Thank you for sharing your experience and hope your present POB is a better fit. May I ask what years you worked for Apple? Also, did you approach your managers about a possible raise before leaving? I have done that a few times and typically received the raises I needed as an incentive to stay (though sometimes I still opted for a competing opportunity that I finally decided was too good to pass on).
My brother went to a prestigious culinary school and possesses a pretty impressive résumé. Currently, he is employed full-time in a managerial position at a top restaurant in a major urban center. He is on his feet most days for ten to twelve hours straight. A 40-hour work week is a good week (with 50+ closer to the average). Alas, no 401(k) and no healthcare; such is the cooking world presently, which is a shame. I'd love the NYT to do an exposé on that industry.
I worked there from 2004 to late 2009. Just shy of 5 years. I balked when my pay was cut when I changed positions, and the response was, "you're already the highest paid specialist here" - as though I should concede to a deeper cut so I could 'distribute the wealth.'
As an employee, you get addicted to the culture. All kinds of free software deals for employees via the Intranet. Third party promotions where software developers would give you (with a valid @apple.com address) license to their software, on the hopes that you'd share your experiences with customers. I did that - a lot. If I got some free software and really liked it, I really spread the word to help the developer and help customers solve their problems instead of trying to hawk something we sold in the store like Norton Antivirus, which I didn't believe in as a reliable product, for example.
There would be opportunities to get 3rd party items at a fraction of the cost if you completed a training on the Intranet. For example, I got some Bose headphones at half off by studying up on them and completing a test to prove I had learned everything Bose had to say about their products. There is no way I'd pay $150 for headphones - but for $75, I could honestly tell customers I loved my Quiet Comfort headphones and recommend them.
Employees also get a generous 25% off discount on computers (1 laptop and 1 desktop per year) and 15% off for 3 friends/family. I took advantage of this quite a bit when I worked there as well... it gave me the freedom to customize the crapwad out of a machine and load it up with RAM thanks to that discount.
All Apple Employees who had been with the company for a year when the iPhone came out also got a free 1st gen iPhone. That was the coolest gift I got while working there. The things retailed for $648 after tax. It was a brilliant marketing strategy - getting the phone into the hands of 10,000 employees who wanted to show their new gadget off to everyone. I don't recall any other corporate gift after that time. Before, during previously successful Christmas seasons, we'd be given iPod Shuffles (1st and 2nd gen) due to the wild success of the product.
Even when you know it's time for you to leave, you want to stay because you want to keep working with your friends who also are geeky for Apple, you want to keep abreast of the latest tricks in using the OS (the inside training was more robust than what was available outside the company), getting the deals, getting free software... it was addictive.
It was with sadness that I left, but they didn't pay enough for me to stay there. If they suddenly started paying significant sums, I wouldn't return, though. When I started working at the store, there were 18 employees in the whole store. When I left, there were 120 employees. The traffic in the store gradually went up - then exploded after the iPhone was announced and never let up. Every day after that was like a Christmas Eve day - but every stinking day with the noise, and non-stop people and being on your feet all day. You really have to project your voice to be heard in the store sometimes and I went through bouts of laryngitis often, because you're shpieling at top volume all stinkin-day. After 2.5 years of not being in that environment, and also being in my 40s, I don't have the intestinal fortitude to return.
Some of my former coworkers are still there, albeit at different stores now. I get mixed reviews from them on how it is working there. Apple is very schizophrenic with their managerial staff. One minute they only hire internally, the next, they only hire managers from other retail chains (with zero Apple experience at all) and fling them onto experienced staff. Whenever they'd do that, it would be very frustrating. You'd get managers who were used to teenage lazy-asses in retail, having to constantly herd cats, put in a situation where the experienced staff was autonomous and didn't need a lot of managerial help - then the manager would crawl up your behind over things that made no sense and talk to you like you were just born and wouldn't be able to wipe yourself without assistance. They had no concept that the store was staffed with real professionals who really knew what they were doing. Those types of things made leaving easier. You'd have to spend 30 minutes trying to get a manager up to speed on what the customer was complaining about because the manager had zero experience in using any computer, much less a Mac, and didn't know the difference between RAM and a toaster oven. Because I was among the older(ish) employees there, and because I'd been there so long (and worked another job full time), they were pretty cool with me regarding my schedule - but my former coworkers have told me that I left at just the right time. A lot of seasoned employees working a 2nd job had to leave because new management insisted they choose Apple over their other job - scheduling them to work during times that the employee had told them were not available - and an unchanging schedule for years. They'd preach how "this is retail!" (insert "THIS IS SPARTA!" voice here). Well, that's why you have versatile college students working there - so you can have the wild retail schedule. It was clear that the management was getting this directive from up the chain - and not just some control freak with an axe to grind.
Every quarter, there would be some major change in philosophy. When I first started working there, they said you had to 'dance in and out' with sales. You'd help one person, and like a moth around a light bulb, you'd flit over to another customer and never spend more than 5 minutes with one customer. Granted, there were only a handful of employees on the floor back then, but there were also hardly any customers. It was obvious that the dancing in and out philosophy was pissing off customers, but we still were required to do it. The next quarter, they introduced personal shopping and killed the dancing in and out. They introduced the position of concierge - which so helped the staff cope with the massive throngs of people. They'd point a customer who wanted to buy a Mac to a seasoned employee and for a customer that was looking for a case for their iPod, they'd point to a new employee with less Mac experience. When I left, they were doing away with the concierge position and that made me feel better about leaving - as things were going to be ramped up in the stress department once again.
Again, I support Apple in paying whatever they want to pay. I wasn't forced to work there. I just think the company would do better in retail if they rewarded their seasoned employees with more incentives and higher pay - this would benefit customers most of all - as people with the most training and knowledge were there to cross train others and help customers make the best decisions within their budget. When you don't have an incentive to keep your seasoned best, they leave, and you keep on the hamster treadmill, IMO.
