Stepping out of the blue employee t-shirt, an Apple worker has broken Jobs’ honor-code to speak to Popular Mechanics about what it’s like working in one of those big glass-and-chrome stores. And guess what? Us customers treat them like shit!
This unnamed Apple employee blabbed that:
“Its amazing how badly behaved some customers are. I have seen customers have complete meltdowns and get phones exchanged that were like two years old. They scream, cry, curse. And it works. People can be horrible. Sometimes it’s like working at McDonald’s, with better pay. I’ve never been treated so badly in my life.”
Have you ever seen anyone have a meltdown in an Apple store? Sure, we’ve heard some corkers in the past – even seen the CCTV stills of a customer punching a worker in the face! – but every time I’m in the Apple Store, I see nothing but courteous workers receiving the same level of respect from customers that they extend themselves.
The rest of the dished-out stories are par for the course, but Gawker was sceptical about the employee claiming the stores are populated with drug dealers, hell-bent on buying iPhones with fake details. How the employees know they’re drug dealers is beyond me – after all, we all know that they’re more likely to be prisoners’ lackeys. Maybe they’re all the same to the clean-behind-the-ears Apple workers. [Popular Mechanics via Gawker]
Nodeity
Saturday, February 19, 2011 at 10:26 AMWhilst I can’t condone violence, has anyone considered why the customers are so pissed off! Wouldn’t be the crap service, or Apple’s arbitrary attitude towards it’s customers, would it? :}
stefan
Saturday, February 19, 2011 at 10:52 AMthe article explains how they the workers think some customers are drug dealers, shady behaviour and obviously fake id’s, credit cards and someone elses social security number.
stefan
Saturday, February 19, 2011 at 10:57 AMlol, I also just realised that the apple store in america doesnt sell unlocked iphones… hahah pwwnt
Pj
Saturday, February 19, 2011 at 12:06 PMI can understand .. some customers are just downright rude .. its not uncommon at all.
I’ve seen customers act like five year olds .. its because the media has trained the consumer to be so price focused that they don’t even look at what a product does anymore.
- retail worker.
Steve
Saturday, February 19, 2011 at 3:35 PM*Ex-Specialist chiming in.
It’s not as bad as this, though your mileage may vary. It’s rather thankless, and it also depends on your role. As Specialist, you’re essentially a glorified door-greeter and give very basic information, if they want more then you pass them to a Genius or Expert.
Like any sort of retail store, some customers will feel entitled as shit. You know how sometimes, there’s a in front of you in a Macca’s line who’ll kick up a huge scene to scab some extra fries or bitch about the drink size? Think that, except more obnoxious because we’re talking real money here.
Some baby momma who bought an iPhone doesn’t want to hear that you won’t honour a repair or replacement for the $1000 dollar phone she shouldn’t be able to afford, and ruined due to her own carelessness. You’ll see people bitch, whine, beg and threaten and just do almost anything to twist an employees arm eg. trying to bring in their thoroughly abused, used and out-of-contract 3G or something and try to parlay that into the newest model without a top-up.
John Roberts
Saturday, February 19, 2011 at 4:33 PMthere’s seriously a job title called GENIUS?! apparently modesty is a virtue apple lacks in spades
Steve
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 5:35 PMThis is the first thing I thought as well. Apple gives all their employees these really fruity and pretentious titles: Specialist, Expert, Genius, Creative etc.
It’s pretty laughable but whatever, it comes with the Cult of Apple.
Bryce
Sunday, February 20, 2011 at 12:17 AMYou are so right. Some customers feel so entitled that they are downright rude and obnoxious about it. And I absolutely hate being told the customer is always right by a customer who clearly has no clue.
Sam
Saturday, February 19, 2011 at 5:32 PMEvery specialists experience in the store will vary but one thing is un-deniable: Some customers treat us like trash and expext everything.
We get business customers who treat their phone like crap and blame the company when it doesn’t work, often verbally abusing us until we give them what they want. Most times a manager will just give them what they want to get rid of them.
We get some amazing customers and when they’re nice to us amazing things happen.
But no customer can compare to the customers who treat us like crap when they’ve done nothing to help themselves.
We encounter problems on a daily basis where carrier stores consistently blame our product instead of their own networks congestion, putting the pressure on us to replace their phone because to them the phone is the only thing at fault.
There are some stores that are worse than others, I was blessed to work in a store with an amazing management team, but there are still horror stories.
WhiteDemon
Sunday, February 20, 2011 at 3:20 AMA friend of mine worked at an Apple store, and relayed some pretty horrific stories. My personal favourite is when someone was told that they could not get something fixed under warranty, started yelling things like ‘I’ll sue you”. He was subsequently told to leave the store, with instructions to contact legal representatives from Apple, and not to return until after the lawsuit had been filed.
And you know what?
The employee never lost his temper.
Apollo
Sunday, February 20, 2011 at 12:59 PMTotally agree with the ex-specialist, you’ve got no idea how bad it is, when you have a customer blow up at you because the technical staff have said a customer’s 1k phone is now buggered because of liquid ingression.
“but its never been near water!”
^ most common statement told to me by a customer.
Its a customer’s carelessness with their product that they then throw back at staff. They argue till theyre blue in the face, then if you dont give them what they want – “I’ll go to the TIO, Your in trouble now!”
9/10 times, your customers that will blow up are either spoilt kids, or their parents who have to listen to the whining.
Blake Cochrane
Sunday, February 20, 2011 at 8:53 PMBeing an Australian Website, and the largest Apple store being in Sydney CBD on George (looking and guessing at the picture above)
If what I said above is correct, cross the street from there. I guarantee you will see staff treated worse by customers…
sharkfin
Monday, February 21, 2011 at 11:36 AMSo working in retail sucks? Who would have thought! /sarcasm
I am not surprised at all to hear working an unskilled job in an apple store is just like maccas. Just be thankful for the “better pay”.
Steve
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 5:40 PMNo-one’s denying that working an Apple store is just retail work. The problem is that you’d THINK it would attract a slightly more *ahem* upscale clientele than Macca’s but you’d be wrong.
You’d think the type of people who shell out $1000 for an overpriced phone, or double that for a laptop would be a bit more educated or at least, reasonable. When it comes to their expensive goods, you’d think they’d exercise some decency and respect but it doesn’t happen. You get almost exactly the same type of people in Macca’s, only now they blew all this money they probably should have spent in a more enriching matter on a phone because they don’t know any better and were snookered into the Apple lifestyle.
Ken Oath
Monday, February 21, 2011 at 12:46 PMIt’s customer service get over it, Apple is no exception. Staff have 0 responsibility (and 0 interpersonal skills usually), if someone isn’t happy escalate the issue up the chain to someone who is paid to deal properly.