Huzzah, the writing has began again!
The last few months have been filled with just about every emotion in the book. Since August when I was laid off, I've rediscovered a desire to shoot photos, walked away (for now) from a part time blogging job, had my car broken into, found I had lung cancer again, and found an amazing job with a start-up here in Seattle.
When my car was broken into after PAX, all of my gear was stolen. I got home late from going out on the last day, and didn't want to wake my housemates with five loads of stuff in and out of the house. It seemed that someone took care of that job for me, and looted most everything from my car.
What does all of this have to do with Apple and the definition of retail? Well, I was lucky enough to have renters insurance, and it covered my tech goods. Since Apple tends to do refreshes in the fall, I'd waited to see if there was a new iPad mini to replace the one that was in my pack. I'd eagerly awaited the announcement, and then the release. It seemed Apple snuck up on the consumers with a mid-week release with almost no announcement to the public.
Brilliant! I thought how excellent it would be that I didn't need to wait in a huge line after treatment. Doing my homework by checking the Apple site to see if they had product in stock, I packed my things up on Wednesday night and headed down to the local mall to pick up my replacement mini. At this point, I should probably reinforce that when going through chemo and radiation, a person generally doesn't have the strongest of coping mechanisms for things falling apart. The store was (surprisingly) empty-ish, so I'd expected to get in and out without any fuss. As I walked in, an overly excited Apple rep asked if they could help me. I knew what I wanted. "I'm here for a mini." This is where things got weird...
The rep shows me what the black variant looks like. I think to myself "Neat, it doesn't look like it's going to scratch like the old ones." The following conversation happened.
Me: I'll take one.
Rep: You didn't place an order online?
Me: No. I came to a retail location so I wouldn't have to. I checked to see if they were on stock, and wanted it tonight so I could set it up before I go in for chemo and rad tomorrow.
Rep: We don't sell things like that for walk-in customers.
Me: *stupid look on my face*
Rep: You have to place an order to be picked up, then it's processed and you can pick it up later.
Me: But, you have them in the back room, right?
Rep: Yes, we have plenty in stock.
Me: So... maybe I'm missing something here about the retail experience and impulse purchases?
Rep: No, we've just changed how we have customers order items. Would you like to order one from one of our workstations?
Me: *sigh* Fine, as long as it's going to be fast.
Rep: They're usually out right away.
I fuddled through the website, disappointed that I wasn't walking out of the store at that moment with my new toy. I completed the oder and found the rep again, asking him to go pick the item up for me since I completed my order. I was told then, that it usually takes an hour or so to process an order for pick-up. I lost it. My brain had broken. I told him that I'll just go somewhere else and that they can cancel my order. It was late, I was tired, and I really didn't want to deal with them when I knew my fuse was so short. He insisted that I speak with the store manager, and that she could sort things out.
I spoke with the now-nameless manager. Explained my situation that I was sick, I had treatment in the morning, and I just wanted to bring my purchase home. She said I should call customer service. I felt a twitch in my eye. The manager of the store assumed absolutely no responsibility for the retail experience of one of their customers. What world was this? Do they give absolutely no fucks about someone once they've made a purchase? This was my first experience where I needed assistance with an order/purchase/etc at Apple, and this was the bar that was set for what I can expect in the future?
I tried again to explain how it would be hard for me to spend an hour waiting for a product. I was sick, frustrated, and quite honestly wanted to throw an iMac through their pretty little glass window. She assumed no responsibility, instead telling me to call customer service. I had no other choice but to call them and ask that they somehow expedite my order, or cancel it. The CSR was a nice guy, doing his best to diffuse what was obviously an incredibly bad experience. I couldn't tell you his name, but while he was trying to bring up the orders, he really did a good job trying to calm me while explaining that even the phone reps weren't happy with this new ordering system and the headaches it was causing them. At least someone in the hive mind realized that telling someone to wait an hour for a purchase was a bad idea.
The phone rep got in touch with someone at the store and helped get the order processed. It took 30 minutes instead of 60, but I was still livid at the bitchy manager after telling me "See, it was only 30 minutes instead of 60!" Her cheerful condescending smile hiding her disdain for someone who did just drop trou and take it without question.
The experience left me frustrated. I'm questioning if I'll remain a customer in the future because of this experience. Maybe it'll get less aggravating over time, or maybe they'll see that occasionally a customer just wants to go into a retail location and walk out with exactly what they wanted.
