Company: Apple
Date: 2008-06-16
Overall rating: 4/5
Employment status: former

Good job, dead end career
Pros: If you love Apple products and already have a job that pays your bills, working for Apple retail is a great second or part time job. You get to play with all the new products the day they are released, get NFR copies of Apple software products, lots of cool shirts, etc. As a Mac Genius, you have the ability to be a hero and really make a difference in peoples lives. You have the power as a Mac Genius to make decisions about repairs and product replacements without having to run to management for answers. Flexible hours, paid holidays, decent insurance, employee discount. In the 5 years working there I received, 1 iPod, 2 iPod shuffles, 1 iPhone for free.
Cons: Working for Apple as a Mac Genius can be extremely frustrating sometimes. As a genius you are expected to be an expert technician for every brand new product released. The problem is you don't have any prior info about these new products until the day they are released. Many, many times customers know more about brand new products than you do since you are forbidden to read rumor sites or speculate about new products. Customers think you are lying when they ask you a question about when a new product is going to be released and you tell them you don't know.  

Most  management is from either Starbucks, Gap, Pottery Barn, etc. They mostly are great with people but don't know the 1st thing about the service business but are assigned to supervise over the entire operation. So imagine a 22 year old, fresh off the floor from Holister, walking in and giving you advice about the workflow and techniques in the repair room you have b een working in for 3 years. Management styles vary greatly store by store and can be really stifling sometimes. I have heard some stores will not allow employees to wear jeans. NOTE: CEO wears jeans every day. Many managers get on a power trip and can really just be assholes for no reason.  Management at the store I worked for were very sneaky and would occasionally lie to your face about something just to see how you will respond.

Pay is much less than it should be for the amount of responsibility entailed with the job.