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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

#41

Post by loupeabody »

jurassic wrote: post #26

Please don't do this. While this author seems to have enjoyed the experience, many retail workers have enough to do without being jerked around by those pretending to care about the experience of people with disabilities. It seems ridiculous to me that the teacher thought it was a good idea to lead these children in an extended "lie" in order to teach them about tolerance and empathy. Once when I worked in bookstore…

Although it sucks that you had a bad experience with someone who was pretending to be disabled, I disagree that having the students pretend to be deaf was a bad idea.

First off, they each bought a MacBook, so catering to them was hardly a waste of time. Secondly, I feel like exercising one's empathy is always a good thing, especially during those extremely formative high school years.

Of course, it's very easy to dismiss another person's life circumstances (disabled or not) in passing. So, actually being treated differently as a result of changing your behavior can open up a world of insight about human nature. This article makes me wonder how I would've felt about having the same experience (as one of the students) when I was in high school.

The author noted that there was a "troublemaker" and that the kids were "mostly friendly", so maybe some of the students were of the same mindset as the guy who tricked you. Perhaps the article was sugarcoated quite a bit, but even so.

Pretending to have a disability solely to cultivate empathy can certainly be beneficial for one's social life. Maybe it's not the best way to exercise empathy, but I don't think it hurts.

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

#42

Post by mahyarm »

PakG1 wrote: post #37

When I was a kid, there was a girl I knew who was deaf and mute. But we always had great fun talking with each other using pen and paper. I don't know why, but it was so much easier to talk with her than it was a lot of other kids. Obviously, some types of people are easier to talk with, but I think something actually switches on in my mind that makes it easier for me to communicate when I'm writing, rather than spea…

They were probably more friendly since people didn't communicate with them as much too.

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

#45

Post by guptaneil »

chrischen wrote: post #30
jyap wrote: post #8

It's a nice story but the MSRP of that 160GB MacBook was $1,499.00. So the kids paid $22,485. So it's comparing Apples with common everyday oranges. (Pun indended)

Yea imagine if they sent them all to a car dealership...

To be fair, a more apt comparison would if they were all sent to a car dealership, and the dealer was told they will all buy a car and just need help picking a color. I'm sure they'd get fantastic service.

Having said that, Apple is pretty well known for offering great customer service, even when it's clear you're not purchasing anything.

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

#46

Post by gambiting »

CallingIit wrote: post #14

Calling it. They went store to store buying Macbooks. Multiple sets of laptops just for a social experiement? What kind of IT department would allow the KIDS to get the computers they need. And with no bulk discount, what school would allow that? This happened in his dreams.

They were given gift cards and their teacher was supervising them. It's not like they were given a thousand dollars each and sent on a shopping spree.I know schools that give laptops to students - and this one was allowing them to buy them, possibly to teach them something, give them that experience. If it was a small, privately paid school,then I don't see what this would not be true.

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

#48

Post by emidln »

CallingIit wrote: post #34
Gromble wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They weren't asking for MacBooks at every store, that would be silly.

Still, KIDS were given thousands of dollars to buy stuff tech for their school. This happens no where. Now if he said it was a coffee shop or such, sure.

I purchased a couple switches and a new server for my high school when I was a junior. I also was allowed to buy on the school's line of credit at a local hardware store for things I needed for the stage.

I went to a private catholic high school in a small city. The administration trusted the students. They also didn't have IT staff, so geek speaking technobabble sounds better than paying actual staff. Walked out of high school with independent study classes, real experience in IT and building control systems, and without my parents paying expensive tuition.

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

#49

Post by bones6 »

hkmurakami wrote: post #33
dktbs wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the case of the Apple store, these kinds of sales are the last thing a salesperson wants. Apple salespeople are not paid on commission, and since the guy was told exactly what the students were buying and that they already had the money distributed to them on gift cards, he knew he couldn't upsell them on a warranty or in-store training. Selling a baseline macbook is easy, people line up to buy them. It is the ups…

Out of curiosity, how do Apple stores track how well an employee upsell products? Is there an expected model that sells for each product line, and if an employee exceeds this level on average (say, the EV is a Macbook Air 13 inch and 10% chance of warranty contract but the employee "averages" a 13 inch MBP + 25% success on a warranty), does she get a bonus?

I don't think it's a bonus rather a not-getting-yelled-at perk (or pat on the back bonus perhaps). They can track it rather easily since every employee's ID is tied to the little iPad or iPod they are completing the sales with.

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

#50

Post by sadface »

jurassic wrote: post #26

Please don't do this. While this author seems to have enjoyed the experience, many retail workers have enough to do without being jerked around by those pretending to care about the experience of people with disabilities. It seems ridiculous to me that the teacher thought it was a good idea to lead these children in an extended "lie" in order to teach them about tolerance and empathy. Once when I worked in bookstore…

Sure, you're not helping anyone by pretending to have a disability, but you're a grown adult, not an impressionable child. Assuming these kids really did learn something from this exercise it will help them be more tolerant and empathetic in the future, which isn't just good for the kids but it's good for everyone they will interact with for the rest of their lives.
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