(pop) - Hi, my name is Brian Molina.
I am a former Apple Store employee.
(pop) - Hi, my name is David.
I am a former Apple employee.
(pop) - Hi, my name is Glory.
I am a current Apple Store employee.
- And today we're going to be answering your questions.
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"What is it like at the store on the day
"that a new iPhone is released?"
- Well, this past September was
my first launch, and it was insane.
There's lines outside all day.
The store is always busy, but somehow,
there's even more people inside the store.
It's just basically organized chaos.
- My first year, it was packed and it was pretty crazy.
There's a lot of hype going into it.
- And since this launch was three iPhones and the Watch,
it was a whole lot going on in the store.
But, yeah, the hype lasts for about two weeks of craziness.
(pop)
- [David] "Do people still wait outside
"overnight to get the new iPhone?"
- Yes, people still do that.
- Which sometimes confuses me.
- So you drive in to park into work
and you just see this line of people
in their little chairs and tents.
It's not that serious.
Just go online and buy it.
- For the iPhone, I've seen 'em there a day or two before,
but also, for the iPad, iPods,
they would come just a few hours before
we would open the store and just kinda wait there.
(pop)
- [Glory] "What was the worst or most annoying
"problem to deal with?"
- We would have this setup area where
after you purchase, you would go there
and they would help you set up the phones,
help you set up the computers, and sometimes,
even myself, I used to be there for four,
five, six hours with one customer.
- Especially if someone doesn't know the PIN number
to an account, or they don't know the password.
It's always password-related things.
Just, people, know your passwords, write them down.
- For me, personally, it's when people come
into the Apple Store and ask questions
about their Gmail accounts.
Those really get to me, 'cause it's like,
"I don't work for Google.
"I don't really know how to help you with the situation."
So that's probably the most annoying problem to deal with.
(pop)
- [Brian] "Can you get banned from the Apple Store?"
- Not really?
If they were trouble customers, then we'd
always keep an eye out for them
and we would know, if in the future they came in,
to kinda just keep an eye out for them.
- There's not pictures of people on the walls
somewhere that says, "This person cannot be in here."
- It was moreso just, "Get out,"
stuff like that, but not to the degree
where you're actually banned.
(pop)
- [David] "Can you get kicked out for staying
"and using the products for too long?"
- No, you definitely can't.
- You can sit inside the store and use the computers
or iPads or phones from open to close,
as long as you aren't bothering anyone.
- Although when it gets really busy, then yes,
because people are trying to test everything out
and we only have so many iMacs or whatever.
- But it's usually, four hours or so
is the longest that I've seen.
- Or sometimes we'd have this one guy that would come in
and basically do his work at our (laughs) job.
People knew him and he would come in.
"Oh, he just works, he comes in and works in here."
So I'm like, "Okay, that's cool.
"If you're good with that, I'm good with that."
(pop)
- "How easy is it for an employee
"to tell if a customer's product is fake?"
Hmm, depending on where they got it from,
it can be pretty hard to tell.
- I think the most popular thing to try and fake
was a screen, a third-party screen.
- When the Geniuses are messing with the phone,
they can tell the screws are different.
Sometimes the Home, when there was a Home button,
the Home button would be a little loose and toggley,
and then you'd be able to tell
that things were moved and shifted.
- I could never really tell, but there
was one day where someone replaced one
of the display iPhones with a cookie.
And that, I could tell that that was fake, for sure.
But the icing was very clean.
It was very well done.
(pop)
- "Does every employee at the Apple Store own an iPhone?"
No, not everybody has an iPhone.
- And that's fine.
We don't shame, I mean, there was
people who would shame them.
- Some people don't like the iPhones,
people don't know how to work it.
But, you know, to each his own.
(pop)
- "Has anyone ever attempted to steal
"one of the products on display?"
Yes, absolutely.
- There's too many times.
You see people who put the Beats on
and they just kinda walk out, you see people
who'll just grab accessories.
People love to take off their case
and then they replace it with one of the sample cases.
- I've seen people come in and they go to certain tables
and just yank phones off the table and then run out.
This happens, like, once a week.
- There's been instances where people would get caught,
but a lot of people are very successful
with (laughs) getting away with it.
And we're just told not to do anything.
- 'Cause we're all just trained
to be like, "Doesn't matter."
As soon as that phone leaves the store...
- 'Cause they're all demo devices,
they can't do anything with them.
(pop)
- [David] "Is it illegal to jailbreak your iPhone?"
(pop)
- I don't know if it's illegal, but I'm sure
it's frowned upon, like you're not supposed to do that.
- Because if you try to bring it in to trade it
or get a new one, they're not gonna take it,
they're not gonna give you anything.
And then, if you go to the Genius Bar
to get your phone fixed, they're not gonna fix it,
because it's basically not an Apple product anymore.
- So, I'm gonna go with yes, it's illegal,
because you're just tampering with all of the
internal stuff that goes on with the phone anyway.
Easy answer is, I think yes, it is illegal.
(pop)
- "And are the Geniuses actually smart?"
Yeah, they really are.
Honestly, they're geniuses.
- And they do go through a lot of training
to do the things that they do.
- They know a lot of the techie side of things.
- And sometimes when I didn't know an answer,
I would walk to the back and I would ask them,
and they would, (snaps) just like that,
knew, like, in a second.
They knew exactly what we were talking about.
- Luckily, I think there's a pretty good culture
at Apple that we're all in it together,
no matter what our positions are.
And there's no competition.
- Everyone's really nice.
No one seems snobby or mean because
they know more than I do.
Everyone's pretty helpful and nice.
- So I hope that answers some of you guys' questions,
and we do wanna help, and we will help.
Otherwise, Google it, and you'll find out there.
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