March 3rd, 2008
Sexism at the Apple Store? Woman claims "Genius" totally ignored her while pitching her husband
Seems as though when Consumerist reader Arjela and her husband entered an Apple store in Bellevue, Wash. to shop for a MacBook Air last week, she felt as though the Apple Store “genius” concentrated all of his sales efforts on the hubby and not on both.
Arjela, who is quite an experienced computer user, seems to be particularly ticked that during the consulation, the “Genius” aggressively pitched the Mr. on Apple Care, still ignoring her.
All this got her so pissed off she wrote Apple a letter and forwarded it to the Consumerist.
She wrote in part:
The Apple Store “genius” — and I’m offended that he was called that, given the stupendous idiocy he exhibited today — was named Bill. Bill was called over when my husband and I came into the store; I had told the concierge that I was interested in buying a MacBook Air.
Well, first of all, Bill DID NOT LOOK AT ME. He did not greet me. He greeted my husband, introduced himself, and shook his hand… and completely ignored me. He didn’t ask my name, what we were there to buy, or who the new computer was for. He did not make eye contact. He simply behaved as though I were not there, and steered my husband through the crowded store — ignoring me and leaving me behind.
When I caught up to them, he was commencing the hard-sell of “AppleCare”. After being told several times that I was not interested, he asked my husband if he was a Microsoft employee, and pointed out that he could get a 12% discount on it. My husband finally stopped Bill in his tracks and told Bill that the computer was for me. He asked Bill if the education discount, which I qualified for, or the Microsoft employee discount, which my husband qualified for, was a better deal. Bill told my husband that the education discount was better — but continued talking to my husband as if I were not there. Even after being told the computer was for me and that we’d be using my education discount on it, Bill did not greet me, make eye contact with me, or acknowledge my presence in any way.
After scrolling through a screen of peripherals and asking my husband — not me — about each one, and only giving up on selling us the items when my husband — not me — confirmed I was not interested, he muttered something I could not make out (I presume because he was, again, talking to my husband and not myself), and wandered off.
I did not wait for him to come back before leaving the Apple Store. As my husband was not interested in anything at the store, he left, too.
I have to tell you that when my girlfriend and I went into my local Apple store to look at iPhones and MacBook Pros, we got equal treatment. Heck, the store geeks talked to her more! I mean, she uses Macs in her school, and knows more about them than I do.
I only wish Arjela and her husband received equal attention as well.
Russell Shaw is an enterprise computing journalist, analyst and author based in Portland, Oregon. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
