Cult of Mac reports that several Mac Geniuses have filed suit over the lack of breaks while working their shifts.  I wanted to weigh in on this since I was once a Mac Genius at the Apple Store at Willow Bend.

I worked really hard at the Apple Store, often working through lunch, much to the annoyance of the managers.  I never complained about this since no one made me do it.  As for breaks, I almost never needed them.  I enjoyed working at the Genius Bar when it was busy.  For me, the “chaos” was the most fun part of my job.  I loved standing there fixing problems, and making people happy.  On the days when I worked in the “genius room” doing repairs, I would try to get as much done as possible, which often made me work through my lunch break.  I never minded doing this since it was my choice to do so.  Every once in a while, I would get my hands on a particularly difficult repair case in which the solution was very hard to find.  I’ve always been a bit of an obsessive compulsive, so It’s difficult for me to put something down, and walk away.  I pursue the solution relentlessly until the problem is fixed.  I wasn’t alone in these characteristics.  Other Mac Geniuses that I worked with often worked through lunch, and never took breaks.  Again, no one MADE me do this.  Therefore, I think that the Mac Geniuses who filed this suit need to drop it.  Apple is a great company to work for, and they have taken great care in protecting their people.  Any of these Geniuses could have complained to management.  If they didn’t get satisfaction, they could have talked to their HR rep.  Every region has at least one HR rep serving the stores.

Being a Mac Genius is hard work.  It takes intelligence (a rare trait these days), and dedication.  My only problem with the job was that I don’t believe that Apple pays the Mac Geniuses enough.  These guys (and gals) put up with a lot of crap from customers, and from management.  Although the managers often look like the heroes when something goes wrong, it’s the Mac Genius who made everything right for the customer.  The Mac Genius is the ultimate customer service specialist.  He repairs software, and hardware problems, answers a lot of questions, and goes up to bat for the customer when managers turn a blind eye, and simply worry about the bottom line.

At Willow Bend, the Mac Geniuses looked out for each other, and didn’t need management to “give” us breaks.  If I needed to step away from the Genius Bar for a while, one of the other guys would come out front and fill in.  I did the same on many occasions.  The less we had to deal with the managers, the better.  I think that it’s disgraceful for this group of “geniuses” to sue Apple over something so petty.  To my knowledge, Apple doesn’t force its retail employees to work through lunch, or deprive them of breaks.  This is utter nonsense.  How about these “geniuses” simply grow a pair, or just move on to an easier job where they can have all the breaks that they want?  Why are there so many pansies in the workforce today?  It’s really sad.

Apple Geniuses File Class Action Suit over Breaks | Cult of Mac.

While working as a Mac Genius at the Apple store at Willow Bend, I dealt with thousands of customers over four and a half years. I took great pride in my job, and I always tried to do what was best for the customer, even if the customer did not always realize right away that I made the right choice. Often, customers came to me expecting a specific resolution, but left with a different one not realizing that if they had treated the Mac Geniuses with more respect, and courtesy, they may very well have received exactly what they wanted, or maybe something better. To help out customers seeking help at the Genius Bar, I have put together a list of 10 tips on how to get the best service.

1. ALWAYS treat your Mac Genius with respect, and courtesy. The Mac Geniuses, out of all of the Apple Store employees, have the most stressful jobs. If you add to that stress, you can expect to get their bare minimum effort. Yelling at them only makes things worse. Do you really want the people who are going to replace your hard drive to be mad at you? I can guarantee that they will not work very hard to retrieve data from your defective hard drive. Screaming and yelling never made me work faster, and it never made me have sympathy for the customer. Remember that the bridge you burn today over your smashed iPhone could be the ass you kiss tomorrow when your MacBook Pro fails just one day after the warranty has expired.

2. Remember that backups are YOUR responsibility. You are the one to blame if all of your data is lost. If you’re running Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard), or Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), you can use the built in backup software called Time Machine to keep your data backed up.

3. There is no “3 strikes” policy in place for computer replacements. The Mac Genius, along with the Apple store managers, make the determination to replace a computer in lieu of repairing it on a case by case basis. Remember tip number 1 in this situation. Being an ass to the Mac Genius will mean that he or she will follow Apple’s procedures to the letter instead of trying to make an exception.

4. iPods are fragile. When you drop them, they tend to break. This goes for iPhones too. If an iPod or iPhone shows damage consistent with accidents, or abuse, it will not be replaced under warranty no matter how much you scream and yell. Apple designs beautiful devices, but it’s up to you to protect them after you buy them.

While working as a Mac Genius at the Apple Store, one of my most unhappy tasks was to tell customers that we were unable to rescue any important data from their dying hard drive.  Some customers received this news with quiet acceptance, while others became very upset that their vacation photos were lost, or that thousands of dollar’s worth of iTunes downloads were gone.  These customers learned the hard way that backups are critical to maintaining the vast amounts of data that even novice computer users accumulate.  As we move more and more of our lives onto our computers, data backups have become as important as maintaining homeowner’s insurance, and performing regular maintenance on our cars.  If our data is so important, why do so many of us fail to perform regular backups?  It is a fact that EVERY hard drive will eventually fail.  Failure could occur 1 week after you take your new computer out of the box, or it may not happen for 2 or 3 years.  This is why regular backs are so critical.