Do I know more than the Apple Retail Employees?

[2nyRiggz]

Its not only apple stores....some people are better at what they do and some people are just doing it to get by..thats how it is.

I know you would like to think apple employees are more knowledgeable about these things(some are and some not) but I don't think so....you are better off getting answer from here(not to knock on apple employees but still)



Bless

 

[zap2]

. This one employee was helping out a girl with her MacBook Pro, and she told him that her dad wants her to put windows on her laptop, and asked him what he thinks about it, and the employee discouraged it, and said that Windows is prone to viruses, and that it's potentially harmful to the computer.

Obviously this employee has no first hand experience with Windows on Macs, or he would've known that Boot Camp makes it quick, efficient, pain free.

I'd discourage it too.....Windows is prone to viruses, and it can harm the computer(more likely the Windows part of the HD)..that seems like something I'd say.

At another point, I asked an employee if I could see what it looks like when an ACD is plugged into a MacBook Pro, and he said "uh.. no. Because I don't have the right cable". WTF??!?!

The person most likely didn't want to you plug it in....she/he didn't want to waste the time, and it won't look any different then the Mac Mini/Mac Pro hooked up to one.

Then I asked him how the power is distributed between laptop display and external display, if they're both on, and he said "I wouldn't play an intense video game with both of them on, but the video card has the power to run them both!"

He sounded like a consumer, who knows nothing about video cards, and just "knows" that it has the power to drive them both, because that's what it can do. You'd think an apple employee would sound a little bit more sophisticated than "It just has the power to drive them both", especially when asked precisely HOW the video card distributes it's Vram between the two.

Or he assumed you were a basic computer user, who only wants bare info. They aren't going to explain thing, that go over most peoples heads. It makes people feel dumb, it wastes time, and its bad for bussiness.

Then I saw this employee showing a customer the MacBook Pro's. They were looking at a 17" with a 1920x1200 screen, and the employee didn't know this until he went into System Profiler and saw the resolution. He couldn't tell it was high resolution just by looking at it?

Not a big deal, they person clearly wasn't a power user.


I gave reasons why the people in the store COULD have done what they did. Its possible they are lazy, or don't know much about Macs. Or they don't think its worth wasting time on people who don't need to know all that.


Yes, you might now more then some of them, about somethings. Other things, they might know more about...like plugging your MBP in an ACD, they knew you could test your stuff on the display Macs.

 

[mrfrosty]

Unless they're pricks be kind to their mistakes. I onced worked in a computer shop and I really couldn'y hack it. I was there to demo music sequencing software which I was okay at but everything in the shop!!???? I was regularly smoked by teenagers who knew far more than me. But I was thankful to have a job, be able to pay my landlord and take my girl for a drink.

That's a nasty side you're festering there MrFrosty.

yep !

 

[Sesshi]

The main point of Apple stores is for people like Joe Bloggs. Joe was thinking of buying a Dell, but wanted to look at a Mac because apparently they're good. As Steve Jobs said, almost half of all Mac buyers recently are first-time Mac buyers. Apple need cool people who can simply and easily explain why people should buy a Mac rather than a PC. They don't want people who drone on about power ratio of monitors or use abbreviations like ACD.

This it in a nutshell. It's not about in depth knowledge, although the person you were overhearing might have had chops. It just doesn't make sense to explain in long detail certain things, and it is better to generalise for the benefit of the techno-illiterate. A good salesman is someone who can judge the customer correctly and provide what they want, especially when the customer isn't 100% clear what s/he's buying..

 

[ghall]

Don't you still need a cable to connect the mbp to the display?

Not unless its a VGA display.

 

[mrfrosty]

<Raises hand>

But then I don't need to - I just want to do stuff with my computer. Sounds to me like he was pitching to your average consumer - will it do this, yes/no? That's all that most people want. If a technical question comes up, then just refer to the documentation/ask someone who knows.

You don't need to know everything about something to sell it. Do car salesmen have to be mechanics too?



And mrfrostys post is pretty offensive. I worked in retail, contract cleaning, security, labouring and pubs in my life. I did them to put myself through college. Does that mean I wasn't any good while I was in college. In my experience the people who do these jobs are more often students, using it as a means to an end, or immigrants or other marginalised communities who suffer prejudice, and will never be offered anything better (particularly cleaning/security), or people who have other commitments, and can't work full time/regular hours.

Never judge a person by what they do for a living, judge them by who they are.

Show me someone good enough to answer in depth technical questions who works in a shop for just above minimum wage and i'll show you someone who is a fool. If those are the kind of people who do those kind of jobs then that's exactly my point, why do you expect them to be able to answer "in depth" technical questions. In a perverse way i am defending them, from people with too high expectations.

 

[mrfrosty]

But in his defense....you're probably smarter than he is. You can't really blame him for saying something dumb.

Mrfrosty may not work in a shop, but judging by what he said, maybe he should be.

Maybe you need some more experience of the harsh realities of life ? I'll forgive you in this case though, maybe you had some rough customers in the shop today ?

 

[ErikCLDR]

I think a lot of may be more knowledgeable than many Apple Store employees. Some employees however probably don't find the need to go into extreme detail when most of their customers know very little about computers and their workings. Customers don't want to know in depth details if they don't know what it means.

And in reality, you can go to tons of stores where the people know absolutely nothing about what they are selling.

 

[Flowbee]

Show me someone good enough to answer in depth technical questions who works in a shop for just above minimum wage and i'll show you someone who is a fool.

As opposed to people who spend time answering in-depth technical questions in these forums for free?

This may be hard for you to believe, but many people actually *like* working in retail stores. And just because someone can answer in-depth technical questions about Macs, it doesn't mean they're a "fool" for working at an Apple store. Get over yourself.

 

[mrfrosty]

As opposed to people who spend time answering in-depth technical questions in these forums for free?

This may be hard for you to believe, but many people actually *like* working in retail stores. And just because someone can answer in-depth technical questions about Macs, it doesn't mean they're a "fool" for working at an Apple store. Get over yourself.

I actually gave the case for the people that *like* working in retail stores as an exception in my first post. In my opinion though if you work in ANY job that you are clearly too good for then you pretty much are a fool.

 

[teflon]

This may be hard for you to believe, but many people actually *like* working in retail stores. And just because someone can answer in-depth technical questions about Macs, it doesn't mean they're a "fool" for working at an Apple store. Get over yourself.

Me! Ahh what I wouldn't give to work at an Apple store. Grr Apple, open up a store in Vancouver already!!
Btw, selling, explaining, helping people to make decisions, I think it's a great job. Kinda like what we're doing here on MR's buying advice forum.