a retail store the way I would like, death threats towards an employee would be reported to the police and be prosecuted. It doesn't happen in the UK.

jlc1978 said:
Probably. People get irrational when they get upset and will say things they probably would never say normally. I fly a lot and am amazed at what people will say to a counter agent; who is the one person in the airline who can pretty much do whatever they want to help you.
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In a UK reality TV show, they actually filmed a woman on an airport who had a bit of a problem with her luggage, and then she shouted "I have semtex in my suitcase". Everything went dead quiet, and she shouted the same thing again. Can't remember what happened to her, but she probably missed her flight...
 
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