Company: Apple
Date: 2014-02-27
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: former
Experience level: Confirmed

Great benefits, management sucks, customers suck more.
Pros: The health benefits were great and I can honestly say that I worked with some of the best and brightest people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. Working at Apple retail also helped to give me insight into how one of the most successful companies in the world operates. I also learned a great deal about how to diffuse tough situations and I learned a lot about how to switch between different contexts very quickly.
Cons: The work-life balance situation is very unbalanced. Full-time employees are expected to have 24/7 availability and although they accrue vacation time, it's nearly impossible to use it (I requested vacation time up three months in advance and was rejected) because only two people can request the same day at the same time. Management seems to be mostly concerned with how many appointments are closed and not how many issues are actually fixed, we were constantly asked to multi-task, sometimes helping up to 3 customers at once. Getting a promotion is very political, and is mostly based on who you suck up to and not on skills or aptitude.