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Apple store workers should be paid for time waiting to be searched, court rules

latimes.com

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Re: Apple store workers should be paid for time waiting to be searched, court rules

#51

Post by matz1 »

JohnFen wrote: post #33
matz1 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>How does anyone think it's acceptable to [funcitonally] detain people From the business perspective, provided they can get a way with it, it is just another business decision, namely reducing cost and increasing profit. I would do the same.

> it is just another business decision, namely reducing cost and increasing profit. And effectively stealing from their employees. > I would do the same. You would steal from your employees too?

> You would steal from your employees too?

if the benefit > risk/cost then absolutely.

Re: Apple store workers should be paid for time waiting to be searched, court rules

#53

Post by FriendlyNormie »

jrockway wrote: post #15

> Employees are supposed to find a manager or security officer to do the searches after they clock out. Employees estimate that waiting for and undergoing the searches can take five to 20 minutes, or, on busiest days, up to 45 minutes. This also seems to be their process for picking up orders at the store. It's pure chaos, and I find it at least somewhat amusing that at least Apple treats their employees and customer…

Does Apple really have a “process” for picking items up? I ordered a maxed out iMac Pro for around $15,000 and waited nearly a month for it to finally arrive at the store. I got a voice mail and an email instructing me to come pick it up. Only upon driving all the way to the store was I finally informed in person that they “accidentally” gave my iMac Pro to the wrong customer an hour ago who had merely ordered a base model iMac. Their solution was to reorder mine and I’d need to wait yet another month to get it. I don’t really see how it’s possible to hand an online order to the wrong customer. The customer name is in large bold text on the barcode sticker on the box that they scan before completing the sale. The employees weren’t able to explain how it happened. They didn’t even try to articulate a process by which they would discover who was responsible. Just told me they were totes sorry and stuff.

They went to great lengths to avoid any communication about the theft taking place through Apple’s systems. They intentionally made me waste my time to come in person before telling me what would happen next.

I believe an Apple Store employee knew what orders were coming to the store and he wanted mine for himself, so he conspired with his friend to come pick it up for the price of a base model iMac.

I was recently interested in buying a maxed out Mac Pro for 50k+ but this experience has frightened me into avoiding expensive custom orders from Apple. Furthermore I don’t want to risk some rogue employee’s goons taking it to the next level by physically attacking me and robbing me on the way to my car. I’m probably not going to order a Mac Pro until I can find bodyguards to hire to escort me from the store through the shopping center and to my car. Which means I’ll probably never order a Mac Pro. None of this is sarcasm or hyperbole.

Are you listening, Tim? Probably not.

Re: Apple store workers should be paid for time waiting to be searched, court rules

#54

Post by anonymfus »

selectodude wrote: post #41
salehenrahman wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about in the US, but in Canada, I used to work at Forever 21—a California-based retail chain—and you are required to go through a pat-down right before you leave the store. You'd have to look for a manager, and ask them to escort you to the front of the store, and have them pat you down.

That’s surprising, if only because I’m not sure how you could steal more than $10 worth of stuff without a full garbage bag. Didn’t seem to help them. They filed for bankruptcy.

> if only because I’m not sure how you could steal more than $10 worth of stuff without a full garbage bag.

People who have an idea how to do it, please don't write it here, as it can lead to worsening of the situation for store workers.

Re: Apple store workers should be paid for time waiting to be searched, court rules

#55

Post by 52-6F-62 »

salehenrahman wrote: post #34
pier25 wrote: post #3

Is this common in the US? (retail workers being searched)

I don't know about in the US, but in Canada, I used to work at Forever 21—a California-based retail chain—and you are required to go through a pat-down right before you leave the store. You'd have to look for a manager, and ask them to escort you to the front of the store, and have them pat you down.

Wow. The only time I ever had to go through something like that was working for Ferraro/TicTac in Brantford during the summer when I was a student.

We would have our lunch bags randomly searched as we passed through the outer security gate on our way to parking.

Bloody TicTacs.

They would leave snacking items or seconds in the break room for people to eat if there were any—just don’t walk off the lot with a half pack of TicTacs.

But I’ve never experienced so little trust elsewhere.

Re: Apple store workers should be paid for time waiting to be searched, court rules

#56

Post by zelon88 »

Spooky23 wrote: post #39
danso wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? (this is more of a genuine huh than a rhetorical huh) I guess I have relatively low expectations as a customer, but my most recent experience was picking up a laptop fixed up by AppleCare and I had to wait about 5 minutes for people ahead of me, but an employee found a place for me to sit and wait, and directed the relevant laptop-service employee to me when he was available. It seemed like a reasonable in-st…

Apple really broke the stores with their reengineering process. The store in my area is too small, always packed and too noisy. The employees are really good and make the experience bearable, but they really converted an awesome, friendly retail experience and made it stressful and inefficient. The people who design the non-flagship stores don’t spend much time in them.

Apple treats the regular variables that retail stores must suffer as unbearable undefined behavior. They try to regulate and define too much. Their customers truly are, literally and figuratively, treated like sheep at every opportunity.

Re: Apple store workers should be paid for time waiting to be searched, court rules

#58

Post by CamperBob2 »

usrusr wrote: post #38

This is how you undermine employee loyalty to the point where they start stealing.

Exactly. There's another link on the front page to a WWII-era field manual on how to damage morale and sabotage the enemy's production capacity. This policy could have come right out of its pages.

Re: Apple store workers should be paid for time waiting to be searched, court rules

#59

Post by malwarebytess »

vageli wrote: post #52

Isn't this at odds with the ruling in Amazon's favor about a similar issue? https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-c...

No, not necessarily. Pretty narrow ruling. It depends on the facts of the cases.
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