Company: Apple
Date: 2008-09-09
Overall rating: 4/5
Employment status: current

Get ready to be the center of attention in retail frustration.
Pros: IF - if - you qualify, getting benefits for a retail job is definitely a plus. Currently I'm scheduled for 39 hours a week - just shy of the standard 40 that pushes you into a "full-time" employee. It's frustrating. It's not uncommon to be asked to pick up shifts for other employees, but in the end that doesn't affect your status as full-time as opposed to part-time.

The camaraderie, though, that's something else. I've worked in two different Apple stores but always felt like I had an instant group of friends when I've joined. The employees are usually smart, savvy people. Nerdy to some degree, yes, but also very often very hip and very passionate about something in the creative arts. If it wasn't for these guys, I never would have come back to work for Apple retail in the first place.
Cons: Oh, those high-traffic hours. Definitely a good but bad thing. Understandably, people get emotional about their technology products. When you are not the "Genius," you are often caught in the sticky situation of explaining product limitations or product issues with your customers while releasing very little information. Never expect your customers to know your limits. Working Apple retail requires a lot of patience and a lot of people skills. Apple used to be an almost boutique-y computer store, but more and more it's attracting people for whom the system and the company are foreign worlds. There's going to be a lot of hand-holding involved in your time as a Apple retail employee. Of course, you may also be faced with know-it-alls, in which case, you just gotta listen to their esoteric talk and grin.