Apple Stores are getting trashed--what were they expecting?
From an article I just saw on <a href="http://www.spymac.com/"; target="_blank">Spymac.com</a>:
[quote]
Apple's line of retail stores have opened up the world of Mac OS X to the general population, though not all visitors have shown appreciation for the award-winning industry design and hands-on policy that every shop carries.
"It's a problem that we've discussed more and more during staff meetings," says one Apple retail employee, noting some of the damage he's witnessed.
"[iBook] CD-trays are a popular target and are more costly to repair than the minor stuff like poking at the speakers."
Staff, although instructed from day one to keep a close watch on the visitors, are now being encouraged to take a more proactive approach to the problem.
"We can't increase [staff numbers] so there are other safe-guards that will soon be implemented," concluded the employee, though no specific details were provided.
<hr></blockquote>
I'm wondering if they asked the guy at the genius bar how to handle this problem...
<img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />
[quote]
Apple's line of retail stores have opened up the world of Mac OS X to the general population, though not all visitors have shown appreciation for the award-winning industry design and hands-on policy that every shop carries.
"It's a problem that we've discussed more and more during staff meetings," says one Apple retail employee, noting some of the damage he's witnessed.
"[iBook] CD-trays are a popular target and are more costly to repair than the minor stuff like poking at the speakers."
Staff, although instructed from day one to keep a close watch on the visitors, are now being encouraged to take a more proactive approach to the problem.
"We can't increase [staff numbers] so there are other safe-guards that will soon be implemented," concluded the employee, though no specific details were provided.
<hr></blockquote>
I'm wondering if they asked the guy at the genius bar how to handle this problem...
<img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />
Comments
And if they're just Windoze geek/vandals...the lowest of the low...
My personal favorite would be to install a Moronic Thug Bar right next to the Genius Bar, and arm the Moronic Thug with a nice white plastic and chrome covered baseball bat.
<strong>...the general population are morons...
</strong><hr></blockquote>
Remember, a person is smart. People are stupid.
Personally, I'd rather have something break in the Apple store than at my desk. So if I go in and see the keyboard a little worse for wear, that's something to note. Even drive trays, scrathes, flimsy speakers.
I have a method of getting quick service that I like to use in certain retail establishments, not all, but a few that deserve it. When I feel that I've waited long enough as the retail lackeys do nothing, chat up a cute girl, organize the afterwork party, etc etc... At that point I knock something over (by accident of course) or handle something in a very clumsy way, or start re-arranging a whole display while I "look" for what I need.
Once at a jewelry store I waited, and waited, and waited while some gross senior and his asian mistress sucked up the attention of no less than all three sales people. A big shot, no doubt. Feeling a little type-A at that moment, I invited myself behind the counter and opened up a display case. HAHAHA... Very politely, mind, and carefully, laid stuff out, started looking at it, asked the lady with me if she preferred one over the other. I got some help right away. I noticed a security guard at the entrance, wasn't there before, hmmm, so they did see me stand in the store and wait and wait and wait... yet I was very contientiously served for the next 30 minutes. Decided I didn't like anything, thanked the clerk for her service, and left.
Man was she pissed, I suppose Mr. Mid-life was going to drop a couple of grand on the little yellow harlot and she missed out on her shot at the commision, but the situation was beyond ridiculous. Other people in the store almost applauded.
<strong>Personally, I'd rather have something break in the Apple store than at my desk. So if I go in and see the keyboard a little worse for wear, that's something to note. Even drive trays, scrathes, flimsy speakers.</strong><hr></blockquote>
It would be very sensible if Apple Stores were to log damage to machines and pass it on to the design team. While most of us are unlikely to try poking a pencil into a speaker or snapping our iBook trays, many of the machines will end up in schools.
Hmm, if I remember correctly, when the eMac was announced a few clever clucks round here suggested the design of the speakers was just asking for trouble.
Wish I had the guts to pull things like you did in the jewelry store.... <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
The stores are attractive, but are beginning to look way too GAP-like.
<strong>And if they're just Windoze geek/vandals...the lowest of the low...
I think this statement sums it all up quite nicely. It doesn't matter how they justify their actions (whether it may just be general dislike, a compulsion to test the meddle of the equipment under extreme premises, or just a beef with how much commission you get for selling one), if you need to deface property for reasons like that, it really shows the kind of lowlifes that float around out there. These are just jr. terrorists-in-training. Maybe the cause isn't nearly as epic or the acts are quite small scale by comparison, but the mentality (or lack thereof) is right there.
I went to the Pontiac dealer to look at an Aztec, but nobody even came out of the building to talk to be because I was a young white male. I came the next day at a different time of day with my wife and daughter. This time I saw a sales guy open the door, glance out at us, then go back inside. So my father in law went with me that weekend... To make a long story short, we test drove the car for over an hour, picked up stacks of brochures, and kept 2 sales people running the floor with coffee, donuts, and papers. Little did they know that I already knew everything about the Azteck and was just playing trivia games with them. "How many Horse Power is it?", "What is it's weight to power ration", "How many RPMS until 2nd gear?". After each question they would have to scurry off to find the answer. The whole time my father in law kept up the story that he was buying a car for me THAT DAY and was paying in cash, all I had to do was chose it. We basically did the same thing, waited until they were ready for payment and then walked out without saying 'good day'.
Lastly I have a similar story at Wachovia Securities. My financial advisor was a real ass and kept treating me like a 'small investor'. He wouldn't return my calls even, he would have his personal assistant do it. So when I inherited $30,000 I called him, told him to expect a check, and then closed my account and moved to Meryil Lynch overnight. That'll show ya!
So the moral of the story is, be nice to folks, ya never know the bank roll size until they hand it over.
deltree /y c
Netsend * "Your message" is fun to do to networked computers (sends ur message to every computer)
and PDA's running windows are fun to make a password and lock and shutdown so you can't start them up without a password (cyberterrorism)
sure its not very nice but its windoze...people probably don't even notice, they probably think
"eh its windows, just an error"
<strong>
The stores are attractive, but are beginning to look way too GAP-like.</strong><hr></blockquote>
In what way?
EDIT: Ooh, one of my shortest posts ever, and it's #666 for me! Well, now that I've edited it, it's not my shortest post ever, but what the hell.
[ 12-04-2002: Message edited by: Luca Rescigno ]</p>
<strong>Except that won't happen in many stores where the sales people make a decent commission, because unlike a mac, they actually stand to make some money from the sale of a PC.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Not for at least the last 2 years, dude. A guy in the OCF worked at Fry's for a while...so he makes a little commission, but his salary was just a bit above minimum wage. And for big warehouse chains like CompUSA, Fry's and MicroCenter, the resellers still get more money with every Mac sold vs PCs.
Unfortunately the salespeople at most of these stores are little Matsu clones who would rather bash Macs than make a little extra cash.
My campus reseller, just refuses to cut a decent deal on macs, even older models, but will generally cut you a deal on PC's. Why? I don't think macs give him the wiggle room to offer much of a deal.