Company: Apple
Date: 2016-07-12
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: former

Genius - 3rd Street Promenade
Pros: Lots of benefits relative to other Tier 1 / Tier 2 customer technical support.  
Wageworks benefit @$100 a month
Healthcare with low premiums and co-pays with good HMO choices 
A bevy of discounts for items you probably can't afford on your hourly, 
Opportunities to learn other jobs at Apple Corporate or within Retail through the Career Experience programs.

Strong sense of culture and team.  This was the biggest win for me.  Very few layoff periods.

I'm still friends with mostly everyone I used to work with.
Cons: Managers often pick favorites within the retail stores which breeds an environment of perceived nepotism.  Some are held to the letter with Apple policy for advancement because they aren't personal friends of management.  The time and attendance policy has bordered on illegal or at the very least completely tone death and inconsiderate in many states and stores over the course of Apple Retail since the opening of Tyson's Corner and Glendale.  

The schedule for Specialist, Genius, Manager, Assistant Manager, Family Room Specialist (or whatever it's called now) is completely erratic in most locations unless you're tenured at a location meaning, your schedule is different every single day.  People aren't allowed to plan their lives around work because nobody has a consistent schedule.  I know Apple thrives on periods of heightened sales and being flexible to respond to demand and customer behavior (e.g. launches) but the employees in retail certainly don't feel the success of working with such increased effort.  Certainly doesn't feel like it trickles down as much as it should, but hey, this is Apple retail.  Lower your expectations.  

Unhealthy snacks provided and catering provided during launches - really tone death.  Store Leaders often augment the pot of free stuff during launches with a trip to Costco.

You work a lot harder in certain times of the year and you're not compensated for that.  Sometimes Apple really fudges a product up and customers will take out their frustrations on you in the Retail store.  Overtime laws in some states make overtime discouraged and not worth your time because of the increased taxes.

These really aren't complaints, but just a reality of how retailers are expected to operate and how Apple fares with their own spin.

Customers will deride you for the lack of product availability during launches, lack of visibility to stock levels, and for the constant lack of appointments / difficult nature in making an appointment for service at the Genius Bar (which is always under improvement, but never quite good enough from the perspective of a customer).

You will use internal Apple systems that seem to always be in beta, especially at the Genius Bar.

Internal devices will often be generations behind due to a budget / depreciation cycle.

Few women on the Genius and technical support teams, but that was changing slowly as I was an employee.