“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.