you do realize that working at an Apple store is a standard retail position, right? do you expect the employees at Target to be so knowledgable? Macys? Home Depot? Best Buy? yeah the Apple store is certainly more focused than those stores, but its not like these people are getting paid a huge sum of money to care that much. They guided my management, which is guided by corporate, just like any other retail establishment. Speculation on future products probably isn't the best habit for them to get into. and even is something has been announced at WWDC on stage, during the Keynote, doesn't mean that things can't change between now and ship time.
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Genius? Not really!
- Thread starter crypticlineage
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you do realize that working at an Apple store is a standard retail position, right? do you expect the employees at Target to be so knowledgable? Macys? Home Depot? Best Buy? yeah the Apple store is certainly more focused than those stores, but its not like these people are getting paid a huge sum of money to care that much. They guided my management, which is guided by corporate, just like any other retail establishment. Speculation on future products probably isn't the best habit for them to get into. and even is something has been announced at WWDC on stage, during the Keynote, doesn't mean that things can't change between now and ship time.
Most of the OP's blind questions were geared towards future products that are not released yet. Features, rules, etc can change between now and then. Why should they be trained on something that technically does not exist yet?
The question about upgrading to Lion is a legitimate question when purchasing a current product when an upgrade program has already been announced. Now that being said I don't think any of the OP's questions were legitimate in the sense that he was just being a dick asking questions he already knew the answer to.
He didn't ask him something about a product's information that was given at WWDC, he asked, specifically:
"I ask: Did you follow Steve's WWDC talk? He says: No."
Why does he need to watch WWDC to do his job? Managers get the information directly, they don't have to sit hunched over a computer watching the presentation with the rest of the nerds on the internet. The OP was being a know-it-all jerk - and having worked in an Apple store, I can say there are many like him. And they're all pathetic.
It's a retail job, people. Someone there will be able to help you, but expecting every employee to know everything is ridiculous. I was a regular on this forum before I started working for Apple, and I figured I'd know almost everything I needed. I was wrong. There's a lot to learn, but luckily, you have other people in the store you can rely on.
Some Apple customers need to get lives, honestly.
I disagree, the WWDC keynote, particularly this years keynote, provided a good deal of insight into the direction Apple will be taking over the next few years, a direction that will without doubt impact Apple retail. The fact that the manager didn't bother watching the keynote, or at least read up on some of it's key points, doesn't say much for his passion for the job or his commitment to his customers or employees. I agree the fact that he didn't know, or care, about MacRumor's is irrelevant to doing his job, but WWDC is an official Apple event, and the keynote speakers Apple's leadership. Do I expect every employee to know everything? Of course not, but when the manager appears to be equally clueless I'd have to ask myself if I'm in an Apple store or a BestBuy. You're probably right that there are customers that need to get a life but it sounds like there is at least one manager who needs to get some interest in what the company he works for is doing.
While not following your company's keynote as a manager is pretty stupid expecting them to know everything about Apple's plans when a company is into THOUSANDS of stores is just plain wrong.
You've clearly never worked retail in a large chain, I worked a lot of my teenage years at Best Buy, that doesn't mean I knew every little deal and plan Best Buy was running.
You're forgetting these are hourly employees. They don't exactly have the best training...
You've clearly never worked retail in a large chain, I worked a lot of my teenage years at Best Buy, that doesn't mean I knew every little deal and plan Best Buy was running.
You're forgetting these are hourly employees. They don't exactly have the best training...
Apple operates in a make believe world.
The word genius has a secret meaning.
Only the special people living in the town of make believe know what it means.
The special people are not allowed to be helpful or nice to outsiders.
It makes them nervous.
The word genius has a secret meaning.
Only the special people living in the town of make believe know what it means.
The special people are not allowed to be helpful or nice to outsiders.
It makes them nervous.
I assure you that whether or not the manager watched the actual keynote means nothing as to whether he got the memo about anything it introduced of importance to Apple retail. Managers get a ridiculous amount of updates - literally, a dozen a day. He or she didn't need to watch the keynote, they get the information directly.
This guy asked the manager if he watched the WWDC keynote. He said no. You and the OP are reading a lot more into that. Apple managers get plenty of information, much more than the normal employees. He would be aware of anything of importance.
Assuming just because he didn't watch the keynote (which is intended for non-employees) that he doesn't know what's going on is just that - an assumption.
Exactly. The manager was operating under the assumption the OP was just a curious customer and not a smartass know-it-all.
Why would someone who works at the apple store want to get information from this forum to relay to customers? Most of the stuff on here is not from an official source hence the name macrumors.
I could just picture a customer asking a genius when the iphone 5 is coming out and replying "macrumors says its coming out next month".
I could just picture a customer asking a genius when the iphone 5 is coming out and replying "macrumors says its coming out next month".
Upon retrospection, I realize that I may have been quite unfair in my expectations, and possibly my demeanor for which I will apologize to the manager the next time I stop by the store.
However, I think there was nothing unreasonable in expecting the genius to know that I should be able to upgrade to Lion for free on the machine I am buying.
Also, I am not quite sure how people can get away with calling me ********, pathetic and ****, when I get called up by the admins for circumventing profanity filters (used fu*** in my original post).
However, I think there was nothing unreasonable in expecting the genius to know that I should be able to upgrade to Lion for free on the machine I am buying.
Also, I am not quite sure how people can get away with calling me ********, pathetic and ****, when I get called up by the admins for circumventing profanity filters (used fu*** in my original post).
Gonna go against that, dealing with "genius" in FL, GA, and CO = a bunch of putz's. Last experience at the mall for gf's iphone was ridiculous, made an appointment, got there and were told every 5-10 min's we're either next or someone will be with us soon. Wtf, they weren't even that busy just a normal day, after 45min told the kid f' this and walked out. Fixed her ipod myself as it was playing out of 1 headphone. I can name plenty of countless other issues friends have had, inc my own Macbook Pro which I was able to fig out what was wrong and fix when they couldn't.
Manager shows up, confirms that the mbp will receive a free upgrade. I throw in second question. Can you confirm that I can install for free on all my mbp's? He says, "can't do", no such thing.
I ask: Did you follow Steve's WWDC talk? He says: No.
I said: "I am shocked that you guys do not know anything".
Manager: "You'd be surprised but we get no more information than you do".
Me thinking: "Are you kidding me?, You're an apple store manager in one of the largest cities in America, and you don't keep up with the news?"
To make things worse, he did not even know about macrumors. I had to tell him to google it so he can find the information on there.
Expecting them to know what macrumors is is a bad enough assumption on your part. Yet you frequent here, watched the WWDC keynote and still thought you could install it for free on all your MBPs?
Quite frankly theres so many smart people out there that would LOVE to work at Apple, much smarter than the Genius you encountered. If those people don't care to be part of the Apple family and keep up like a real fan, there's always another eager young worker waiting in the wings that knows a lot more knowledge and can much better answer the questions of the customers, especially with this economy.
The Lion download can be installed on any mac associated with your Apple ID, so why would one think they couldn't use the same download on all macs? It's pretty unlikely that Apple will somehow hinder the downloads that people get via the up to date program and make them only installable on one mac (though it is possible).
They might not officially say or support using the up to date program to get Lion on several of your macs, but judging by what they did with Snow Leopard, all of the downloads will likely be the same. The only people who may not be able to put Lion on all of their macs are those who buy a new mac with Lion preinstalled, but only time will tell.