FWIW - Apple, time to rethink CHANNEL partner relationships. You're dinky stores are nice, but weren't designed to handle the traffic...
Good luck with that. Apple couldn't careless about partner relationships besides maybe countries where they have no presence and that will only last until they open a store in that place.
I worked at an apple store... they work you to death... like the user said you can quite...I would say stay and become a union... Then the entire squeeze will stop... That's how retail workers, change Apple
Unionizing is the worst thing to do..Why add a middle man who also has a fee?
We need an investigation into unfair labor practices in Apple retail.
/s
Investigation? Nah, just have NPR and Mike Daisey make up a bunch of lies about this, and feed it to the "blame America first" crowd and the "Apple is all powerful and therefore corrupt" crowd, who are predisposed to believing it.
This isn't china. There are labor laws in this country.
Yeah and most of those laws are why so much production has gone to China.
Quote:
Forty hours a week is enough. People need weekends off to spend time with their families and remember why we do what we do.
Are you kidding? Fourth hours a week isn't enough for anybody, I see guys busting their asses making far more than retail clerks to make ends meet. Beyond that they weren't saying that 40 hours per week is mandatory OT just that workers would have to accept being scheduled on the weekends. Now this being retail you should realize why they need help on the weekends.
So unless you want to see all the malls, stores and shops shut down on the weekends get a grip. This isn't much different than the restaurant business where such are often closed on Mondays or Tuesdays. Sure people need time off, however it isn't very smart to close shop on the days when you can make your money.
Quote:
You'll find out what I mean when you're old enough to go to work someday.
Let's cut the BS here. It would indeed be a different world if everybody worked 9to5, Monday thru Friday, but reality pops up it's ugly head here. From the standpoint of retail nobody would get any shopping done at at all. Going out on the town after work wouldn't be a possibility either. Important facilities like hospitals could not function either. I'm sorry that you have to have your wishful thinking challenged but considering your handle "Obama" it needs to be.
Apple is held to a higher standard because it's supposed to be better. You can't have it both ways. Either Apple pursues excellence or mediocrity.
You can't pursue excellence in customer experience if you are a mediocre employer, because only mediocre people will be willing to work for you.
I am not surprised at the news. Browett has an operations background, he's a squeezer. He started squeezing.
Apple could double everyone's pay and ask for half the hours, and it would still be a scandal. And if DED wrote the piece, he would tie in some comment about Android or patents somehow.
This isn't china. There are labor laws in this country.
Forty hours a week is enough. People need weekends off to spend time with their families and remember why we do what we do.
You'll find out what I mean when you're old enough to go to work someday.
Read the article, full-timers are required to work up to 40 hours a week while the store is open. They are not increasing the full-timer's hours just shifting their schedule so they work two weekend days (Friday & Saturday). I'm tired of hearing the whining from this generation of entitled spoiled brats. The one good thing this bad economy is doing is opening people's eyes to how life works.
Dude, you ever work retail during Christmas? Imagine that 24 x7 at Apple. It's some crazy stress.
Exactly! The San Francisco Bay Area could double the size of virtually every store (especially in the South Bay) and double the number of stores.
I remember visiting the Valley Fair Mall Apple Store to purchase a G4 iMac. Fantastic shopping experience. The Valley Fair Mall Apple Store is now one of the worst shopping experiences imaginable. Every hour of every day of every week looks like last minute shopping for Christmas and can take 5 minutes just to walk to the Genius Bar.
I worked at an apple store... they work you to death... like the user said you can quite...I would say stay and become a union... Then the entire squeeze will stop... That's how retail workers, change Apple
Or just go work at the Microsoft Store across the street... It's just like the Apple Store, only it's never busy in there, so you can take off every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Apple Store jobs are highly coveted and are often filled by long-time Apple faithful who happen to use Apple's products on a daily basis as freelancers in graphic arts, video, etc. I interviewed with a local Apple Store and thought it would a great place to work and have a small income base to pad the low times in my freelance work, and possibly be a source of health insurance, not to mention the discounts and freebies. Of course, freelance is fickle and by the time they called me about an opening as a Genius, I was a bit too busy too take it.
As a cool-aid drinking member of the cult of mac since 1987, I'm always helping my friends and family with their iOS devices and MacBooks. And I enjoy it. Sure, doing it 8 hours a day 5 days a week might get tedious. Also, as a freelancer, weekends don't hold much meaning as they did when I worked at a company on salary. If there's work, I work. If there's no work, I do something else. I could work all weekend if I had the work, and often do. Sometimes I do my best work from 9 p.m - midnight. So I don't feel the weekend requirement, especially in retail, is odd or burdensome at all.
As for the crowded stores - I love them! I think it's fantastic to go into a Mac store and see if full of people shopping, playing or getting help. The Apple retail experience is fantastic. Even in a packed store, if I need to buy something, I can usually ask any one of a half dozen associates who can orchestrate my transaction from anywhere in the store. They'll either go get what I need and bring it to me, or have someone else bring it out. With Applecare, I make appointments if I have a problem (a serious one if I can't fix it myself), and rarely have to wait more than a few minutes for help when I arrive. So don't confuse a busy store with poor customer service. To the contrary, that just means more people are shopping and enjoying the process. Sure, some are upset because they don't know USB from their... well anyway...
Our local Apple Store should be enlarged though. It's definitely got to be one of the smaller stores - one level, maybe 25-30 feet wide and 3 of those display tables deep, plus the genius bar. It's not even 1/4th the size of the massive Magnificent Mile store in Chicago. I was hoping when the gelato store next door closed that they expand out into that space. Alas, not yet...
While I can see the benefit of being in Target, Best Buy, and Walmart, I question whether their staff are as knowledgeable and helpful as those in Apple stores.
If Apple cares about customer experience, that's the stupidest formulation they could possibly work under. A poorly treated workforce cannot magically result in good customer service:
Nothing stupid at all about it, it is a method of covering the needs of the store when traffic is highest.
Quote:
1. Those who stay will be stressed out.
Give me a break, I've been in enough Apple sotres to realize nobody there needs to be stressed out. If they are they are in the wrong business.
Quote:
2. Those who leave will be the best ones, by definition, since they are the ones who can most easily find a job with better conditions.
Hey buddy, it is retail not a career! The best ones always go on to something bigger and better.
Quote:
3. Poor working conditions leads to high turnover. High turnover means lots of new staff who don't know the products as well.
What is poor about an Apple Retail Store? Let me suggest something try opening up your own store of whatever type and see how much time it takes from you.
Quote:
Let's recall that John Browett headed Dixons, and Dixons has a terrible reputation for customer service. If his formula for treating workers is the idiotic "take it or leave it" approach you advocate, now we know why.
It is doubtful he has had a big influence upon this decision. Most likely it is regional manager pushing up from below driving this change. Why, because the coverage is needed.
Again this really amounts to nothing, anybody not willing to work a gravy job like this needs to go find work elsewhere.
Or just go work at the Microsoft Store across the street... It's just like the Apple Store, only it's never busy in there, so you can take off every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.
I'm an RPN and every full timer works two weekends a month. New hires are all hired on a part-time or casual basis which means no one ever gets the opportunity to complain about too many work hours let alone over time.
If Apple cares about customer experience, that's the stupidest formulation they could possibly work under. A poorly treated workforce cannot magically result in good customer service:
1. Those who stay will be stressed out.
2. Those who leave will be the best ones, by definition, since they are the ones who can most easily find a job with better conditions.
3. Poor working conditions leads to high turnover. High turnover means lots of new staff who don't know the products as well.
Let's recall that John Browett headed Dixons, and Dixons has a terrible reputation for customer service. If his formula for treating workers is the idiotic "take it or leave it" approach you advocate, now we know why.
I agree! This is an unfortunate reality for people at many large corporations\
While I can see the benefit of being in Target, Best Buy, and Walmart, I question whether their staff are as knowledgeable and helpful as those in Apple stores.
The iPhones at the local Target are non-functioning.
I was at the local Sam's Club yesterday. Someone had purposely sabotaged the iPhones which I fixed. I returned ten minutes later to find someone had sabotaged the iPhones again. The salespeople had quizzical expressions which led me to believe they had sabotaged the devices.
Comments
FWIW - Apple, time to rethink CHANNEL partner relationships. You're dinky stores are nice, but weren't designed to handle the traffic...
Good luck with that. Apple couldn't careless about partner relationships besides maybe countries where they have no presence and that will only last until they open a store in that place.
/Worked at an Apple Specialist for 10 years.
This isn't china. There are labor laws in this country.
Forty hours a week is enough. People need weekends off to spend time with their families and remember why we do what we do.
You'll find out what I mean when you're old enough to go to work someday.
Says the guy with the name "Obama"
Yes, but when Apple does it, it's a SCANDAL!
Apple is held to a higher standard because it's supposed to be better. You can't have it both ways. Either Apple pursues excellence or mediocrity.
You can't pursue excellence in customer experience if you are a mediocre employer, because only mediocre people will be willing to work for you.
I am not surprised at the news. Browett has an operations background, he's a squeezer. He started squeezing.
I worked at an apple store... they work you to death... like the user said you can quite...I would say stay and become a union... Then the entire squeeze will stop... That's how retail workers, change Apple
Unionizing is the worst thing to do..Why add a middle man who also has a fee?
Won't somebody please think of the children! (With a quick homage to "The Simpsons.")
We need an investigation into unfair labor practices in Apple retail.
/s
Investigation? Nah, just have NPR and Mike Daisey make up a bunch of lies about this, and feed it to the "blame America first" crowd and the "Apple is all powerful and therefore corrupt" crowd, who are predisposed to believing it.
This isn't china. There are labor laws in this country.
Yeah and most of those laws are why so much production has gone to China.
Forty hours a week is enough. People need weekends off to spend time with their families and remember why we do what we do.
Are you kidding? Fourth hours a week isn't enough for anybody, I see guys busting their asses making far more than retail clerks to make ends meet. Beyond that they weren't saying that 40 hours per week is mandatory OT just that workers would have to accept being scheduled on the weekends. Now this being retail you should realize why they need help on the weekends.
So unless you want to see all the malls, stores and shops shut down on the weekends get a grip. This isn't much different than the restaurant business where such are often closed on Mondays or Tuesdays. Sure people need time off, however it isn't very smart to close shop on the days when you can make your money.
You'll find out what I mean when you're old enough to go to work someday.
Let's cut the BS here. It would indeed be a different world if everybody worked 9to5, Monday thru Friday, but reality pops up it's ugly head here. From the standpoint of retail nobody would get any shopping done at at all. Going out on the town after work wouldn't be a possibility either. Important facilities like hospitals could not function either. I'm sorry that you have to have your wishful thinking challenged but considering your handle "Obama" it needs to be.
Apple is held to a higher standard because it's supposed to be better. You can't have it both ways. Either Apple pursues excellence or mediocrity.
You can't pursue excellence in customer experience if you are a mediocre employer, because only mediocre people will be willing to work for you.
I am not surprised at the news. Browett has an operations background, he's a squeezer. He started squeezing.
Apple could double everyone's pay and ask for half the hours, and it would still be a scandal. And if DED wrote the piece, he would tie in some comment about Android or patents somehow.
This isn't china. There are labor laws in this country.
Forty hours a week is enough. People need weekends off to spend time with their families and remember why we do what we do.
You'll find out what I mean when you're old enough to go to work someday.
You're mostly at the golf course. I am a much harder worker than you and also a more productive member of society in general than you will ever be.
This isn't china. There are labor laws in this country.
Forty hours a week is enough. People need weekends off to spend time with their families and remember why we do what we do.
You'll find out what I mean when you're old enough to go to work someday.
Read the article, full-timers are required to work up to 40 hours a week while the store is open. They are not increasing the full-timer's hours just shifting their schedule so they work two weekend days (Friday & Saturday). I'm tired of hearing the whining from this generation of entitled spoiled brats. The one good thing this bad economy is doing is opening people's eyes to how life works.
Dude, you ever work retail during Christmas? Imagine that 24 x7 at Apple. It's some crazy stress.
Exactly! The San Francisco Bay Area could double the size of virtually every store (especially in the South Bay) and double the number of stores.
I remember visiting the Valley Fair Mall Apple Store to purchase a G4 iMac. Fantastic shopping experience. The Valley Fair Mall Apple Store is now one of the worst shopping experiences imaginable. Every hour of every day of every week looks like last minute shopping for Christmas and can take 5 minutes just to walk to the Genius Bar.
I worked at an apple store... they work you to death... like the user said you can quite...I would say stay and become a union... Then the entire squeeze will stop... That's how retail workers, change Apple
Or just go work at the Microsoft Store across the street... It's just like the Apple Store, only it's never busy in there, so you can take off every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.
As a cool-aid drinking member of the cult of mac since 1987, I'm always helping my friends and family with their iOS devices and MacBooks. And I enjoy it. Sure, doing it 8 hours a day 5 days a week might get tedious. Also, as a freelancer, weekends don't hold much meaning as they did when I worked at a company on salary. If there's work, I work. If there's no work, I do something else. I could work all weekend if I had the work, and often do. Sometimes I do my best work from 9 p.m - midnight. So I don't feel the weekend requirement, especially in retail, is odd or burdensome at all.
As for the crowded stores - I love them! I think it's fantastic to go into a Mac store and see if full of people shopping, playing or getting help. The Apple retail experience is fantastic. Even in a packed store, if I need to buy something, I can usually ask any one of a half dozen associates who can orchestrate my transaction from anywhere in the store. They'll either go get what I need and bring it to me, or have someone else bring it out. With Applecare, I make appointments if I have a problem (a serious one if I can't fix it myself), and rarely have to wait more than a few minutes for help when I arrive. So don't confuse a busy store with poor customer service. To the contrary, that just means more people are shopping and enjoying the process. Sure, some are upset because they don't know USB from their... well anyway...
Our local Apple Store should be enlarged though. It's definitely got to be one of the smaller stores - one level, maybe 25-30 feet wide and 3 of those display tables deep, plus the genius bar. It's not even 1/4th the size of the massive Magnificent Mile store in Chicago. I was hoping when the gelato store next door closed that they expand out into that space. Alas, not yet...
While I can see the benefit of being in Target, Best Buy, and Walmart, I question whether their staff are as knowledgeable and helpful as those in Apple stores.
If Apple cares about customer experience, that's the stupidest formulation they could possibly work under. A poorly treated workforce cannot magically result in good customer service:
Nothing stupid at all about it, it is a method of covering the needs of the store when traffic is highest.
1. Those who stay will be stressed out.
Give me a break, I've been in enough Apple sotres to realize nobody there needs to be stressed out. If they are they are in the wrong business.
2. Those who leave will be the best ones, by definition, since they are the ones who can most easily find a job with better conditions.
Hey buddy, it is retail not a career! The best ones always go on to something bigger and better.
3. Poor working conditions leads to high turnover. High turnover means lots of new staff who don't know the products as well.
What is poor about an Apple Retail Store? Let me suggest something try opening up your own store of whatever type and see how much time it takes from you.
Let's recall that John Browett headed Dixons, and Dixons has a terrible reputation for customer service. If his formula for treating workers is the idiotic "take it or leave it" approach you advocate, now we know why.
It is doubtful he has had a big influence upon this decision. Most likely it is regional manager pushing up from below driving this change. Why, because the coverage is needed.
Again this really amounts to nothing, anybody not willing to work a gravy job like this needs to go find work elsewhere.
5 chars.
Or just go work at the Microsoft Store across the street... It's just like the Apple Store, only it's never busy in there, so you can take off every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Unionizing is the worst thing to do..Why add a middle man who also has a fee?
Because the fee is small compared to the benefit received?
If Apple cares about customer experience, that's the stupidest formulation they could possibly work under. A poorly treated workforce cannot magically result in good customer service:
1. Those who stay will be stressed out.
2. Those who leave will be the best ones, by definition, since they are the ones who can most easily find a job with better conditions.
3. Poor working conditions leads to high turnover. High turnover means lots of new staff who don't know the products as well.
Let's recall that John Browett headed Dixons, and Dixons has a terrible reputation for customer service. If his formula for treating workers is the idiotic "take it or leave it" approach you advocate, now we know why.
I agree! This is an unfortunate reality for people at many large corporations
While I can see the benefit of being in Target, Best Buy, and Walmart, I question whether their staff are as knowledgeable and helpful as those in Apple stores.
The iPhones at the local Target are non-functioning.
I was at the local Sam's Club yesterday. Someone had purposely sabotaged the iPhones which I fixed. I returned ten minutes later to find someone had sabotaged the iPhones again. The salespeople had quizzical expressions which led me to believe they had sabotaged the devices.