Company: Apple
Date: 2009-04-29
Overall rating: 1/5
Employment status: former

Apple is a low-paying, unethical sweatshop.
Pros: You enjoy being treated as less than human.  You're desperate and can't find anything else.
Cons: Apple has no conception of employees as human beings.  This is made evident through its incentive bonus plan.  You can earn a max of about $500 per month based on customer feedback.  Exact amount depends on customer ratings and number of reviews received.  However, management makes it clear through periodic reminders that if you miss any time at work for any reason, you are displaying a poor work ethic and will lose your earned bonus.   A sick day costs you the entire bonus for the month, even if it's the last day of the month and you were about to qualify for the maximum bonus.  Lateness to work for any reason, even a legitimate one like a car accident costs you a significant portion of the bonus.  I have been with mothers as they sobbed in the break room, because they have to leave work in the middle of the day to take care of a sick child, knowing that they will lose their bonus money and will struggle to be able to pay the child's doctor.
Apple management actually states in writing that  "it is always your choice if you don't come to work and you are showing a poor work ethic if you don't".  Legitimate sickness, legitimate child care issues, any legitimate reason for absence is not accepted.  Because of the significant drop in earnings, people usually don't stay out when they're sick; colds and flu are rampant in this workplace.
Furthermore, the requests for feedback about your work that Apple e-mails to customers do not mention your name, or the topic that was discussed during the telephone call.  Quite often the customer reviews someone other than you, e.g. a previous agent they were dissatisfied with, or a Mac Genius at the Apple Store you referred the caller to.  So even if you did a great job, you get a bad review on your record.  This reduces the percentage of good feedback for the month and drops your bonus.  Apple does not remove these mistakes from your record.  Management says "you get some good ones and some bad ones."  In other words, tough s***.  I have lost hundreds and hundreds of dollars because of this unconscionable attitude.
Who has the poor ethic in this picture?