I've been to many Apple Stores in the US and usually have had very positive experiences. Recently (I'd say in the last year), every Apple store worker I've come across is just a huge smart a$$. I'm pretty sure any macrumors poster is 10x smarter/knowledgeable than any worker there and having fairly good computer knowledge, it bugs me to have to talk to an Apple store worker who clearly isn't a a computer expert but talk down to me like he/she is a genius (pun intended). Anyone else having similar experiences? The last store I went to was the new Upper West Side in NY which had about 50 workers. It almost felt as if the workers were outnumbering the customers. I wish they would just hire 20 smart quality workers
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I'm starting to dislike every Apple Store worker I come across..
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Simple solution: Don't talk to them and get your answers elsewhere.
Hate is a strong word. Don't throw it around so carelessly.
Hate is a strong word. Don't throw it around so carelessly.
You are in a retail store. These are people not pulling in the big bucks. Personality, enthustiasm, and sales ability are key. Coprehensive knowlege is bonus (and rare). You sound like you know a bit about computers. You shoould therefore know you BUY your computers from Apple...you get real answers elsewhere (online).
And isn't that disdain for the customer Apple's business model? Steve knows better than you what you want (and can have).
And isn't that disdain for the customer Apple's business model? Steve knows better than you what you want (and can have).
From being a PC and Mac tech for ten years, I find the Apple store workers typical of what I have seen in many, many Mac users. More often than not, they tend to act superior. Granted, when I first got to compare my Mac vs. my PC, there were so many reasons I could brag about Apple being a better buy due to far fewer issues and maintenance, and it was hard not to be an Apple evangelist.
I have found the condescending behavior is more of a confident knowledge that Macs are simply better than PCs. It could look like a boutique snobbishness, but usually only new Mac users have that, but it takes many years to get over it and realize a Mac is still just a tool even though a very cool one.
I would rather deal with Mac fanboys, who may or may not know that much and but a Mac, than buy a PC from a humble expert who can program in four languages and hack every network.
In the end, your experience will be a long term, intimate one with OS X or Windows.
I have found the condescending behavior is more of a confident knowledge that Macs are simply better than PCs. It could look like a boutique snobbishness, but usually only new Mac users have that, but it takes many years to get over it and realize a Mac is still just a tool even though a very cool one.
I would rather deal with Mac fanboys, who may or may not know that much and but a Mac, than buy a PC from a humble expert who can program in four languages and hack every network.
In the end, your experience will be a long term, intimate one with OS X or Windows.
I agree!
I came out fuming after my last experience at the Apple Store on the Gold Coast here in Australia. I went in with a friend who was wanting to buy a new Mac and knew very little about computers. I ended up having the most bizarre conversation with the sales guy who worked out through talking that I knew a bit about audio, but was trying to bignote himself as some kind of DJ. As much as I didn't want to enter into it - given that we were actually there to BUY a computer, he just kept turning it into some kind of nerd battle about how crap whatever it was that I knew in comparison to him. Finally to try and shut him up I told him that my job was actually as a sound engineer and I teach and write the audio technology courses at university, and he still wanted me to come in and get a private session with him so he could prove whatever his point was! The thing was that it actually caused my friend to wander off and lose interest, and we ended up having to get another sales assistant to sell him the machine. Not impressed at all.
I came out fuming after my last experience at the Apple Store on the Gold Coast here in Australia. I went in with a friend who was wanting to buy a new Mac and knew very little about computers. I ended up having the most bizarre conversation with the sales guy who worked out through talking that I knew a bit about audio, but was trying to bignote himself as some kind of DJ. As much as I didn't want to enter into it - given that we were actually there to BUY a computer, he just kept turning it into some kind of nerd battle about how crap whatever it was that I knew in comparison to him. Finally to try and shut him up I told him that my job was actually as a sound engineer and I teach and write the audio technology courses at university, and he still wanted me to come in and get a private session with him so he could prove whatever his point was! The thing was that it actually caused my friend to wander off and lose interest, and we ended up having to get another sales assistant to sell him the machine. Not impressed at all.
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As far as Apple store sales employees go... if you've been reading forums and can recite Apple build codes and have a pick for which week you want your LCD to come from and so on, you've probably passed the equivalent point at which any $10/hour retail store employee in any industry is going to be able to provide you much in the way of useful information, haven't you? If you were at Macy's, the likelihood that the salesperson could have an intelligent conversation with you about how events aligned in such a way that someone like Rei Kawakubo could succeed in fashion, you're equally unlikely to be edified.
TBH, when I go in an Apple store, they say hi, I say hi, they ask me if I'm interested in anything, I say I'd like to take a look around, and that's the end of the conversation... all polite, all civil, and it avoids anything that would provoke one's ire.
Same problem in the Belfast store. I don't want to sit down and discuss it, I know what I want, just go get it from the store. No, I don't want AppleCare. No, I don't want blah. Just go get the box out of the store, bring it to me, I'll pay you and I'll be out of here.
A fricking hour to buy a Mac Mini. Not a happy camper.
A fricking hour to buy a Mac Mini. Not a happy camper.
This reminds me of a reverse story...on the musician part.
There was this renowned professor of songwriting at a university who had a long list of famous people he had worked with including Randy Jackson of American Idol fame, but was yet to write a hit himself. Some young lad who played guitar, but didn't read music but came up with tunes on a notepad was steered towards taking the professor's class.
Being that the kid liked the style of writing from being in a band, Beatles style, vs. taking a songwriting class at uni, he challenged the professor and students in a gentleman's agreement and said he could write a hit in an hour. The lad wrote a hit in less than an hour, which even got regular rotation, while the professor and all his college educated songwriting students are yet to do so decades later.
Maybe the DJ guy you met is a bad salesperson, but he could be the next big DJ in your country...but then again that still does not qualify him to work at a computer store.
I had a problem with a game i bought from them a few months ago. It wouldn't work in my Aluminium Macbook. I returned it to the store and explained to the young girl there that my Alu MacBook wouldn't read the disc and that i couldn't get as far as installing the game as it just spat it out after 10 seconds of trying. The game said intel macs only. She asked if i had a PPC mac or intel. I said i had the aluminium MacBook. She said is that the intel one. Luckily one of the other staff that worked there swapped it out for me
Luckily one of the other staff that worked there swapped it out for meAmazing how some people judge the most successful, and by square footage, most profitable store chain in the history of retail.
Some people just expect pure magic.
Please compare your retail experiences with other retailers not just some employee you ran across that didn't know an answer that you could have googled yourself.
Apple employees are trained to give conservative answers and not exaggerate claims on any particular item. I can't count the number of times I've been at the Apple store and hear someone ask, "What do you think? I heard Apple's coming out with..." as if the Apple employee is suppose to rattle off trade secrets to them.
Apple has the best customer satisfaction and return policy in the industry. That's why I keep buying from them.
To those that think I'm a blind fanboy, go into any BestBuy, Fry's, Radio Shack and open your eyes to the shady sales tactics that they are actually instructed to use on the not so informed consumer.
Some people just expect pure magic.
Please compare your retail experiences with other retailers not just some employee you ran across that didn't know an answer that you could have googled yourself.
Apple employees are trained to give conservative answers and not exaggerate claims on any particular item. I can't count the number of times I've been at the Apple store and hear someone ask, "What do you think? I heard Apple's coming out with..." as if the Apple employee is suppose to rattle off trade secrets to them.
Apple has the best customer satisfaction and return policy in the industry. That's why I keep buying from them.
To those that think I'm a blind fanboy, go into any BestBuy, Fry's, Radio Shack and open your eyes to the shady sales tactics that they are actually instructed to use on the not so informed consumer.
You don't need to compare experience A to experience B to figure out if you came out satisfied or not.
Er... well training or not, they tend to get caught up with themselves. The number of ridiculously fanboyish comments I've heard in Apple Stores is enough to make me not want to go there...ever.
Talking about upcoming product releases that retail employees know nothing about is different than asking a technical question about a specific model. Most non-Genius Apple Store employees don't know anything more advanced than terms like "iLife", "processor", and "screen size."
Hahahahahahhaha.
So you are saying I should accept **** attitude from low-IQ dimwitted employees just because there is worse out there?
Wow - pure fanboyism. What do you care how much profit Apple makes? Do you work for them?
Also this notion that there are technology tasks that only Apple hardware/software will allow you to do - laughable. Sure Apple allows you to do certain things easier out of the box, but you can do any of the same tasks with non-Apple HW/SW just needing some work by the user.
I judge them as liars. On my most recent trip to an Apple store, I heard the salesman explaining to an elderly couple that if they wanted to use Photoshop, they would need to buy a Mac Pro, as it wouldn't install on a Mac Mini, and it would run sluggishly on an iMac.
They were upgrading from a G4
I judge them as liars. On my most recent trip to an Apple store, I heard the salesman explaining to an elderly couple that if they wanted to use Photoshop, they would need to buy a Mac Pro, as it wouldn't install on a Mac Mini, and it would run sluggishly on an iMac.
They were upgrading from a G4
Oh boy. That's a whopper. Can you imagine if a MSFT store employee said Photoshop only runs on a PC? The *****torm would be bigger then any on Jupiter!
I too have gotten to where I dread walking in any of the area Apple Stores, mainly due to the attitude/personality of the workers there. They all act very smug and "elitist", if you will, yet I find that they usually know very little about the actual products they sell. I find that I far more often than not know more about what they are selling than they do, such as specs, colors offered, history of their products, etc...even the "geniuses". I know that they don't get paid a HUGE amount for working there, but come on...have pride in your job and learn at least a little bit about what you're selling. My employees earn far less on average than an Apple Store worker, but yet know the products we sell in and out. For example, when I went about 10 days after the launch of the current Nano (the one w/video camera), the salesperson that got it out of the back for me looked at the box as he was walking out of the back room and actually said "hey, this one has a video camera? Cool!". It had been out a week and a half! And he didn't know this? This was a regular employee that I've seen in there many, many times in the months leading up to this, so it wasn't a newbie employee, either.
The other reason I despise going to the Apple Store is the HUGE amount of employees they have working at any time (usually around 20 or more on the sales floor not counting "Geniuses" or people in the back, no joke), in a standard sized mall store..i.e. not alot of floor space. They usually equal the number of customers in the store on a weekday, yet it takes so freaking long to check out with anything. No kidding, you cannot make an "in and out" purchase in under 30 minutes at any Atlanta area Apple Store. Well, at least I've never been able to. When you finally get an employee to notice that you want to check out, they have to wait for one of the only two mobile check out devices to ring up your sale, then that is a slow process in and of itself. Why can't they put back in at least one check out register in the stores? For a company that prides itself on "overall customer experience" with it's hardware and software, they could really use focusing some of that on a more efficient store. Being a business manager myself, it makes my skin crawl to see how many employees they staff in a store, even on slow days, to STILL be inefficient. No wonder Apple products cost so much, they have to pay the wages of all the staff members walking around with their thumbs up their rears. I'd fire them all and hire 4 of my employees to do a far better job than 20 of theirs.
The other reason I despise going to the Apple Store is the HUGE amount of employees they have working at any time (usually around 20 or more on the sales floor not counting "Geniuses" or people in the back, no joke), in a standard sized mall store..i.e. not alot of floor space. They usually equal the number of customers in the store on a weekday, yet it takes so freaking long to check out with anything. No kidding, you cannot make an "in and out" purchase in under 30 minutes at any Atlanta area Apple Store. Well, at least I've never been able to. When you finally get an employee to notice that you want to check out, they have to wait for one of the only two mobile check out devices to ring up your sale, then that is a slow process in and of itself. Why can't they put back in at least one check out register in the stores? For a company that prides itself on "overall customer experience" with it's hardware and software, they could really use focusing some of that on a more efficient store. Being a business manager myself, it makes my skin crawl to see how many employees they staff in a store, even on slow days, to STILL be inefficient. No wonder Apple products cost so much, they have to pay the wages of all the staff members walking around with their thumbs up their rears. I'd fire them all and hire 4 of my employees to do a far better job than 20 of theirs.
None of them would make it past the first day as my employees with the way they dress. Have those at the Apple store never heard of business attire?
I don't mind the t-shirts, as I don't believe a business has to be button-down collared shirts and slacks to look "professional" (ironically enough, my business, golf course management, ALWAYS has to be this way due to "tradition"). But now that you mentioned it, I DO have an issue with what attire/dress they are allowed to wear with these t-shirts. Cut up/ripped up jeans on the guys and some girls, and many girls dressing all "emo/punk" with out there hair-styles and piercings all over their face just do not scream "professional" to me at all. I know that Apple tries to market itself as a "cool, trendy, hip" company, but I think that their sales people in the stores would be seen as a bit more professional and not "punk kids" if they had some basic ground rules for attire. I hear many older and middle aged people that do not like going there because of "the types of people that work there". Now I'm not saying that Apple shouldn't hire the people that like to dress as mentioned above, just have a few rules for what is acceptable attire. They can still do the "cool, casual" thing, just limit what their employees can get away with. For a company that likes to lock it's products down tighter than Fort Knox, let just a touch of that spill over into employee dress code for goodness sakes.
This actually I think is a disconnect that starts much deeper... I mean, Steve Jobs doesn't dress in appropriate business attire. The NYT ran a piece recently about generation gaps and the fact that boomers who are avant garde predominantly dress very casually (Steve Jobs, or perhaps in its more tasteful end, Ralph Lauren), whereas with fashionable 20 and 30 something men, neckties, cufflinks, vests, designer shoes, etc, have all been in rage for years now.
It's generally true in other office environments, like at my hospital. Most of the well dressed individuals are either under 40 or over 60 (there is one older physician here who could probably have passed for Cary Grant).
Of course, even Mr. "I'm a Mac" dresses better than Steve Jobs, but he wouldn't pass for urban stylish in most US big cities. I think that's influenced by the attitude at the top.
(OTOH, I think that if Apple were known to start being picky about people's tattoos and piercings, they might make you happy, but they would make a large portion of the rest of their customer base revolt.)
Those workers are there to sell you products. Nothing more. They're only salesman. Just like at a car dealer, the salesman typically know absolutely nothing at all about the products they're selling. The only difference is that at a car dealer you have greasy guidos with chest hair and gold chains, and at the Apple store you have retarded hipster doofuses in shorts and sandals.
I shop online for a reason.
At least the UPS delivery guy wears a uniform, like an employee, not like a broke college student on spring break, like those Apple store workers.This forum has been a great place to get advice and information. It seems it is now a place for bitter comments, griping by adolescents who wish to sound superior. I'm gone from this forum and you kids can bitch your hearts out! I am no fan boy or a boy in any sense. My computer is a tool to do what I do. It happens that Apple works better for me. When it doesn't, I'll try another. Get a life, kids!
I submit that Apple appeals to the younger "hip, trendy" generation that LIKES piercings/tatoos/emo/punk look and they LIKE seeing people like that as Apple store employees. Who cares if middle aged fogies are put off by that? Let them go buy a PC. Apple is banking on the future. But - would it KILL Steve Jobs to ditch the turtleneck and wear a proper suit for once?
From my personal experiences, there are 3 types of Apple employees. My tolerance for them in descending order: (1) The older 40+ years old mature type, (2) The computer nerd and (3) the hipster.
(1) is usually very sincere and nice even if they are not as knowledgeable as say (2). I like them because they remind me of pre-2001 Apple where things were less glitzy.
(2) are very knowledgeable people but also very opinionated. They also love firewire.
(3) is the worst kind. They are pretty clueless about the technology and can only dote on things like "led screen", "multitouch" and "unibody design". I often feel like they pretend to be the silhouettes from the ipod commercials, except unfortunately, they have features and also speak.
Some of this is tongue-in-cheek but I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about.
(1) is usually very sincere and nice even if they are not as knowledgeable as say (2). I like them because they remind me of pre-2001 Apple where things were less glitzy.
(2) are very knowledgeable people but also very opinionated. They also love firewire.
(3) is the worst kind. They are pretty clueless about the technology and can only dote on things like "led screen", "multitouch" and "unibody design". I often feel like they pretend to be the silhouettes from the ipod commercials, except unfortunately, they have features and also speak.
Some of this is tongue-in-cheek but I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about.