Just took my first trip to the Apple Store. Dear Lord, what the fuck was that?????

[Tommy_Carcetti]

No seriously, what the fuck was that? I can't see anyone wanting to go to the Apple Store if they don't actually need to go to the Apple Store. How could anyone voluntarily subject themselves to all that?!??

Just a big, huge noisy room with a bunch of tables and no directions where to go. It's like your high school cafeteria, minus all the teenage angst and sloppy joes.

And as a rule, I'm inherently suspicious of any corporation that imposes cutesy little names upon its employees. Like "geniuses". Or "cast members." Or "fabricants."

That being said, my IT gu--err, "genius" was helpful in solving my situation. Although he was pretty much the exact stereotype of what you would expect from an Apple "genius."

[arcane1]

1. You left out the ultimate cutesy little name: the Wal Mart "Associate"

Here at work, my position was recently reclassified from "Analyst" to "Associate". We're all pissed off about that

[begin_within]

13. And "barista"

[regnaD kciN]

21. That's actually been the traditional name for people operating espresso machines...

It doesn't really fit into the definition of fake "creative" names, any more than "bartender" for someone who mixes alcoholic drinks.

[BlueStreak]

2. Has anybody ever wondered why

there are no Windows stores, considering that the Apple stuff is supposed to be so much easier to use?

I'm not saying that Windows stuff is foolproof, but somehow the Windows users manage to get by without the need for personal "geniuses".

[nolabear]

3. There are. In fact we have Apple and Windows stores opposite one another.

It's pretty much a sport to go to one, point across to the other and say "THEY have... What do YOU have?" My switch from lifelong Windows user to a Mac this summer was more fun than it probably should have been.

[Locut0s]

11. Sacrilegious! You have gone to the dark side!...

It's ok I now am using an iPad for the first time in my life. Apple will soon own all our souls

[nolabear]

17. Windows 8 and a bad touchscreen/keyboard laptop did me in.

I do miss Word. Mac Pages is unopenable by darn near everybody so I have to convert everything to a Word document before I can send it off. But for the most part the Mac is good and mine's an Air so I can take it everywhere with me. Worth the effort.

[Locut0s]

18. Yeah MS really screwed the pooch with win8...

The concept of a unified OS across tablets and desktops sounded good. And for tablets the OS isn't 1/2 bad. They forgot to care that it completely breaks down as a desktop UI though. Lol.

[EOTE]

4. I've always wondered why, if Macs are so incredibly intuitive and "just work", why do they need

geniuses to support them? Granted, I know that the typical Apple Store "genius" is little different than any blue shirt at Best Buy, but that's always seemed quite the contradiction to me.

[Codeine]

20. I find it mystifying. My Apple stuff "just works."

I've never required anyone's help operating, customizing, or optimizing an Apple product, be it a desktop, laptop, tablet, MP3 player, or phone, all of which I have owned -- most in multiple iterations. Who are these people helping?

[Vashta Nerada]

5. The whole notion of Apple store "geniuses" is laughable.

It's akin to an adult going back to kindergarten.

[NewJeffCT]

6. There was an episode of Big Bang Theory

where Sheldon & Leonard discussed going to the Apple Store & mocking the people behind the genius bar as their idea of a good time.

[Vashta Nerada]

7. Sounds like my idea of a good time.

[Blue_Tires]

8. It's supposedly a rich environment for spitting game at girls

or so I've been told

[Brigid]

9. Don't even think about it.

[mulsh]

10. Notice how the "genius" tens to accompany "customers" on every step of their Apple experience?

It always makes me think how welcome welcome I am. That and of course how difficult it is to pilfer and shoplift when going from the front to the back of the store and being "assisted" by multiple "geniuses. It truly is a brave new world Apple.

[Locut0s]

12. As a long time PC user I find the whole apple thing humorous to watch...

It's long since stopped being a consumer electronics device and has become a fashion statement. That was the stroke of genius jobs and his cohorts struck upon. Don't market it as a computer, market it as the next hip, cool, thing you MUST have. I'll admit their hardware is top notch, I now use an iPad. Software wise they have been put on way too high a pedestal. Apple products crash like any other. The only reason Mac OS is more secure is that they don't make up 90% of the OS market and so aren't the targets of all the virus and malware producers. They have also seemed to have stopped innovating some time around the introduction of the iPad 1 and are now just playing a game of refining their products each generation. Meanwhile a lot of real innovation is going on in the rest of the market, even if it doesn't come in as nice a package.

[arcane1]

14. As far as branding goes, Apple is a phenomenal success. A rival to Nike.

[Locut0s]

16. When a company like Apple gets bigger than a company like Exxon...

You know they are doing something right.

[avebury]

15. As much as I like Apple's products, I totally

cannot stand to go into one of their stores. They just remind me of a zoo.

[Codeine]

19. I've been an Apple user since the days of my old Apple IIe.

At no time in all those years have I ever entered an Apple store. Never saw the point -- all of their products are easily purchased at major retailers or online.

[Mr.Bill]

22. I used to live within walking distance of Apple headquarters in Cupertino, Ca.

And in the course of my job had to go there sometimes for business purposes. This was in the 80s. I would rather be in a room full of Scientologists. The place was creepy. I mean Cult-creepy.