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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

#191

Post by smegger001 »

pier25 wrote: post #3

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

I worked at K-Mart part time during college. On the closing shift they would lock us in the store and not let their employees out until after the managers in the cash cage finished counting. But they wanted us to clock out the second we hit the end of our scheduled shifts. So we would be expected to stay locked on premises for anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes unpaid. But they tried all sorts of sketchy things that probably violated labour laws. Changing schedules without notice, scheduling people to close then open with less than 8 hours between shifts. Not publishing the scheduled for the next week until Saturday afternoon.

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

#193

Post by derefr »

jrockway wrote: post #84
FriendlyNormie wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

In the minds of the corporate workers that came up with the Apple Store Brand Story, every Apple Store employee is your best friend and will jump at the opportunity to assist you, Apple's most loyal customer, with anything you need. So of course they're not going to make you wait in line like the PC Guy from those ads from 10 years ago would; they will be waiting for you when you walk in, just like Hachikō waited eac…

Perhaps they should keep a few staff in reserve as the equivalent of "tier-2 technical support", such that those people never deal with the mundane stuff, and so never get driven to distraction by the inanity of it.

Oh, wait, that's the Apple Store Business team, isn't it?

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

#194

Post by madengr »

catalogia wrote: post #95
angry_octet wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole notion of employing off duty police as security is antithetical to the proper administration of justice and highlights systematic malaise. As well as the fear of robbery for such a low value and traceable item. Edit because I can't reply: Just off duty police. Police have significant powers, even off duty. In addition, if you pay them well they might do favors for you when on duty. Like looking for someone…

Do you oppose security guards in general, or only off-duty police officers working as security guards? I ask because as far as I can tell the practical alternative is to hire some guy who flunked out of the police academy and became a security guard instead, which seems... worse. Personally I navigate life without hiring any security guards. But I recognize that some people and/or circumstances might have legitimate…

I’d just open carry my .45 into the Apple store. Probably wouldn’t go over well with the typical Apple crowd, but guarantee you won’t be robbed.

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

#195

Post by eropple »

matz1 wrote: post #113
angry_octet wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you be unhappy if someone stole money from your bank account? Because you're condoning theft. It's not clever business practices, it's theft.

>Would you be unhappy if someone stole money from your bank account? If I'm the one being stolen, of course but not if I'm the one who stole (again provided I will not be in trouble). Provided they won't get in trouble, how is it not a clever business practice?

Because we have obligations to each other because we live in a society?

Because it's fucking wrong to do it?

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

#196

Post by Wowfunhappy »

SamReidHughes wrote: post #189
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple said it could prohibit employees from bringing any bags or personal Apple devices into its stores altogether but gave them that benefit. What if you have asthma and need to keep an inhaler? Or one of the numerous other medical conditions that also necessitate keeping an item on hand.

The ADA obviously requires them to make accommodations.

Yeah, so what I was wondering is, if you have asthma do you get paid for the time you spend waiting to be searched?

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

#197

Post by claudeganon »

eru wrote: post #179
claudeganon wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The privatization of all kinds of costs onto labor by Capital is actually a well-analyzed subject: https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/3555-mapping-social-reprodu...

Labour's share of GDP has been reasonably stable over the centuries.

Yes, that’s the problem.

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

#198

Post by eropple »

matz1 wrote: post #51
JohnFen wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

If this isn't an extended schtick, please seek out psychiatric help.

That is neither an insult not a joke. This is virulently antisocial.

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

#199

Post by smegger001 »

angry_octet wrote: post #88
sbarre wrote: post #85

This also says they search their personal iPhones. What exactly are they searching for that someone could steal? Do they just mean checking serial# or something to make sure someone didn't swap their phone for a new phone? Or are they actually searching/examining the contents of the phone?

Just that is their iPhone and not a brand new one from the store.

That sounds to me like Apple retail employees need to start blatantly using Android phones.

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

#200

Post by derefr »

hobs wrote: post #32
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…

It depends greatly on your apple retail store location, many of them are fairly tight run little ships, but some (say my local fashion island location) seemingly are huge groups of people milling about - I waited 30+ minutes so that an equivalent of a retail store clerk would let me buy a computer I had no questions about.

I would note that it's likely faster to buy the computer from the website/app while standing in the store, and then ask them to bring it out.

They're "more free" to do the pure bringing-stuff-out, because they know they might have to budget 30 mins or more for a complex purchase with lots of hand-holding and transferring and stuff, while a bring-out is always going to be short.

And, if you don't have your phone on you, you could buy a Mac using one of the demo Macs. I think that's almost part of the reason they're there, at this point—they certainly do prominently feature the Buy Now buttons on the kiosk modes they pop into.

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