This is Cult of Mac’s exclusive column written by an actual Apple Store Genius who answers all your questions about working at an Apple Store. Our genius must remain anonymous, but other than “Who are you, anyway?” ask anything you want about what goes on behind that slick store facade.
This week our Genius answers why the iPhone screen can be repaired in stores while the iPad has to be shipped away from special care. We also discuss whether working at the Apple Store can be turned into a solid career, plus the top 5 most annoying things customers do at the Apple Store.
Got a question you want the inside scoop on? Send us your questions and the answers will be published first in Cult of Mac’s Magazine on Newsstand. Send your questions to newsATcultofmac.com with “genius” in the subject line.
Q: How do you move from retail to corporate?
Moving from retail to corporate is really hard. In fact, during the hiring event I went to with Apple one of the managers got up and told all the applicants that if they were looking for an easy way to get into Apple Corporate and work at Cupertino, this wasn’t it.
It’s not unheard of for someone to make that move, but it’s pretty hard. Some people dream of going to Cupertino for Genius training only to have an Apple bigwig recognize their skills and be offer them a job to work at HQ, but that’s not reality. Only managers and regional managers really have a shot at making the transition, and in those cases it’s just to manage retail efforts from corporate. However, if you’re in high school or college and want to go into software or hardware design, it wouldn’t hurt your resume ten years down the line to have some Apple Store experience when applying for a corporate job.
Q: Ever want to punch someone?
All the time! Ha ha, not really. I’m not the fist-fighting type. I’m more into cruel and unusual punishments – like plastering your MacBook with My Little Pony wallpaper if you’re a grumpy jerktard.
I’ve never come to blows with a customer, but there are times I’ve been particularly upset with management or other Apple Specialists. Occasionally a customer will freak out at you, but there are plenty of managers around to help diffuse a situation, and we’re trained to help you find the silver lining in life at the Apple Store.
Q: Do you jailbreak? Do any of your coworkers?
I’ve been an Apple fan long before I actually worked at the Apple Store, so when the first couple iPhones came out I was very into the jailbreaking scene. Nowadays, I’m not really feeling jailbreaking. Jailbreaking iOS 7 took a couple months and good hacks are just starting to come out, so there’s been little incentive to void your warranty until recently. I’m pretty happy with iOS 7 so I don’t see myself jailbreaking anytime soon.
I have a couple of coworkers who have played around with jailbreaking, but it’s usually on extra devices. A lot of jailbreak tweaks can cause problems with other system apps on the iPhone, so its pretty rare to see an Apple Genius jailbreak their main device that they’re going to be using at the store, plus it’s like totally forbidden by Apple. So why push the line when you get every app in the App Store free?
