Apple profits by taking advantage of overworked young ideologues loyal to The Great Leader. Not a repeat.

BLOT: (29 Jun 2012 - 12:03:49 PM)

Apple profits by taking advantage of overworked young ideologues loyal to The Great Leader. Not a repeat.

"I was earning $11.25 an hour," he said. "Part of me was thinking, 'This is great. I'm an Apple fan, the store is doing really well.' But when you look at the amount of money the company is making and then you look at your paycheck, it's kind of tough."

Part of me gets the frustration. Company sets up business model. Business model does really well. Business model resists changes that might then actually benefit those people who made it work because said changes will be transcoded across the system as stress on the curve. Though of course they still make more than many retailers, they are still hired more for skills not associated greatly with high-end pay¹, at least locally [here in Huntsville] they do not tend to be true-specialist-level trained and instead use brand loyalty to know some of the merchandise, and a company doesn't get to be mega-profitable by not keeping costs down. And the article goes on and on about how Apple is making this better all the time, so I don't quite understand why it is an article. I mostly just wanted to use that as a blog post title.

It is interesting to read people actually using phrases like "You've always been an evangelist for Apple and now you can get paid for it," and how people burst into tears after being offered jobs.

Then there are bits tossed in by Segal such as "Apple's training course, which can range from a few days to a few weeks, depending on the job and locale, turns them into disciples," that drive some of the "cult" jokes home. Especially...

The phrase that trainees hear time and again, which echoes once they arrive at the stores, is "enriching people's lives." The idea is to instill in employees the notion that they are doing something far grander than just selling or fixing products. If there is a secret to Apple's sauce, this is it: the company ennobles employees. It understands that a lot of people will forgo money if they have a sense of higher purpose.

Just like Jesus!

Bonus bits in the article: How they go for young, loyal workers over old fogies who understand the value of their time...and then what happens when ~~faith in Great Leader~~ job satisfaction starts to sour. Like the team that thought they were getting iPads, but only got two tacos. Those things don't even get wifi, man...

1: The article says they prioritize not hiring tech-savvy people over other qualities...like big smiles and that semi-creative, semi-hipster ook, I suppose.

OTHER BLOTS THIS MONTH: June 2012

Apple profits by taking advantage of overworked young ideologues loyal to The Great Leader. Not a repeat.