“It’s not everyday an MG gets to talk about how they really feel to the public. I had an email conversation with one such Mac Genius about his job and his experiences. When I asked him about doing the interview, he thought is was a great idea, but the interview had to be anonymous to the point of not even his store or city could be revealed,” Chris Williams reports for PopSyndicate.
Williams reports, “From our conversation, I got the sense that there seems to be a kind of mythology surrounding MG’s. Customers needing help with their Apple products have the unreal expectation that MG’s can fix anything… for free. Customers seem to expect MG’s to be knowledgeable in everything. Mac Genius is more of a marketing term than actual Mensa status. Some former Mac Genii have websites dedicated to debunking unrealistic expectations and perceived attitudes surrounding this largely underpaid job.”
“The access to information afforded to MG’s can be tricky. Working within a layer of inside knowledge (at a company whose culture of secrecy is epic) can put an MG in an awkward position. On one hand, it’s the job of an MG to help the customer and make them happy, on the other, they still have to be the face of Apple which means sometimes pleading ignorance about a known issue to a customer. For instance, a while back Apple settled on a class-action lawsuit over some iPods of a specific model that used defective batteries. What are the odds that MG’s noticed a trend of poor battery performance? Chances are, they did but couldn’t say anything about it,” Williams reports.
Williams reports, “But the job isn’t entirely thankless. Quickly fixing a computer for a customer can make their day and that can be its own reward. Being appreciated goes a long way as it turns out.”
Williams’ interview with a Mac Genius here.
Underpaid is probably true, but I get the feeling that most of the people that are employed in that position are there because they like to do that type of thing. I know that I always kind of enjoy troubleshooting Mac issues, finding the solution, fixing it, and explaining to the owner what the problem was. On the other hand, I absolutely HATE troubleshooting Windows and PC issues.
Initial marketing plans from Apple proposed to have help staff wearing see-through tank tops with a hotline to specially trained female monastics under an exclusive contract. It was going to be called:
“Sheer Genius Bar Nun”
This is true. I used to work in an Apple store. The Customers think they can just drop off a computer and it will be fixed for free in a matter of minutes. It is very interesting to see the size of battles between customers and managers because of their expectations.
Tante Mount
Thanks for the giggle….made my day.
This guy sounds like a total douche bag. Certainly customers can be pains in the ass, but this guy sounds like the arrogant one. He’s a classic example of why people rebel against the Cult of Mac and think Mac people are jerks.
And he uses “literally” too much. He says “I’ve quite literally seen or heard everything.” Uh, no, he hasn’t.
Jerkstore…
I laughed at your name. Hilarious. Great Seinfeld episode…
I think the article/advice is useful. But I also think it’s a journalistic work – this guy had all the answers succinctly put.
Almost too polished journalism.
This interview reads like a fake interview. And the MG in question is an schmuck. The characters of High Fidelity were funny in the movie but a retail asshole is a retail asshole is a retail asshole.
Just had my 2ghz iMac G5 in for a Power supply replacement. Me and my 3 and 4 yo son and Daughter, we showed up 5 minutes before my appointment The MG looked at my iMac and verified my problem and in 15 minutes it was fixed and I was on my way. (Apple Store Rockaway Mall Rockaway NJ) Best experience. I also work in the IT Industry, I am the sole Mac Tech at a Lerge Ad Agency in North NJ. I support 200+ Macs alone. I know frustration. To all the Techs OUT THERE rule #1 is smile and don’t loose your temper. To all the customers BE NICE.
It’s true–I have worked in Apple service, and people really do expect their computers to be magically repaired and ready to pick up in an hour. For free. That was the number one source of frustration. It was very eye opening. Also, Apple’s wages for front-line employees truly are sad. I agree that satisfaction is a wonderful thing to have on the job, but could you make it on $7-$9 hr. if you don’t still live with Mom? Would you, considering the qualifications they want their employees to have? There are no incentives, no bonuses, no commissions. You could literally make more money working at a coffee shop. It’s all hype, and it almost makes me wonder if it’s by design, to stay staffed by the young, hip, and still living with Mom.
I love their products and have used the Mac for many years, but Apple is a corporation just like any other. If you aren’t working in Cupertino, then it isn’t a wonderful experience.
Rats — somebody beat me to the “Jerkstore” reference!
Mr. Personality’s frequent use of words like “prick” “shit,” “sarcasm” “fuck” and “condescending” when describing customers suggest a guy who may have tremendous technical knowledge, but was probably ill-suited to a customer service position in the first place.
Yes, customers can be a-holes. But there’s an art to customer service, and this guy sounds like he “literally” doesn’t have a clue about it. If there are more like him in the system, Apple should have a People Skills section on their Genius exam.
I will say I’ve apparently never had this guy wait on me at the Genius Bar — and judging by his “Nick Burns” attitude, I’m glad of it.
In other words:
All the Genuises I’ve dealt with: ProCare
This Guy: DontCare (and I’d give him “Windows OneCare Live” if it was an option.)
MW: Foot, as in what he’d have in his ass if he gave me this kinda static at the Genius Bar.
To “On the Contrary, Apple Redefines Wage Slave”
You certainly have made a blanket statement regarding the types of folks that work at the GB.
There are folks from different age groups and backgrounds, like any job. And they don’t make $7-9 an hour. Your facts are wrong so in the future if you know not of what you speak, then shut the hell up.
On the flipside, Mac Geniuses have to go a multi-week training camp in Cupertino where they learn about everything-Apple, plus they have to take certification exams and tests. Maybe there are real Mac Geniuses in stores, and the rest are slightly-above-minimum-wage retail salespeople. Unfortunately, the salespeople are the ones in the front fielding questions, while usually the Geniuses are way in the back behind the bar.
I was paid OK as a Mac Genius. About $18/hr which isn’t horrible, but nothing to write home about for the amount of crap I had to deal with. Managers were okay… when they weren’t giving the store away.
Customers as a whole were a bunch of winey iPod carrying a-holes who didn’t understand why they had to wait in line when all they had was “a simple iPod problem.”
I didn’t mind dealing with the Mac users generally. They were cool and typically happy to have you help them. It was the switchers who had iPods who were alittle tougher to deal with.
I like the people I worked with, but I grew to hate dealing with the general public (iPod users)
“Underpaid is probably true, but I get the feeling that most of the people that are employed in that position are there because they like to do that type of thing.”
So anyone that enjoys their job should be underpaid?
It is sorely needed that someone set up a blog where user rate the performance of the so called genius.
It however shoould have a button for “absolute jackass” as in Justin a the San Francisco Market St store
macromancer — i take it that Jimbo‘s point was that enjoying your job can compensate to a certain extent for reduced wages, not that one is entitled to less if one enjoys one’s job.
Put more directly, financial incentives don’t exhaust the range of incentives there are for any particular job. This seems true.
On the Contrary, Apple Redefines Wage Slave
if you accept a job that has been described to you and the pay has been explained then you have made a choice and you are contractually obligated to perform that duty for the said amount. The amount paid does not reflect your performance. Your attitude does. I know of highly paid jerks and of highly motivated volunteers –
It doesn’t take long working retail to find out that many customers feel free to treat you like you just ran over their dog a few times. I think that’s true for retail across the board, no matter how nice the store.
mac user 47
it is hard to generalize and it is most often flawed.
I have work as a retail clerk in over 5 countries and the culture and academic education of the clientele makes a huge difference as to how one is treated – as a whole, we in the US give and terefore receive lousy treatment
My favorite MG encounter was an arrogant, conceited, and “forner unix systems admin”.
I had mistakenly rebooted OSX off the the CD & failed to restore my original user. I ran into permissions barriers accessing files from the old user. After literally verbally humiliating me he got to work in the command lines in terminal & got the job done.
Some genius; I figured out a day later I could have simply drug & dropped the files from the CD backup disk I had burned.
Dunno whether the guys at the Birmingham UK Store were MGs or not but FOUR cheers to them.
For politeness, knowledge, helpfulness, taking a prob off my hands and generally being top people.
It was its own reward for Apple — I ended up buying topline MB Pro. Meantime the old dead PB has remarkably come back to life and is a useful No2 tool.
Also for Apple, I spread a smile and good PR.
😎
Mac Genius? Isn’t that any oxymoron?
Gotta love people who say they are underpaid. If that is true, then why are they working where they do for the wages they think do not meet their abilities? Why don’t these “underpaid” people go find a job that pays them more instead?
Answer:
Because the market bares out value that’s why. If they had the skills and abilities to go get a job for six-figures+, they would, but their skill-set does not equate to that. So Apple, like the rest of the market, pays them what the skill-set bares out.
Some people may work at a job that is below their skill-set because they enjoy the type of job they have. But these people know they have choosen a lesser wage for more free time, or any number of reasons (save for teachers, who knew going in they have choosen a low-wage profession – never mind the 4 months off a year – but continue to cry about their earnings, but never their benifits or time off, but I digress…)
If the worker is grumpy about their lack of earnings, they need to be honest with themselves, because deep down they know if they were truly worth more than their salary delivers, they could:
A. Get a job that pays more for their abilities. Highly educated and/or successful people are always in demand in this or any country.
B. Start their own business. You can do that you know! No one has to be a “slave to the man.”
C. Move to Europe and get 6 months a year in vacation, make lots of money… only to see 80% of it flow back into the system, delivering a completely lack of motivation, and soon realize why the EU has perpetually high unemployment rates…
In Summary:
Everyone – quit crying about how much you make. Wanna make more, do something about it. If you know you can’t because your abilities don’t equate to a better job, then shut your pie-hole and understand you are not that “special” and live with it. But I should hope people are more motivated than that and thus go do something about it.
So for all you “I deserve more” cry babies, quit pretending you live in Darfur, are oppressed, and have zero opportunities, when you live in the USA which is rife with possibilities!
So, what does a Mac Genius get paid?
Steven – Underpaid???,
you can still think that your society undervalues/under pays it’s mac geniuses. Just think of the quality mac geniuses that we could have if we valued them more. Unfortunately, we don’t really value great mac geniuses, and we don’t get the top candidates for mac geniuses and mac society suffers as a whole. I agree that we can’t say that an individual mac genius is underpaid.
Steven – Underpaid???,
I rather agree with you. For the “special” staff members of the Genius Bar who get arrogant and condescending when asked reasonable questions, I ask why they aren’t paid genius wages for their special mental gifts…
I know retail and tech support can be challenging, so I’m polite and agreeable until the ‘tude shows up (rolling eyeballs, snickers, huffs and puffs, facial expresions), then it comes right back at them.
If you’re a genius, you don’t work in a retail store in a mall. ‘nough said.
In college I sold macs at my university bookstore for several years, and I have some sympathy for these guys. Any job dealing with the general public is very draining. Sure there are customers that are a joy to deal with. For these people I always went above and beyond what was called for to help them. But for every wonderful customer there are at least 2 that drive you absolutely crazy. The kind of customer that damands that you fix their computer for free even though it has been out of warrenty for 2 years. For these customers, anything short of agreeing to all of their demands results in a horrible tantrum, name calliing, and threats. I’d be very surprised if you found many peole who worked in retail for any length of time that still had a high opinion of their customers. Nature of the beast I suppose.
I’m with the Mac Genius on this…
As someone who has run 3 Apple dealerships over the past 21 years as a manager and lead on the support side I probably have seen and heard just about everything.
I’ve had the best of customers with whom I’ve made lifelong friendships and to whom I still provide support services even though I am no longer in the business.
But mostly I’ve had to deal with the idiocy that seems to befall the vast majority of the human race when it comes to anything that has an on/off switch.
Some people should just not be permitted to own any kind of technology at all. If I had my way there would be a test to establish what anyone should be allowed to use/operate. Most would get nothing more than a tube of lube and get told to go off and play with themselves. If you were really lucky you might be allowed to own a copy of Windows.
And using a Mac does not automatically elevate you to some god-like status that allows you to abuse the very people who are trying their best to help you.
To the current genius bar people who want to make better money. Get your Apple certifications and go independent. I charge between $75 to $100 per hour for my services and I have no shortage of takers – plus I get to choose who I deal with!
MW = wrong. My new paradigm – The customer is mostly WRONG.
~Don’t pass the koolaid:
Windows Genius would be an oxymoron if they existed.
Since all Windows users are simply too dumb to know better when it comes to decent computing; so a Windows Genius cannot exist.
Another example of an oxymoron is Windows Security. For an operating system that is inherently insecure the words relating to any type of security on Windows to me is laughable. This is just part of the elaborate con that Bill Gates began and made his fortune from by duping the World via a niave IBM in the early 70s.
Ask yourself why is it only now that with Bill Gates leaving the company he founded is security being taken more seriously?
It amazes me that most Windows users seem to be happy to pay more and more for ‘extras’ and on a regular basis. Continuing to pay some supposed expert to fix Windows as the only fix is the amount of money that goes into this persons pocket. That fix is also a fix to ensure your Windows computer crashes regularly so this person can go on exotic vacations at your expense.
“God may protect you, but he’s not going to change the laws of nature for you – especially when you’re acting like an idiot.”
He may be somewhat of a douche and his sarcasm wasn’t all that witty, but this is a classic line.
MacX86,
I wouldn’t lobby for that tech exam too hard if I were you. If only well heeled tech-gods were allowed to buy computers there wouldn’t be a need for you. You’d be a janitor some place making $5 to $7 dollars per hour instead of $75 to $100.
You should be grateful that idiots are allowed to buy this stuff; they keep your bills paid.
And to all of the other under paid people; you filled out the application, sent in the resume or CV and interviewed for the job, at that point you presumably learned of the compensation. So if you “were” a six figure earner that has been some how duped into working for a $100 a week, I’d say you were probably overpaid before and you’ve now hit the realistic target.
This of course does not apply to people that have taken on an expanded role at work or increased their education or certifications etc. Still, if you are underpaid relative to others in you field, experience or education level you move on.
It’s true! You can make MUCH better money being an independent ‘Mac Genius’ than one in the stores. Certification isn’t that hard to get. Still though, it’s surprising reading about the wages Apple is paying people to work in their stores. Granted, I don’t do reatil, so I don’t know if the wages are comperable.
I think it’s all relative. Where I live, the minimum wage is $10.00/hr (the living wage-most jobs start at twelve. Yep, even the coffee shops), and being a small town, an education doesn’t necessarily guarantee a better wage. You have to be creative. I know high school dropouts making better money than people with doctorates. There’s no law that says you HAVE to work at the Apple store. For the record, I have had good experiences with the employees there.
I am a current Mac Genius and have been for 4 yrs. I would like to apologize for the anonymous Mac Genius interviewed in this article. His sarcasm and attitude is not what the Genius Bar is all about and should not be seen as representative of Mac Geniuses in general.
Mac Geniuses are your friends behind the Genius Bar and in the Genius (Repair) Room. The Genius Bar is a place to offer assistance, technical support, education, reassurance, and inspiration our customers. It is true that many customers come to the Genius Bar frustrated and/or unhappy but that is because they have been toiling with their issue or question for hours, days, or even weeks without resolution. Our Genius Team operates under the assumption that ‘every customer wants to be happy and it’s our job to get them to that point.’ During your 10-20min appointment we aim to assess your issue, create a plan for resolution of the issue, then execute that plan whether it’s results in a check-in or on-the-spot fix. Some issues are more time-consuming than others but all issues, attitudes, questions, comments, and compliments are welcome.
Mac Geniuses aren’t miracle workers but, for the most part, they are patient, compassionate, and eager to help those who want to be helped. The only point I will agree with the anonymous Mac Genius is that you should make a Genius Bar appointment in advance of your store visit to cut down on your in-store wait time and/or frustration. You can make a Genius Bar appointment on the local Apple Store website accessible through http://www.apple.com/retail/
Every Mac Genius wants to be your friend, your solution, and the one who turns your frustration into elation. Give the Mac Geniuses a little patience and understanding and they will get you there!
Courtesy works both ways – don’t yell at the waiter/chef unless you have finished eating – it’s common sense. It can be tough when a customer has a personality disorder. So this MG vented – big deal. We all know how to read between the lines.
Forgive my winded response to “Steven- Underpaid???”‘s argument (reread his reason/evidence first).
First, a quote from his vacuous argument: “Gotta love people who say they are underpaid. If that is true, then why are they working where they do for the wages they think do not meet their abilities? Because the market bares out value that’s why. If they had the skills and abilities to go get a job for six-figures+, they would, but their skill-set does not equate to that.”
“The market bares out value”? “Skill-set” corresponds to money paid? What does that mean? Does this mean We all “get what we are worth?” A dubious insight! How/when is “value” determined, and who gets to determine it? (Was Van Gogh an unskilled painter while alive, creating only worthless works that would not sell, but somehow in the after-life he learned some skills and touched up his paintings from the great beyond?)
Answer, if you can, these condundrums:
1) In the early 1950’s, the CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies made, on average, @ a dozen times as much as his union work force. THAT WAS THE EARLY 50’S MARKET. In the 1970’s the pay ratio went to 40 to 1, in the 1980’s the ratio became 85 to 1. That seems like quite a change, but
in 2004, the ratio of average CEO pay to the average pay of a production (i.e., non-management) worker was 431-to-1, up from 301-to-1 in 2003 (One Year!). THAT WAS THE MARKET- Explain to me what the CEO of Procter and Gamble does TODAY that is so much more damn difficult/important than what he did when Eisenhower was President?
2) Speaking of Presidents, what about the salary of our Commander in Chief? Our current President makes $400,000 a year. That number is interesting for a variety of reasons: a) $400k is a lot of $ to most Americans, but Bush has led our nation to war, has his “finger on the button”, and can veto any bill our Congress passes- and the ‘value’ of his position is only @ one-thirtieth that of the quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons? (They say that you only get what you pay for, and perhaps that’s why we’re doing so poorly in Iraq- we’re only paying our political leader 3% as much as a player on a sports team that won’t even make the playoffs . . .); b) Clinton’s salary was only $200,000, and while Bush’s wife may think her husband is twice as “valuable” as Clinton’s wife thinks hers is, every day there are fewer and fewer (or no . . . ) Americans who agree with her; c) Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln only made $25,000- is Bush 16 times as valuable as those men (have our parents and teachers lied to us all these years?), or do we have to figure in inflation?
I could go on and on- this world’s contradictions between ‘pay’ and ‘worth’ are nearly infinite- but let me offer myself as one last example. I did fairly well as an undergraduate and decided to go to law school. Despite a night of heavy drinking the night before the LSAT exam, I managed to finish in the 99th percentile, and shortly thereafter I was notified that I had been accepted to Harvard. Now Harvard is no Yale, but it’s not a bad place; unfortunately it’s damn expensive. If you go there, and you take out the corresponding debt, your career path is limited. I wanted to be a prosecutor (That’s right! I WANTED to work for the government!) The average starting salary for prosecuting attorney’s in my state was between $40 and $50k. That is well less than half of the average starting salary for private sector attorneys from Harvard. Defending a criminal is worth twice as much as prosecuting him? If I think justice is valuable in-and-of-itself, is that crazy? Would accepting a low salary, in-itself, confirm my inadequacies and therefore show that I DESERVE that low salary? Should a wise man would recognize the greater worth our free market has found in keeping criminals out of prison? Hmmm. . . Wrongly, In believing that justice is valuable, I stupidly rejected Harvard and went to a state college so that I could afford to pay off my debt by “doing good”. My ignorance! I should have seen that the worth of a job (and a life!) is right there- how many dollars will they put on their check? You’re a fsking genius . . .
You closed:
“Everyone – quit crying about how much you make. Wanna make more, do something about it. If you know you can’t because your abilities don’t equate to a better job, then shut your pie-hole.” Guess what? You and your ilk need to realize that “salary” is not a synonym for “ability”, nor for “worth”, and if you can’t shut YOUR OWN pie-hole, I’d be more than happy to shut it for you . . .
I apologize my long diatribe, and I hope he will effort an answer.
$25k in 1865= $295199.56 in 2005.
To Contra “Steven- Underpaid???” . . . Amen brother! This is one area where the logic of society at large is seriously skewed. Your diatribe illustrates this point quite eloquently, actually. I like the Apple stores, but y’know, as a Mac Genius, you will likely never deal with someone who is Mac savvy; they can usually remedy their Mac issues themselves. The more ‘average computer using’ folks who switch to the Mac, the more you’ll encounter largely non-Mac savvy users. They weren’t any more sophisticated when they were using windows, I assure you. Bless you for your patience with them.
Unfortunately, Contra “Steven- Underpaid???” exemplifies the penny-wise, pound foolish wisdom that sometimes prevails in our idealistic youth. Fortunately for Contra (if indeed the story is true), there’s enough mental horsepower there to get past it. Drinking heavily before LSATs? I guess there is no association between common sense and academic achievement.
I suppose that the lifelong friendships and associations that Harvard provides isn’t worth some temporary debt load? Or working in private practice at >2x the state job rate for a few years, learning the tricks of defense lawyers and ridding oneself of dept was not instantly gratifying enough?