Company: Apple
Date: 2014-08-30
Overall rating: 1/5
Employment status: current
Experience level: Junior

WHAT'S IT LIKE WORKING AT AN APPLE RETAIL STORE : 2014 EDITION
Pros: * STOCK PLAN + BENEFITS IS GREAT ( PROBABLY THE BEST THING ABOUT BEING EMPLOYED THERE )
* PAY IS BETTER THAN OTHER RETAIL JOBS OUT THERE
* PEOPLE YOU WORK WITH ARE ACTUALLY DECENT, KNOWLEDGEABLE & HARDWORKING PEOPLE
* YOU WILL LEARN ALOT OF TECHNICAL INFORMATION ABOUT COMPUTERS, IPHONES, ETC
Cons: I've been working for Apple Retail for a very long time and everything sure has changed ; NIGHT AND DAY differences from back then.  

Since the earlier days, it was all about enriching lives. Taking the time, making sure the customer had all the attention you can give them without being rushed into your next appointment . Nowadays, its all about enriching their pocketbooks and numbers ! Here are the core CONS that you will encounter ; Let me break it down : 
 
• A billion dollar company that LOVES to have short staffing. Apple refuses to put enough people on the sales floor. Ive seen frustrated customers wait impatiently for someone to help them purchase a computer yet THERE'S NO SALES PEOPLE TO HELP and they storm out of the store pissed off instead !! Yup ! There goes that sale ! Way to go APPLE !!!!!
 
• Everyone wears blue shirts . Its hard to distinguish who the technicians are and who the sales people are . a unified color of the shirt simply means EVERYONE IS EXPECTED TO PRETTY MUCH DO EVERYTHING no matter what position you have. Job Description ? There is NO SUCH A THING IN APPLE RETAIL . ( read on )


* GENIUS BAR / FAMILY ROOM ( aka the technical support area ) is all about NUMBERS. You are put on a queue where you are seen by a technician. You basically have 10-15 minutes with this customer and YOU MUST MOVE ON TO THE NEXT. Most stores require you to have an appointment booked ahead of time, and recently, its become standardized that ALL APPOINTMENTS MUST BE TAKEN. The genius bar is now cleverly crafted with new stations that ' get you started ' . No appointments ? sure just sit down and a technician will take a look and see if they can do the task for you. This basically allows more traffic to come through and more appointments to be taken. ( btw management WE'RE NOT STUPID !!! )  Work has been quadrupled to the point you are running around with your head about to fall off ! This department would work so well but the management will not put enough people to help out throughout the day ! The worst part about being in this department is breaks and lunches are always never taken on time !!!! You will basically end up hating your co workers for taking too long in their interactions or for them to refuse to help out because they are doing computer repairs. It just flat out SUCKS . This is the worst level of stress you will receive in the store . There's not a day I come home from work, not only physically exhausted but MENTALLY abused from all the things you go throughout the day !  l 

* THE CREATIVE STUDIO ( aka one to one training ) will test your PATIENCE .

You will teach 70-80 year old customers who just purchased a computer and will end up coming back for repeated sessions for the next couple of weeks because they cant remember their passwords ! 

If you are extremely patient, well good luck cuz you're going to need it real badly when you're in this role !!!! Id say a good 10% of the sessions you will get are actual decent individuals who can grasp and learn what you teach, the other 90% will just be useless people who are just basically wasting their time ( AND YOURS IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT ) . 

* The customers, especially the pissed off ones,can be a handful. Be prepared for an earful. Most are nice but majority are prissy, stuck up people who will EXPECT you to bend over and squeeze them in to have their iphone fixed ahead of everyone else. This would only be alleviated if the company actually put more people on the sales floor/ technical support areas so that the employees wouldn't get stuck in escalations

It is August 2014 and from my point of view ; Apple Retail has changed drastically . its not the same fun place I remember it used to be . If you think im bullshitting ; I've witnessed about 8 people from the genius bar resign over the past few months , and that says alot where the company is heading ! 

Quality in the service is disappearing, FAST.  Its all about Q U A N T I T Y folks !!!!!!!!!

Quantity of how many appointments employees can take + Less Staffing = HUGE BONUSES FOR MANAGERS

I STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU THINK TWICE ABOUT WORKING FOR APPLE RETAIL ..ESPECIALLY NOWADAYS?

Consider yourself warned. 

I'm already looking for a way out . its just a matter of time.