This is Cult of Mac’s exclusive column written by an actual Apple retail store genius. 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.
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.
This article first appeared in Cult of Mac Magazine.
How easy is it to get past EasyPay? How often do people get caught?
Well, they make it as easy as installing an app, pretending like you purchased something and leaving, but the store actually has a lot of security measures to prevent that from happening. There are incognito agents in the store, hired by Apple, who look like regular shoppers, except they’re muscular and ready to rumble if something goes down. Most of the time we don’t know when they’re going to be in the store, or even who they are, but they are there.
The Apple Store is also highly inventoried. Everything is matched up to a computer and we always have a count of how much stock of each item we have on hand. There are also some products that can’t be purchased through EasyPay to protect the store from shoplifters with a sweet tooth for the more expensive things in life.
So if people steal something, we’ll eventually know if it’s been stolen or missing. We also record the stores as well via security cameras. There are a ton of employees and managers on the floor keeping an eye out on anything that looks suspicious and we’re supposed to talk to everyone so security is pretty good. People have gotten caught but I don’t think it happens that often and Apple is always discreet when an issue like that comes up.
What are some practical uses for the new tags feature Mavericks?
The new tagging feature in Mavericks has confused quite a few new Mac users and old ones, but it’s a very useful if you have a lot of files and different projects that you’re working on. I like using tags to gather all my files for school. I started saving files with tags once the option appeared in the save dialogue. Afterwards, I learned that you could add a smart folder to the dock that would make the tagged files easily accessible.
Here’s how to do it:
Open Finder. On the left side panel of Finder you can see all of your Tags. Rename a tag by right clicking on it. Create a new Smart Folder by clicking File >> New Smart Folder. From the Smart Folder creation screen, click Save in the righthand corner and change the new Smart Folder name as the same as your edited tag.
Next show the search criteria by right clicking on the Smart Folder and select tag as the search attribute and add the name of your tag into the criteria field. Drag the smart folder down to the right side of your dock and you’ll get a folder for your tag right on the dock!
What’s the most polite way to escalate an issue to a manager?
First, make sure you follow your technician’s protocols. When working on an issue, we have a set of troubleshooting guidelines that we have to follow to try to isolate your issue. We must get that done first before we can get a manager involved, so give us time to get all of the housekeeping issues squared away first. After those are out of the way, you’ll be given a couple of options to fix your issue and at that point you could ask for a manager.
“If you throw a temper tantrum then we’re going to help you, but we’ll basically just do everything down to the letter of the law to resolve your issue and get you out of our hair.”
If you’re not satisfied with the options presented by the Apple Specialist or Genius helping you, the best way to ask for a manager is to be straight up. Say, “I don’t think this is right and I’d like to talk to a manager.” Being nice really does go a long way in the Apple Store.
If you throw a temper tantrum then we’re going to help you, but we’ll basically just do everything down to the letter of the law to resolve your issue and get you out of our hair. However, if you’re polite and friendly, managers will be more willing to go above and beyond the basics to repair that connection you have with the Apple brand.
Keep in mind that requesting a manager isn’t a silver bullet for killing any Apple issue you have. Even when a manager does finally come around, a lot of times they’ll just reaffirm that the Genius is following Apple policy, reiterate your options and go help another customer.
