“But I was surprised at how efficiently it went. The store had been set up differently, with tables strategically placed where purchases could be made. Rather than face a long queue at the back of the store, shoppers worked with store clerks who swiped credit cards on a mobile device and printed out a receipt,” Silverman reports. “What I thought would be serious hassle was almost pleasant.”
Silverman reports, “In fact, an African-American gentleman who had to have been in his late 70s was in line beside me, and finished his transaction. He looked at me with a big grin and said, ‘The best damn retail experience in America!'”
Full article here.
At least someone is doing it right!
You should never have to wait to pay.
What the fark does being black have to do with the story?
Blacks can have apples products too I thought?
Agreed. Who cares that he’s black? Is it implies racism that blacks only buy loud stereos??? Did he comment no the Asian woman buying a hello kitty iPod case? Or the rich white kid whose butler carried his bags??
He didn’t say Black and in fact I have white friends from Africa and they are African-Americans too.
He also indicated gender and age….. how terrible is that… Just horiffic…
Boy are we getting overly PC these days…….
er…. no….. the other PC. 🙂
Just a thought,
en
Gotta love the South.
Meh, Michael.
He never mentioned black – just African -American gentleman & you two whipped out yer antiracist hats & jumped straight in.
Why don’t you both jump on the fact that it was a gentleman & not a lady & bring the feminists in as well.
A couple of sado’s if ever l saw em!
Relax dudes. He was black. He was in his 70s. He had a big grin. They are just descriptions. Get over it. There was nothing negative about it except your perceptions.
Very sensitive. Why? Silverman is just describing the many years of personal experience that the “gentleman” had. Some good and some may have been very bad. If it was a young beautiful girl dressed in Apple gear with an Apple iPod in her ear, she would have been either a repeat customer or one with very little historic shopping under her belt. We would have thought “So what does she know?”
Lighten up people.
OK folks, try to calm down. Sometimes, when we make an effort to be all inclusive we come off as awkward or (unintentionally) inappropriate. I think that’s all this is. I doubt there was any slight intended. No need to cut his head off. It was probably a very honest error in wording.
What does being in late 70s have to do with this story? Old people are supposed to be shopping at the Dollar Store
The militant “what-did-you-mean-by-that” crowd that pounces on every little thing they can find are becoming very….. predictable, and boring.
I saw a white man in his mid 40’s in Houston the other day trying to sell computers. He didn’t have a clue no one wanted to buy his shit. I think his name tag had the name ‘Michael Dell’ on it. A simpleton looking white man.
Getting back on topic, the Apple Store is also the best retail experience in the UK too.
I wanted to buy an iPod touch for a friend at Christmas and knew I would be passing an Apple store, but didn’t have time to spare. I parked outside and rushed in. The assistant asked me if she could help and I said what I wanted to buy and that I didn’t need any sales talk, just the fastest sale possible. She had the whole thing done and dusted on her wireless terminal ( including stock brought out from the back room ) in well under two minutes.
It often takes me longer than that to buy a newspaper.
I recall going into a Verizon store a while back to buy some accessory, and when I left I had quite a few 4-letter words to say in addition to damn.
I went to KFC today and bought all white meat lunch. Does that make me racist?
Relax people, it’s just so you can visualize the scene.
There are no African Americans. You’re one or the other.
@Jeremy
I agree.
You overly-sensitive types make it very difficult to conduct normal, rational conversation. Methinks the overly-sensitive types are the ones who are closet bigots.
@meh –
Good point! You’ve started a great discussion among our
fellow readers.
All yall european-americans oughtta shut it, bieaaatch.
I agree with the person who said, “You should never have to wait to pay”
It always amazes me when other stores have a few cashiers open with long lines. The hard part is done in that the customers found the items that they want to purchase. All that’s left is to do is collect money from customers but they make people stand in line to hand over their cash. Unbelievable!!
FWI, it is unethical to go out of the way to mention someone’s race, when that person’s race has nothing to do with the topic at hand.
Not that I’m offended, I’m just pointing out the mistake.
I think the fact this gentleman was in his 70’s indicates he has had a lot of experience and that adds credence to what he said.
@kayan
Who says?