So Dumb...
The Apple Store at South Coast Plaza was on hyper control today. It was really dumb. Sure, they sold out of the 32gig phones by mid-day, so there was heavy traffic because of the iPhone...as to be expected...but they wouldn't let ANYONE in the store ALL DAY unless you waited in a line. I went at 8:30, shortly before the mall closed, to avoid the iPhone crowd, with the idea of buying a new iMac. There were 7 people in a line that I thought was an iPhone line... but nope, they were just not letting anyone in the store unless they waited in line. The store was as dead as it is at 11am on a Tuesday (which, honestly, is still busy...but no where near weekend traffic levels). They had 4 Apple employees waiting to at the door to stop people from going in. It was rather dumb.
I told them I was here to buy a computer and leave. I didn't need help and they could even swipe my card outside the store if they wanted since I knew what I wanted and called ahead to confirm stock... When I called they didn't tell me I'd have to wait in a line just to get in the dumb store. They said no, today you had to wait in a line no matter what. That's about as dumb as it gets. They had reps walking around, not helping customers, but they wouldn't let me in. When I said I just called and no one told me I had to wait in a line when I came down, they gave me the "oh well, get in line" speech.
So, eff that, I went home and bought it on Mac Mall. The kicker... when I was walking back a lady said she'd been waiting in line to get in the store just so she could buy a case for her iPhone for the last 20 minutes...3 or 4 other people nodded and gave a frustrated look. I can understand wanting to control the crowds, but that late with that few people? C'mon, they have a line to check out all day, every day... and on the weekends I've seen that line twist it's way through queue ropes from one end of the store to another... why they had to make it so much more difficult today is beyond me.
The Apple Store at South Coast Plaza was on hyper control today. It was really dumb. Sure, they sold out of the 32gig phones by mid-day, so there was heavy traffic because of the iPhone...as to be expected...but they wouldn't let ANYONE in the store ALL DAY unless you waited in a line. I went at 8:30, shortly before the mall closed, to avoid the iPhone crowd, with the idea of buying a new iMac. There were 7 people in a line that I thought was an iPhone line... but nope, they were just not letting anyone in the store unless they waited in line. The store was as dead as it is at 11am on a Tuesday (which, honestly, is still busy...but no where near weekend traffic levels). They had 4 Apple employees waiting to at the door to stop people from going in. It was rather dumb.
I told them I was here to buy a computer and leave. I didn't need help and they could even swipe my card outside the store if they wanted since I knew what I wanted and called ahead to confirm stock... When I called they didn't tell me I'd have to wait in a line just to get in the dumb store. They said no, today you had to wait in a line no matter what. That's about as dumb as it gets. They had reps walking around, not helping customers, but they wouldn't let me in. When I said I just called and no one told me I had to wait in a line when I came down, they gave me the "oh well, get in line" speech.
So, eff that, I went home and bought it on Mac Mall. The kicker... when I was walking back a lady said she'd been waiting in line to get in the store just so she could buy a case for her iPhone for the last 20 minutes...3 or 4 other people nodded and gave a frustrated look. I can understand wanting to control the crowds, but that late with that few people? C'mon, they have a line to check out all day, every day... and on the weekends I've seen that line twist it's way through queue ropes from one end of the store to another... why they had to make it so much more difficult today is beyond me.