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For those complaining about Apple being snobbish...

Rogifan

Rogifan

macrumors Penryn
Original poster
Nov 14, 2011
25,349
33,830
...I've seen several articles now posing the question "would you take fashion advice from an Apple Store employee?". Hmm...I wasn't aware you had to have a special degree or look a certain way to offer fashion advice. So if an Apple Store employee has a pierced eyebrow or a tattoo on their arm they have no idea about which watch might suit your taste/style/use case? To me that's as snobbish as anything Apple is doing.
 
Rogifan said:
...I've seen several articles now posing the question "would you take fashion advice from an Apple Store employee?". Hmm...I wasn't aware you had to have a special degree or look a certain way to offer fashion advice. So if an Apple Store employee has a pierced eyebrow or a tattoo on their arm they have no idea about which watch might suit your taste/style/use case? To me that's as snobbish as anything Apple is doing.
Click to expand...

To ask a similar question another way, would you ask a plumber about brain surgery?
 
Rogifan said:
...I've seen several articles now posing the question "would you take fashion advice from an Apple Store employee?". Hmm...I wasn't aware you had to have a special degree or look a certain way to offer fashion advice. So if an Apple Store employee has a pierced eyebrow or a tattoo on their arm they have no idea about which watch might suit your taste/style/use case? To me that's as snobbish as anything Apple is doing.
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I don't take fashion advice from anyone who works in a retail store. This would include people who sell high-end watches in jewelry stores, too.

I mean, ask their opinion about fit and so forth? Sure. But, I'd ask the Apple Store employee the same thing. They're trained to know how the watch should fit.

I decide which one suits my style. That's the "fashion advice" part.
 
jwball said:
To ask a similar question another way, would you ask a plumber about brain surgery?
Click to expand...

You don't need schooling or experience to know fashion. My 5 year old knows what's fashionable, but can't do plumbing or brain surgery.

And fashion is subjective. Louis Vuitton obviously does NOT know fashion in my books. My first reaction is that this was bought at Toys R Us for $5. Of course, they are others who think this is very fashionable and would buy it for $2000-$3000.

$(KGrHqZ,!qoE+nuCcjS6BQK,)(!nE!~~_1.JPG
 
bbeagle said:
You don't need schooling or experience to know fashion. My 5 year old knows what's fashionable, but can't do plumbing or brain surgery.

And fashion is subjective. Louis Vuitton obviously does NOT know fashion in my books. My first reaction is that this was bought at Toys R Us for $5. Of course, they are others who think this is very fashionable and would buy it for $2000-$3000.

Image
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Not sure I agree. The reason the bag in the example looks dreadful is because it's fake. Most 5 year olds I know think a spider-man costume is reasonable attire.
 
People are blowing this out of proportion.

Apple will be selling a wearable device. This wearable device has a lot of fashion aesthetics to it in casing type and band choice.

A sales staff in this case "Apple Employees" should be educated in helping customers decide which casing and band is right for them. Not only the technological aspect of the device.

Do you blame Apple for trying to educate their retail staff? I just don't get it.
 
FrankySavvy said:
People are blowing this out of proportion.

Apple will be selling a wearable device. This wearable device has a lot of fashion aesthetics to it in casing type and band choice.

A sales staff in this case "Apple Employees" should be educated in helping customers decide which casing and band is right for them. Not only the technological aspect of the device.

Do you blame Apple for trying to educate their retail staff? I just don't get it.
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Exactly. Nothing wrong with Apple educating their sales staff for situations where customers come in and ask advice on which watch to get.
 
Rogifan said:
I'm sure plenty of people think Apple is snobbish for offering a $10K-$17K watch.
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A watch identical to a $349 version with some gold and a piece of leather cut from a cow's ass by Ive himself .
 
I think they're being more pretentious than snobbish.

Either way, it's not the sincere Apple I've grown to love all these years.
 
DreamPod said:
Is there anybody here complaining about Apple being snobbish?
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No! I haven't seen anyone call Apple snobbish. Also I really think the Edition isn't for US costumers, but for the Asian market. Which is Ok! That is where the money is, and that is why they are in business. Just as long as they have a space grey sport 42mm left for me ;)
 
Newtons Apple said:
Good grief people it is not like the guy that is making you coffee is wanting to talk to you about race!

:)
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I think that's a great comparison. Fair enough if the barista is only working part time at Starbucks to help fund his PhD thesis in race relations. That would be an interesting and, above all, informed conversation. Not a waste of my time. How many baristas qualify?

Conversely, Apple giving their regular employees some superficial "fashion" training so they can dispense style advice to customers seems seems ill-advised. Current employees were probably hired on their innate ability who juggle wholly deterministic buying parameters (such as size of RAM/hard drive/processor speed/etc). Asking them to now start selling on subjective factors seems like a bad job fit.

Apple probably needs to hire some different sales people? And if they're good, they'll want commission.

The more I think about it, the more I feel Apple should've invented a separate "Luxe" brand for watches and kept it all completely separate from mainstream Apple. They certainly should've kept them out the Apple stores, out of apple.com (or at least less prominent) and generally off on their own until Apple EARNS some credibility in the luxury wearables sector.
 
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Arran said:
I think that's a great comparison. Fair enough if the barista is only working part time at Starbucks to help fund his PhD thesis in race relations. That would be an interesting and, above all, informed conversation. Not a waste of my time. How many baristas qualify?

Conversely, Apple giving their regular employees some superficial "fashion" training so they can dispense style advice to customers seems seems ill-advised. Current employees were probably hired on their innate ability who juggle wholly deterministic buying parameters (such as size of RAM/hard drive/processor speed/etc). Asking them to now start selling on subjective factors seems like a bad job fit.

Apple probably needs to hire some different sales people? And if they're good, they'll want commission.
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Most iWatch buyers will know what they want. I guess those who do not deserve what the Geek suggest for them.

Snobby is someone who shows off his watch to make others jealous. I hate it when they do that!
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I have no problem listening to an Apple employee's opinion on what might work for me. In the end, the decision is mine to make.
 
Who actually needs this "fashion advice"? You just go in an buy the watch you want. Not much more to it. Just don't take their advice.
 
greytmom said:
I have no problem listening to an Apple employee's opinion on what might work for me. In the end, the decision is mine to make.
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I dunno. It seems a bit presumptious to me. I know my own style better than some cue-card training script can ascertain.

I mean, would you ask the average Apple store employee what sort of haircut suits you? This is similar - but at least a bad haircut will grow out.
 
Arran said:
I think that's a great comparison. Fair enough if the barista is only working part time at Starbucks to help fund his PhD thesis in race relations. That would be an interesting and, above all, informed conversation. Not a waste of my time. How many baristas qualify?

Conversely, Apple giving their regular employees some superficial "fashion" training so they can dispense style advice to customers seems seems ill-advised. Current employees were probably hired on their innate ability who juggle wholly deterministic buying parameters (such as size of RAM/hard drive/processor speed/etc). Asking them to now start selling on subjective factors seems like a bad job fit.

Apple probably needs to hire some different sales people? And if they're good, they'll want commission.
Click to expand...

Most Specialists work part time to fund their other activities/degrees etc (and don't make commission).

They are trained to engage with customers, determine their needs/wants and try and find a product to match. Most of the Watch training was geared towards that, and to help tailor the approach they take with everything else to a potential Watch customer. The emphasis was on features that might appeal depending on their interests/lifestyles and the benefits between the different finishes/straps.

The fashion element was stuck at the very end and there were more than a few facepalms when reading the suggestions made.

Don't worry, Specialists won't suddenly believe they are qualified to give style advice. The guys at Cupertino clearly haven't spent much time in stores interacting with real customers.
 
If you want advice on how to be a hipster, Apple employees are perfect.

Here is my advice, go to a high end watch boutique and spend sometime with the people working there, they are trained, and have many years experience in fashion.

I would strongly recommend you try shopping in a department store in your local mall versus a high end cloths retailer, and comeback and rethink your post. The difference is huge.

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The Doctor11 said:
Who actually needs this "fashion advice"? You just go in an buy the watch you want. Not much more to it. Just don't take their advice.
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Spot on.

The choice is quite simple . Most will go by price.
 
Arran said:
I think they're being more pretentious than snobbish.

Either way, it's not the sincere Apple I've grown to love all these years.
Click to expand...

I don't see what's pretentious about offering a higher-priced watch.

The lower-priced ones function the same way. No biggie.
 
Rogifan said:
Exactly. Nothing wrong with Apple educating their sales staff for situations where customers come in and ask advice on which watch to get.
Click to expand...

There's a big difference between the person who must ask for fashion advice, as compared to a stylish fashionable thirty year old woman who travels the world, has a two million dollar wardrobe and a net worth of twenty five million.

Curious about the Apple Watch she dresses down to avoid drawing attention at the mall and walks into the Apple Store. There she's greeted by a person that has no clue other than it's a 30 minute appointment.

Enthused and eager to sell a gold watch the Apple minimum wage employee begins talking fashion, a field they have zero experience in, when the women only wants to talk about how the Watch works.

Thirty minutes is not as long as it sounds, there's hardly time for a complete presentation of the watch.

Apple is clearly out of their element here, but the Apple Faithful will never admit that until the slap of reality hits once the Watch is in stores... :)
 
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