I’ve seen the Mac vs PC commercials lately and I think they’re missing something. They need to include the line, “Hi I’m a Mac and you’re probably too stupid to buy me”.
Jinksto’s anniversary is coming up at the end of the month and Mrs Jinksto really wanted an iPhone. The newest and coolest iPhone is the “3GS” which can pretty much only be found at the Mac Store so Friday I looked up the location of the one here in Charlotte and Rob and I took lunch on the expensive side of town. After lunch we wandered through the mall to the Mac Store.
When we arrived there was a line of about 8 people standing outside the store so we blindly and dutifully stood in it. There’s probably a social lesson to be learned about the fact that we unquestioningly stood in a line outside of a store that I should write a post about but it would be a rather short post because we were only in line for about 30 seconds before the “What The Fuck?” side of our Redneck upbringing slapped us back into reality. I agreed “hold” our place in line while Rob wandered over to talk to the “teenage snob with a clipboard” door guard. There he was informed that if he wanted an iPhone he’d have to stand in line but if he wanted to browse the store he should feel free. If, while browsing, he discovered something that he wanted to buy he’d need to come back to the front of the store, get his name on a list and wait for an associate to help him. Rob relayed this information back to me and I quickly ditched my spot in line to “browse”.
As we walked in we promised door guard girl that we had no intention of attempting to buy anything in the store without first gaining proper approval. She didn’t seem worried and we shortly found out why. You see, in the “Mac Store” only major items… items that you MUST have an associate help you with… have price tags on them. Everything else is hung on the wall with care and without pricing. If you want to know how much that faux leather iphone cover costs you’ll need to ask an associate… and probably stand in line to ask them. If, on the other hand, you just HAD to have that faux leather iphone cover you could, I suppose, take it to the register and pay for it without asking for the price. I assume that at some point they would have to tell you how much you were being charged and at that point you could decline the payment, return the item to the rack and shop for something else. Rinse, repeat. I say “I assume” that you could do that because there was also a line for giving them your money which I didn’t want to deal with.
The place looks like a high end Radio Shack without the cool toys and rack of electronic components in the back. Since we didn’t have an associate locked to us we were promptly ignored by everyone in the store. The staff are either genuinely rude or just a bit snobbish in all regards. People, a lot of people, stand in line to be treated like this because it’s the “HIGH end computer store”. I think it’s garbage.
Now, admittedly, we weren’t dressed quite as well as the rest of the patrons. In fact we probably weren’t dressed as well as the construction workers across the street. I had on dirty blue jeans (hey, it was the middle of the day, they were mostly clean when I put them on) which were tucked into the tops of my wolverine work boots and was wearing a shabby shirt. Rob had on his coveralls and a T-Shirt. In their defense, they didn’t treat us any worse than any other customer. I was amused by the whole process and never once thought to scream at the snob at the front door, “You know missy, you work at the MALL!” Rob and I combined make about 4 times the salary of everyone working in that store. Either of us could have bought any two items in the place without blinking at the price tag… neither of us felt the need to point that out. As we left, Rob did make it a point to remind the door guard girl that the same products can be bought with less hassle at the local Best Buy and I managed to sneak in the fact that if you were going to go the trouble you could also get a PC at Best Buy. It was a snide thing to do but it offended the Mac Snob and made me grin.
Leaving there, we went to the local AT&T store and bought Mrs Jinksto an iPhone. They have the same broken business model at the AT&T store but there were no lines and the folks working there weren’t snobbish about the products that they sell. The AT&T store didn’t have the latest “3GS” model of the phone so I settled for the “3G” model which came in at half of the price. So, due to the painful mistreatment of customers, Apple lost out on the sale at their premium store and made about $150 less on the final sale… not counting whatever cut AT&T gets out of that. They can stand to lose a little more money. I wouldn’t have bought an iPhone at all but it was being purchased for my love and I can afford to swallow at least a tiny bit of pride to make her happy, which I did.
She loves the phone and I have to admit that they iPhone IS a cool bit technology and worth the price that they charge. It IS NOT worth the debasement that one must suffer to buy it at the Mac Store though… nothing is worth that.
Oh, and if you’re reading this and you take names at the front door of the SouthBrook Mac Store in Charlotte please realize the following: “You work at the MALL you little twit!”
Oh, and, feel free to leave a comment. 🙂
It’s funny that you stood in line there just because there was a line. V and I make fun of people who stand in lines just because there’s a line. We keep saying we’re going to bring some canvas deck chairs and a bunch of snacks to the Apple store or Best Buy or something – even when there’s nothing to wait for – just to see how many people line up behind us. “What are you waiting here for?” “You mean, you don’t KNOW?!”
Also, all the items that hang on the walls DO have prices on them. They’re on the back of the packaging – pick an item up and turn it around, and there’s a pricetag.
And I don’t think the dress-code difference is limited to the Apple store. While you have the luxury of forgetting the steel, glass, and concrete from time to time, in Charlotte, there’s an unspoken rule – the nice you’re dressed, the more right you have to be rude to lesser-dressed people. If two guys are wearing ties and one pushes the other out of the way to get on the elevator, check their shoes. I’d bet the rude one was wearing Armani’s. (That being said, I think the black fingernail paint you’ll find on 80% of the workers at the Apple store should eliminate them from the rudeness echelon, regardless of what you were wearing.)
All I can say is that the faux leather iphone cover that I picked up didn’t have a pricetag anywhere on it. Might have been an untagged item but you only get one chance to make a first impression and that untagged item ended up costing them money.
I haven’t seen the Charlotte dress code that you describe. As you know, my normal costume is workboots, jeans and a ratty shirt. Of course, when someone nudges me out of the way at the elevator I assume that they’re playing a game and nudge back.
Interesting that you mention elevators as on my trip to NYC last week I was floored once again by the rudeness of New Yorkers. At least in Charlotte if someone intends to push me out of the way they’ll pause long enough to let a lady push me out of the way first. In NYC there’s no such etiquette. Even when I blocked the entire door and said, “After you ma’am” the lady in question would smile at me ( in a “well, isn’t he cute” sort of way) and then look for a paper cup to drop a quarter into.
I thought it was only us English who couldn’t resist a queue – must be some primeval instinct – possibly maybe made sense in the past when we’d be queueing to get away from a T-Rex or something equally dangerous 🙂
Isn’t there some phone app (poss. iPhone) which scans bar codes and tells you the price? It couldn’t be *that* hard to produce, surely…
@CowOrker – I love it – queueing up to run away from a T-Rex – I love it. In the US we’ve also invented a double-queue where the goal comes to the queue and not vice-versa. In gangs they call it “running the gauntlet” where an apprentice has to run between two rows of angry gang members getting punched and kicked by them along the way. Completely un-civil way to use something so civil as a queue.
I work at the Apple Store in Southpark Mall and was there on Friday. The “twit” at the front door is a close friend and would be devastated to hear you call her that. She’s a very sweet person and was under a serious amount of stress this Friday past.
Admittedly, Friday was a very tough day. We were severely understaffed for the occasion. No excuse, however, for the less-than-stellar service which is, on nearly all other days, award winning. Literally.
I’d just like to say that the only one making assumptions, though, is you. You’re obviously the snob who’s so proud of your money, since you mention it in such detail here. Nobody that works at the Apple Store cares how much money you make. We give the same treatment to the “redneck with coveralls” buying an iPhone case that we do to a banker who makes 4 times what you do buying three Mac Pros. We’re trained that way.
I’m sorry you had a bad experience. We take great pride in what we do as mall-workers. I just wish you didn’t resort to personal attacks on sweet people.
While i appreciate your candor Mall-Worker the simple fact is that you work in a public facing job. If you offend me, which your friend did, then you lose money for your employer. If your lack of service or the business model that your store operates under offends me then I’ll be more than willing to share that fact with my friends and coworkers. As I noted in another comment you only get one chance and your store failed in that. As a customer I don’t care that your store had a bad day, or that your friend had a bad day. I had money to spend at your store and didn’t because the Apple business model wouldn’t let me. I went to a different store with nearly the same business model and spent money with them because the people were nicer. Simple as that.
I’m sorry, that your friend had a bad day but I’m not sorry that I called her a twit. She was and she’d probably admit it with the same justification that you used. IT was busy, there was a lot of stress. While I appreciate that fact and while you know her to be something else MY only experience with her was just as I documented it.
My point in the article was not to glorify the amount of money that I make. It was, indeed, to point out (as you do) that it shouldn’t matter. I even said that the people in your store were equally rude to everyone regardless of “apparent” class. Well done in that regard… I think.
It’s probably important to note that my description of the visit to your store wasn’t a “personal attack”. I was very careful to avoid using her name or any description of her that would identify her except to identify her by sex. I’m sure that there was more than one girl working the door that day. If not, then you and I just won’t tell anyone else about my mean ole blog.
Not a personal attack at the Apple store either, but I’ve had very similar experiences at the Apple store here in Tampa. It is placed purposely in the ‘high-end’ mall, with stores the likes of Bose, Tiffany’s, Coach, Neimann Marcus…its staffed by college hooligans more involved with twittering than lending you some assistance.
The entire mall has the same type business model, so even the lonely Radio Shack (which isn’t much of a ‘parts’ store anymore), doesn’t get my money either.
I do own an iPhone, and am very happy with it. I’m sure Mrs. Jinksto will love hers too.
Sorry you had a rough visit. (And people wonder why we purchase items online, when we’re subject to some of these ‘service’ disasters)
Social pressures ARE weird!
I have a close friend that absolutely MUST have the latest/greatest gadget. He ends up spending three times what he might spend a year later so he can proudly flaunt his cutting-edge device.
Me? Two year old hand-me-down PC laptop.
I drive a 10 year old car with over 200,000 miles on it that has been paid for since Hector was about THIS big. It gets me from point A to point B safely… warm, dry, and entertained by AM radio, (my choice… it also has FM and a tape/CD player).
My friend admits to having virtually no retirement funding and worries about his health affecting his ability to work and pay bills. I just smile.
Priorities…
It’s such fun to watch what others think is important, isn’t it?
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