in life, not just in sales." Three years later, his work life seemed tense and thankless. He had little expectation that upper management would praise or even notice his efforts. Sales employees, Garcia and others noted, deal with stresses all their own. Though commissions are not offered, many managers keep close tabs on sales of warranties, known as Apple Care, and One to One, which is personal tutoring for a fee. Employees often had goals for "attachments" as these add-ons are called -- 40 per cent of certain products should include One to One, and 65 per cent should include Apple Care. For a sales employee who wanted to climb Apple's in-store ladder -- to technician or manager, for instance -- those numbers were important. And in terms of keeping employees invested and striving, so were the rungs on that ladder, something that is true across retailing. "There was always something being dangled in terms of different positions," says Danielle Draper, a former manager at a store. "'You'll need to do this if you want to become a creative,' that kind of thing. There was never perfection. You could always tell someone they needed to work on something." Garcia would eventually quit Apple, and walk away from a job that paid a little more than $40,000 a year, when stress-related health issues sidelined him long enough to put his job at risk. He had no doubts that the company would easily find a replacement. "There was never a shortage of