Just out of curiosity...

[powermac]

...do they pay the employees at the Apple Store bonuses for being snooty, or do the employees throw this in for free?

I was in the Apple Store in the Houston Galleria this weekend helping my father purchase his first Mac. We spoke to a sales rep who was extremely nice and helpful, but when we were done getting everything together and it was time to check out, we were paired up with this eye-rolling, holier-than-thou woman at the checkout counter. She seemed absolutely purturbed that I requested an EPP discount, and scoffed at my dad's newb questions about Macs.

I've had a few discussions with certain Apple Store employees that have been excellent, but I've had far more that go along the lines of flat-out rude. So much in fact that I try to just use the online store and avoid the local Apple Store as much as possible. I understand they're probably swamped due to the Christmas season, but I've encountered this kind of attitude year-round.

Is this some sort of tactic Apple uses to keep its products hip?

 

[daneoni]

In the US its pretty darn good, in the UK...Ugh!. Gender also plays a role in that women are more empathic than men. In my experience anyways.

 

[T-Stex]

I've had a few experiences with the Apple Store employees in which I felt like they had a "snooty" attitude. There have been times when I've gone into the store, knowing exactly what I was looking for, and they would either keep trying to sell me something else, or try to convince me I needed to purchase other things with it. The .Mac program was one thing that stuck out in my mind, but I think that the employees there might be pressed to sell more .Mac memberships, if that's any excuse.

 

[andcraig]

The only one i've had direct contact with the employees is at the Mall of America store in Minnesota.
Their attitude was always fine, when i asked questions they were helpful and friendly

however.

playing around with the computers, in two instances i saw employees demoing product and unable to answer fairly basic questions by customers.

Things asking about why the OSX sleep function on laptops is different than Windows hibernate, difference between HDMI and DVI. Though in those instances I offered the answer and the employees weren't snooty about it at all.