NYC362

I received that survey yesterday.   I do wish a couple of questions had more that just a yes or no answer- like do I wear my watch when sleeping.   Overall, the answer was no, but not 100%.  I will wear it about once or so a month overnight to get more detailed sleep readings.

Anyway, it's good to see they want to know how we use the watch. 

humbug1873 said:

"Layoffs at Apple are rare"!? Must be a new thing. I can remember an Apple where hire&fire was the norm. People got literally celebrated in the comm meeting for their excellent work, only to be layed off a week later etc. That was quite normal in the 00's at least.

Well, the early 2000's for Apple is a VERY long time ago.. a different world completely.  

How rare are layoffs now?  Well, when COVID hit, not one retail employee was laid off even though the stores were closed for three months. In fact, seasonal workers whose contracts were ending in March were offered regular part time positions, so as to not (as one of my store leaders put it) to "toss people over a cliff."    Then, when stores did reopen with very limited services, staff, and hours, over 25,000 of us (myself included) went to work at home over the phone or chat. 

And even more recently, where the headcount in some stores got too high, again no one was laid off, headcount gets reduced by attrition.  People were able to move to other stores if possible, or positions just weren't filled when someone left.  (I don't think my Expert spot has been filled since I left five months ago.).  

So here's the deal... and this doctor is an idiot.. or just trying to scam Apple.   Former Expert here who dealt with stuff like this about ten thousand times. 

You buy an iPad Pro, it costs $999.  You're eligible for the education discount, so now the price is $899.  That is a year round deal.  But since the back to school promo is going on, you also get a $100 gift card.

When you look at your receipt you'll see that you were charged $799 for the iPad, and $100 for the gift card.  The total is $899.  The same as without the gift card, but you do have a $100 gift card to spend.  

Why does Apple do the transaction this way?

Simple, customers would take advantage of the deal, then try to return the iPad.  If they weren't charged for the card, and the value of the card wasn't take off the product, you'd still have that gift card.  Now, you try to return the item, if you come in both product and UNUSED gift card, you get your full $899 back.  What if you used part of the gift card?  What if you didn't have it?  Well, now you get your $799 back and you get to keep the gift card- after all you paid for it.

Going back to the summer 2020, I worked at home doing post order service for Apple, and the back to school deal wasn't a gift card, but AirPods.  I cannot even guess how many people tried to return the product thinking they'd get to keep free AirPods.  No, silly people... you paid for those AirPods, but we'll gladly refund you the reduced price of the product you bought to get them

It's all pretty simple except I guess for doctors who can't do arithmetic.

I often leave comments on this site using my past experience as an Expert at an Apple Store for about 4½ years.   Here I can use my pre-Apple experience- 32 years as a public high school teacher.

What Eton is doing is a good thing.  Students are WAY too connected to their phones.  Some years back, I had to take one from a student who just refused to put it away.  A few minutes later, another student tells me that first kid was now cutting herself.  Yes, she was using some relatively sharp to make straight line bruises on an arm.  If the object was any sharper, she would have been bleeding all over the place.

That might be an extreme example, but you get the idea. 

The constant connection to the internet and to each other takes away from learning. Simple as that.  If they are paying attention to their phone, they are not paying attention to the lesson at hand.  

A number of years ago, an MIT professor tried a small experiment in his lecture.  He had half the class operate as normal, meaning they had phones, tablets, and laptops out.  They were all multitasking- listening to him and watching whatever online.  The other half just had pen and paper, or maybe a computer, but agreed to not use the internet.  The professor gives a lecture, a rather basic one, and then gives everyone a short quiz on it.  As you might expect, the students that were not multitasking did quite a bit better than those who were. 

Finally, if I am a parent and I'm paying tens of thousands of pounds for my son to go to Eton, he damn well better be paying attention to the instructors and not his phone.