I love working in design. Sometimes I wonder if I’d appreciate it it so much had I not worked other jobs before hand. Before this, I did what a lot of people my age do. I took up jobs in retail. My first retail job was at Circuit City. I didn’t mind it so much. I worked in the camera department, walking around my carpet square for hours on end. I refused to work in computers because I didn’t want to sell all the attachments. It was nice and quiet, but after a year or so of selling cameras, it was time to move on.

I’d always liked wandering around Apple Stores, so I applied to the one in my area. I really didn’t know what I was getting into. I got an interview right away. It seemed to go pretty well at first, but then my interviewer started acting a little odd. In the end she was “on the fence” about hiring me because of my “energy”. Yes, my “energy”. I ended up going on three more interviews. One with the store manager, one with the same lady, who forgot who I was, and one with a floor salesman, who quizzed me on what the MacBook Pro could offer. He seemed to like me, but weeks later, I was sent a generic “we’ll keep you posted” email.

I got an interview right away. It seemed to go pretty well at first, but then my interviewer started acting a little odd.

I spent the next couple months at Circuit City, then decided it had been long enough for me to try again. This time I applied to all the Apple Stores in my area online. Just like last time, I got an interview right away. I mentioned that I would often refer people over to the Apple Store nearby when I was supposed to sell them computers, and surprisingly I was hired soon thereafter.

Working at Apple was pretty cool for a while. I liked how the store was set up. There is an employee or two around every corner, and the manager is not allowed to sell anything. This is so employees can reach him or her at any time. The store was set up in different sections. I worked my way up to the “Red Zone”, where I sold iPods, then eventually computers. Here is where things started to feel familiar. There were several things you pretty much had to sell with any given computer. There was AppleCare, .Mac, One-to-One, Procare, “free” Printer, and of course, Office. If you add all of these up, often times the sum would be staggering. For example, say you’re buying an entry level Macbook for $1099. After everything, if they have their way you’d be spending $1,774 plus tax. Granted, this would be an ever elusive “all attach”.

It was considered part of our jobs to offer everything on the list to every customer. Even after offering everything, a manager or other employee would step in and try to push it on the customer one last time. This would always leave a bad feeling in my gut, like I had failed or something. Often I’d get a customer that I know could barely afford a computer, but I’d go on for about twenty minutes or so about all the “great” benefits anyways because it was my job. As my speech went on, my mind would wander. I’d picture myself in the customers position, listening to all this, thinking about how much of an tool I must sound like.

Despite this, there were many things that kept me at the Apple Store. For one thing, the people I worked with were for the most part really cool. It was the first place I’d ever been in where everyone around me was a mac freak. Also, the discount was nice, 25% off hardware. I also liked the fact that we got new shirts every month or so, and how they actually encouraged “individuality”.

The best thing about working at an Apple was being on “the other side”. Whenever a new Apple product came out, we were the first to play with it. I was part of the “visual team”, where I’d spend entire nights helping reface the store and set up new gadgets. I was also there when the iPhone launched last summer. That was an experience I’m not going to forget any time soon. When we closed down, behind those cardboard sheets we were taking hardware apart and moving things around. It was frantic. I miss that rush, knowing we were probably some of the first people in the area to play with new Apple hardware.

The best thing about working at an Apple was being on “the other side”. Whenever a new Apple product came out, we were the first to play with it.

Things took a turn for the worst when I offered to help out my friend. He was looking for a job, and at the time Apple was recruiting new employees for the Christmas season. I put in a good word for him, and soon after that he was invited to go to a group interview. They offered him a position. Out of excitement, he told me his hourly wage. As it turned out, it was much higher than what I was making at the time. I was a bit hurt to hear this, so I told other employees. To my surprise they too were making much more than I was. I got by alright with what they were paying me, but I wanted to know why everyone else was making more. I worked just as hard as they did, why wasn’t I being compensated the same way?

It was a simple enough issue, I thought it could also have been some kind of mistake, so I tried to get a meeting with the store manager to talk about it. After repeated attempts, emails, and phone calls I finally managed to sit down with the store manager along with the floor manager. They were less than pleased with me. They asked me why I thought I should be making more, and I stated my reasons. It was obvious they were unwilling to change my hourly wage, and wanted me to leave for asking about it. They interpreted one of my emails as me saying I was going to leave and gave me the option to. I was shocked at the way they were acting towards me so, although I didn’t have any intentions of leaving, I did.

In the end, when you take away the cool black shirts, handheld registers, trendy music, and sleek hardware, the Apple Store is no different than any other retail store. It’s all about making a profit on the backs of everyone else. If they can pay you substantially less per hour and get away with it, they absolutely will.