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When you deal with mostly white, liberal, "educated", privileged, middle class...

The entitled get cranky quick with little provocation.

 
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I couldn't continue a job thinking this way, carrying that load. In bad circumstances (judging by their retention stats, not Apple), it's best to do the job to the best of your ability to earn your money, and to earn your self-esteem. Move on when necessary.

Totally agreed, but, I think those kind of jobs although dressed up as "an opportunity" from day dot, do nothing to help anyone progress or feel good. Apple certainly try to make you feel you are being given a fantastic gift by them by being employed at the store...then, when you sell £20,000 worth of MacBooks in a week, they moan at you because you didn't sell enough AppleCare or accessories. I almost threw the Christmas present I got one year from them in the nearest public bin on my way home. It was an Apple Blanket made of cheap fleece. Thank heavens I now run my own business where my hard work and experience is put to good use.
 
I wonder what that "occasional direct access" to Tim Cook is... having emails forwarded? To get to talk with him when he visits a store? Anyone know? Just curious....

I email him from time to time and I don't work for Apple. He either ignores me or delegates the issue to an executive resolution rep.
 
I work in retail in the UK and what I read isn't any different to the sector here. I've never had a death threat but I've had customers threaten to beat me up and offer me outside. Customers get disgruntled and some of them take their anger too far and they will say things like 'I'll kill you'.

As for the other things. Well £8 an hour is high for a retail position in the UK, usuually you only get more than that when you're working bank holiday or night shifts.

As for the other things, well I have heard good things about working for Apple by various emplotee's, and I know that they generally do actually promote promote from within.

This sounds very much like a nothing story, one employees not happy within their job.
 
One thing to remember is that Apple's entire philosophy around the Store is to not pressure customers into buying an Apple product every time they walk into the store, so it makes sense why they aren't incentivizing employees to sell to customers.

That would turn it into a Best Buy: every time I walk into the store, I'd have 3 people offering to show me a lot of products i'm not interested in that are all out of my price range, which would cause me to not go back to the store in a while.

The promotion issues are rather annoying.

You took the words out of mouth. Making the sales department into a commission based pay scale would turn a Apple Store into what it's like to walk into a car dealership. Lots of pressure to purchase. They would be making less per hour so they need to sell to make up for it. Where in one way I guarantee you Apple would make more money per store and some good sales people would make a lot more money as well, but the experience for the customer would be exactly against what the apple stores are about. They just want you to walk into the stores. Obviously they want you to buy something but if your there even just trying everything out its mission accomplished. I feel apple should pay their sales people better if they are not offering commission. Now if apple wanted to offer something to the sales people then base it on customers experience. I say you can randomly send some people a email after they purchase something. It can only be a few questions but find out how the sales person treated them. Now if they meet a certain percentage then they get a bonus. That way a sales rep knows they must take care of the customer to be offered a bonus. It's a win win for everyone. Apple is happy because customer is happy. Customer is happy Because they received great service and apple rep is happy cause they got a bonus!
 
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What the hell is this about. Find a good job.

Woo ha, we got a genious here! If having a contract with the most valued company of the world isn't a good job, what's going on here? Not everybody can be a CEO or a System management engineer. Many wish to be a pro like you!
This is telling us how Apple makes profits, having exagerated high margins, making their products in manufacturing chains where they exploit their workers (do some research Sherlock), and now even not giving a f*ck about their Apple Stores workers (yesh, "first world" workers"). But hey, this is people's problem, because they don't go for a real job. Hilarious.
 
Now, wether Apple pay enough or not is another debate, but Apple shouldn't pay retail employees commission on sales. That incentivising to make sales has one glaring effect on customers - they will be preyed on in store and upsold when they don't want to be.

There's nothing worse to a customer than looking casually at a product and being pounced on by a member of a sales team. When there is no incentive to sell a customer a Mac Pro when they actually needed a Mac mini, the staff should be a lot more unbiased in their advice.

So should they be paid more? Probably. But that would mean execs don't get to earn hundreds of millions of dollars a year :p
 
You left out the "third face". The one you create in your own mind that has nothing to do with reality.
I talk to these people all the time, in the most crowded Apple Stores on the planet. They are (generally) genuinely happy.. (except for the few who are not; welcome to planet Earth)
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You've forgotten the fourth face: customer service. It is the one you've mistakenly perceived as (generally) genuinely happy when all you're seeing is people going about doing their job serving you. It has nothing to do with how the employee truly is feeling. In the face of evidence, you're ignoring what actually is occurring. It is the one you create in your own mind that has nothing to do with reality.
 
There must be a big signing bonus looking at how they are so very exciting screaming and clapping at every Apple Store opening
 
It's still ridiculous. It's not like they work for the secret service.

Oh no, he works for a technology company?! Nobody can know that!! It's gotta be top secret!
This is actually not such an unusual practice. More and more employers are enacting such rules because employees who do stupid stuff on social media and who also identify their employer online sometimes have their stupid stuff go viral and the masses grab their pitchforks and torches and demand the idiot be fired or everyone should boycott the company they work for...even though it's only guilt by association.

Like that crazy veterinarian who shot a cat with a bow and arrow and bragged about it on her FB page. Everyone on Facebook apparently wanted to demand her employer fire her or they would stage a boycott. The innocent veterinary practice had to publicly disavow all knowledge of her actions and make a public statement against her. What a legal nightmare that must have been for them.

Anyway, my sister-in-law worked for a well known department store for the holidays and was under very similar restrictions.

Even though as a spouse I'm not under any particular restrictions, I myself am careful when making references to my husband's employer on social media, because I'm cognizant of the fact that, by extension, I represent his company by word or deed if I should discuss my husband's work in too much detail or name them online. I have too much respect for my husband to represent him or his employer poorly online. Even among close friends, on social media or even in "private" electronic correspondence, I err on the side of caution and speak only in the most vague terms about them.
 
Ok so I just read the article and its not nearly as sensational as the headline would suggest. Also it's business insider. Where have your standards gone MR?
 
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Retail sales used to be a great career and something one person could raise a family on. It's customers wanting to pay as little as possible and greedy shareholders that have turned it into an entry level after high school while in college job or for retirees. You're going to get crap service that way. There are great jobs in the field still but they are hard to find and even harder to secure.
A lot of jobs are getting that way, unfortunately. My challenge as a parent is to identify the trends and help my kid develop a game plan for lucrative future employment in an economy that could be very different from what recent grads are dealing with right now. Yeah...no pressure. :confused:
 
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You've forgotten the fourth face: customer service. It is the one you've mistakenly perceived as (generally) genuinely happy when all you're seeing is people going about doing their job serving you. It has nothing to do with how the employee truly is feeling. In the face of evidence, you're ignoring what actually is occurring. It is the one you create in your own mind that has nothing to do with reality.
You simply don't know any of the people who work there. But you do know what they are "truly feeling". You don't know the definition of of the word "evidence".
The vast majority of Apple Store employees are quite happy with their jobs. That's a fact.
 
Like that crazy veterinarian who shot a cat with a bow and arrow and bragged about it on her FB page. Everyone on Facebook apparently wanted to demand her employer fire her or they would stage a boycott. The innocent veterinary practice had to publicly disavow all knowledge of her actions and make a public statement against her. What a legal nightmare that must have been for them.

Admittedly, an organization known for helping animals probably wouldn't want to be associated with someone who hurts and maims them for fun in their spare time. It presents a kind of awkward clashing of values.

...it's like a social worker who thrill kills transients for sport at the train yard as a hobby.
 
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The trouble is the competition isn't any better. Or you could become a Luddite.
Not true. Competitors are better. In a past life, I previously experienced working for a retail company similar to Apple with much more modest profits, much more modest cash in the bank, but they did know to how treat their staff well and with respect, even stores remembering staff birthdays with a gift (not a company cap or tshirt, a really good gift) from the company each year. None of this insane level of paranoia, cult like behavior, gag orders silencing staff. Instead of giving 15% off on company shares, other companies actually give staff shares for free after a certain time of employment. Apple is completely two faced, its culture is terrible. This article isn't in isolation, there are many accounts from other previous staff about their experience and treatment working for Apple. There's a reason staff only stay for a few years instead of many several years.
 
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