New Policy at Apple Store?

She said yes, to which I rudely replied, "New policy of treating their customers like children?"

Originally Posted by andyapple

The other day I was in New York's Apple Store on west Fourteenth Street. Most of the Macs on display had had parental controls activated so that users could only access a limited group of web sites-- and apparently with the more popular models having greater restrictions. I inquired of the sales clerk who pounced on me if this was Apple's new policy. She said yes, to which I rudely replied, "New policy of treating their customers like children?" Of course she explained that some people were hogging the machines so that not everyone had a chance to try them all out, and I agreed. When I entered the store there was quite a mob about each display table but as I approached the crowds quickly dispersed (I seem to have that effect on people \) and I was finally able to try out one of the high resolution 17" MacBook Pros. Unfortunately for me though I was not able to access Amtrak to reserve a seat on the next train out of town, but that's a tale for another day.

So how wide spread is this policy, are all Apple Stores doing this, or just the more highly trafficked ones? Also I noticed the sales force seemed a bit more aggressive than usual, not trying to pressure me into a sale, but at least three of them offered me assistance within the course of just a few minutes, and I had been deliberately trying to avoid eye contact. Makes me wonder how badly the retail stores may be hurting.

What do you all make of this?