Joe4740

I find this article fascinating, simply to hear that others are seeing the changes I have seen for years. I started working for Apple in 2013, and left in 2016. I started in AppleCare doing basic technical support, and ultimately was a trainer in the AppleCare department. When I started at Apple, the atmosphere was incredible. Everyone I worked with was very technically advanced in all operating systems/services. We helped everyone, no matter what the issue was. We offered exceptions (CS Codes) multiple times per day to please customers of all backgrounds. Our managers were as helpful as could be, and would help out anytime one of us didn't have a solution for a customer's problem. It would not be out of the ordinary to spend a couple of hours with a difficult customer, simply to solve their issue the right way. I remember the day Ahrendts started at Apple. She sent a massive memo to all employees essentially lining out her plan to dismantle the Apple Retail Stores, and turn them into Burberry-esque "Apple" stores. I can't remember a single person, internally, that was happy with her being at Apple. Her ideas transcended into the other arms of Apple. Our SOPs (standard operating procedures) quickly changed from customer satisfaction, to red-tape laden BS, that was more fine tuned to "sounding good/looking good" to the customer, rather than helping them. Our managers became used car salesmen overnight, and turned our teams into Apple cheerleaders, rather than technical support agents. The new hires I saw on the training side were abysmal. Our training material was 90% cosmetic, and 10% technical. Case and point, in the old days, when a customer would call Apple, an agent would listen to their problem, and immediately begin working on a solution. The new system was, "listen to the problem, then acknowledge the problem, relate to the problem with your own understanding, assure the customer you can fix the problem, then probe to see if you can sell other services/goods that relate to the customer" and after all of that, then try to fix the customer's issue. I can't tell you how many fed up customers I dealt with, having to listen to "robotic-speech" from the non-technical drones Apple was hiring. I finally left Apple after joining yet another team with an imbecile for a manager. Apple's internal hiring process was 100% based on your looks, and your level of fake, over-hype ability. If you had tattoos, gauges in your ears, and could scream for half an hour about how the new Apple Watch was the greatest product on planet earth, then you could be a manager at Apple. If you were technically educated, and dealt with people in a rational manner, you were barley good enough to clean the bathrooms at my campus. 

Ahrendts is not the only one to blame for this evolution. Myself, and many others I worked with had a silent disdain for Tim Cook. As intelligent as he is at running Apple's finances, he lacks the creativity, and charisma needed to be the face, and leader of the company. I dare someone to think of an exciting new product, or service that has come about under the Cook administration. Apple's idea of "new and exciting" is slapping a larger, or smaller screen size on a version of iOS. When Apple got into the watch industry, and bowed down to every celebrity that would slap an Apple Watch on their wrist, I knew the days of the old Apple were long gone. Under Cook, Apple has slowly gone down the same path Samsung, and Microsoft have. Gone are the exciting days of product launches, shrouded in secrecy. Gone are the days of going to your Apple Store to pick up a shiny new product on launch day. Gone are the days of calling AppleCare and getting a real human on the line who doesn't speak like an Ahrendts/Cook robot. Gone are the days of educated, passionate people being the face of Apple. Now, it's all about how many tattoos you have, and if you own a pair of sneakers and skinny jeans. In my opinion, the Apple Store decline is only the beginning. There is a storm brewing around Apple that will ultimately end in their demise, as long as Cook is at the helm. 

Just one former employees opinion.