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The Coolest Experience I Had as an Apple Store Employee

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Re: The Coolest Experience I Had as an Apple Store Employee

#121

Post by Kylekramer »

snowwrestler wrote: post #113
pud wrote: post #56

The kids knew sign language? The kids went and bought stuff (incl laptops) at multiple stores? And wasn't there a long line at Apple? How'd they make it to so many other stores? The kids physically go to the store to buy school computers? The kids are such good actors that they fooled the author & all other salespeople? A teacher would actually allow kids to pretend that they're disabled? No bulk discount or pre-arra…

> The kids knew sign language? No, but neither did the author so he couldn't tell they were making signs up. > The kids went and bought stuff (incl laptops) at multiple stores? No, it just says they browsed other stores. > And wasn't there a long line at Apple? How'd they make it to so many other stores? Apple lines are product-specific. If there is a line to buy the new iPhone, you can still go in and buy other prod…

I am guessing the author pulled a Broder/Tesla situation on this story. Gist may be true, but the details were fuzzed for a better story/self aggrandizement. I particularly don't buy the whole "You were the only nice person to these poor 'deaf' children all day" angle. I have worked fairly often with people in the deaf and blind communities and if anything they complain that people treat them too kindly in general and not as a normal person.

As for a reason why the author would lie, a quick persual of his site makes it pretty clear he is trying to kickstart his career in the Apple blogger niche. Story like this may be a good way to get it started.

Re: The Coolest Experience I Had as an Apple Store Employee

#122

Post by jballanc »

nsp wrote: post #53
jballanc wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked the overnight shift at the 5th Avenue Apple Store. I got to spend two Christmas mornings (and two New Years Eves) in a row with some of the best people I've ever worked with...hell, some of the best people I've ever met!

When were you there? I worked twilight shift fall 11 - spring 12 at 5th ave

I was actually part of the store opening crew. Worked there March '06 to May '08, but I'll bet you worked with some of my good friends.

Re: The Coolest Experience I Had as an Apple Store Employee

#123

Post by dktbs »

unreal37 wrote: post #109
hkmurakami wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well there was a significant secondary motivation to see how salespeople reacted to the faked "deafness", so in this case contacting the Apple education group would have rendered this secondary purpose moot.

I doubt many schools would forgo saving $1500 of expenses (15 laptops at $100 savings each plus whatever free software the Education group throws in) for a small pointless lesson like this. Also if I was a student, knowing this experiment wouldn't affect my grades at all, I'd be rebelling against this forced lie and talking out loud "accidentally".

education discounts can be applied in store, as well as the other education offers they occasionally do, like the free iPod touch during the back to school season.

Re: The Coolest Experience I Had as an Apple Store Employee

#124

Post by obviouslygreen »

ebbv wrote: post #93
pud wrote: post #56

The kids knew sign language? The kids went and bought stuff (incl laptops) at multiple stores? And wasn't there a long line at Apple? How'd they make it to so many other stores? The kids physically go to the store to buy school computers? The kids are such good actors that they fooled the author & all other salespeople? A teacher would actually allow kids to pretend that they're disabled? No bulk discount or pre-arra…

I had the exact same reaction. This story has all the telltale signs of typical internet fiction trying to pass as a real story. Lack of details (no names of the school, teacher, etc., no date) combined with an implausible "this doesn't happen to anyone" story line is the biggest giveaway. It's unfortunate that people are so eager to believe a happy story that they will suppress their bullshit detectors. The truth is…

I don't think anyone who'd actually had this happen to them would've written it as a "happy story." This is inconsiderate bullshit. You would have to be a pretty awful teacher to put a class of immature children in the position of deceiving people as a social experiment.

If this person had actually been working retail during a massive launch and found out these kids had been messing with him on their teacher's orders, the reasonable reaction would have been -- at very least -- "you should be ashamed of yourselves." And being a retail employee during such a shitstorm would almost certainly have precluded that much tact.

True or false, this just is not something a decent person (the teacher) would choose to do, for any of several reasons.

Re: The Coolest Experience I Had as an Apple Store Employee

#125

Post by jd007 »

snowwrestler wrote: post #113
pud wrote: post #56

The kids knew sign language? The kids went and bought stuff (incl laptops) at multiple stores? And wasn't there a long line at Apple? How'd they make it to so many other stores? The kids physically go to the store to buy school computers? The kids are such good actors that they fooled the author & all other salespeople? A teacher would actually allow kids to pretend that they're disabled? No bulk discount or pre-arra…

> The kids knew sign language? No, but neither did the author so he couldn't tell they were making signs up. > The kids went and bought stuff (incl laptops) at multiple stores? No, it just says they browsed other stores. > And wasn't there a long line at Apple? How'd they make it to so many other stores? Apple lines are product-specific. If there is a line to buy the new iPhone, you can still go in and buy other prod…

> No, but neither did the author so he couldn't tell they were making signs up.

I'm sure a bunch of high school students' pretend sign language would be quite easy to spot for a decently intelligent adult, especially if you have to interact with them one by one.

> No, it just says they browsed other stores.

Explains a bit about why other stores were not as nice to them then, if they didn't actually buy anything...

> How hard is it to act deaf?

I'd say pretty damn hard if you were in high school, in a group, on a field trip.

> Speaking of unbelievable...this is Apple, right? Not known for their eagerness to cut a deal.

Apple does give bulk discounts, and if it's for a school I'm sure they should be in a program like that instead of paying retail.

> I don't understand why someone would lie about this.

People just do, for various reasons. Some you may understand, some you may not, but that doesn't change the fact that people do lie (especially for HN karma :P)

Re: The Coolest Experience I Had as an Apple Store Employee

#126

Post by niggler »

dktbs wrote: post #123
unreal37 wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt many schools would forgo saving $1500 of expenses (15 laptops at $100 savings each plus whatever free software the Education group throws in) for a small pointless lesson like this. Also if I was a student, knowing this experiment wouldn't affect my grades at all, I'd be rebelling against this forced lie and talking out loud "accidentally".

education discounts can be applied in store, as well as the other education offers they occasionally do, like the free iPod touch during the back to school season.

the public education promotions can, but when you purchase for a classroom you get additional discounts (and the stores are not authorized to give it)

Re: The Coolest Experience I Had as an Apple Store Employee

#128

Post by raverbashing »

ebbv wrote: post #93
pud wrote: post #56

The kids knew sign language? The kids went and bought stuff (incl laptops) at multiple stores? And wasn't there a long line at Apple? How'd they make it to so many other stores? The kids physically go to the store to buy school computers? The kids are such good actors that they fooled the author & all other salespeople? A teacher would actually allow kids to pretend that they're disabled? No bulk discount or pre-arra…

I had the exact same reaction. This story has all the telltale signs of typical internet fiction trying to pass as a real story. Lack of details (no names of the school, teacher, etc., no date) combined with an implausible "this doesn't happen to anyone" story line is the biggest giveaway. It's unfortunate that people are so eager to believe a happy story that they will suppress their bullshit detectors. The truth is…

I have news for you, the movies that are showing on the cinema are works of fiction (mostly)

This doesn't mean we should throw them out because they were invented.

It may be fiction, but it certainly has less BS than many true stories.

Re: The Coolest Experience I Had as an Apple Store Employee

#130

Post by koide »

hnriot wrote: post #119
rtrunck wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Classic Hacker News any more - top comment is a cynic. Even if this isn't true, what would the point be for lying? And what really is the harm done?

Attention seeking obviously. That's the point why the op made it up. There's no harm done, except wasting a bunch of people's time.

Why the story being untrue makes it a waste of time for everybody?
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