Customers Aren’t Always Right: Former Apple Store Employees Share Ridiculous Work Stories

Let’s just be honest with ourselves for a moment, shall we? A lot of us have that seemingly innate tendency where we like to think we know more about the products we’re looking to purchase, than do the actual employees hired by the store to sell them.

“After all,” I remember once assuring myself, “why should I have to trust some goofy kid, anyways? I’ve done my research; I’m the one who ran around like a chicken without a head trying to find the lowest price — I’m the boss of my destiny!” 

Call it a case of self-aggrandizement, self-assurance, no-tolerance-for-BS-syndrome — whatever you’re inclined to think, honestly. And while “the customer knows best” might often be our first line of defense, perhaps it’s also important to consider the situation from the employee’s point-of-view, right?

More contextually implicit, what about those mendacious, not-so-knowledgable customers who don’t just think they know better, but actually try to educate the very same employees that are there primarily for the sake of their own enlightenment?

Well, while actual circumstances my vary from case to case, these former Apple Store employees recently sat down with Thrillist for a full-on exposé about some of the most ungrounded (yet most hilarious) one-liners that customers have thrown their way over the years..

“I had a guy try to convince me that the liquid damage was some kind of E.T. fluid from when he was abducted [by aliens],” one former Apple Store employee reported a customer explaining to them as the potential reason for their malfunctioning iPhone.

Really, though — I mean, out of all the possible, outlandish explanations or excuses the customer could’ve offered up — he goes with the good old “E.T. fluid”? Well, I’m not exactly an environmentalist or anything, but I’d say there’s definitely some kind of “Extra Terrestrial” fluid in that guy’s water supply, alright..

The second of the three employees then brought up a story about how a customer once brought to him an iPhone that was essentially indiscernible. The iPhone had been so badly damaged, that the employee could hardly recognize it as an iPhone.

“He told us it wasn’t working right,” according to the employee. “So he took it out behind his house and shot it with a rifle because he was so fed up with the thing.”

What’s most shocking of all, though, is that Mr. Rifle man apparently wanted a replacement iPhone — on the spot. Perhaps for obvious reasons, he didn’t get one.

Last but not least … **drumroll, please** … the third employee had a very similar, albeit by far the most thought provoking story to share:

“The customer explained that he had been talking on it,” the former Atlanta, GA, area Apple store employee said of the gentleman’s mutilated iPhone, “when suddenly the phone got very hot and started to burn his hand, so he threw it on the counter and it erupted into flames.”

Okay, so, just to be fair, I’m pretty sure we’ve heard that one before — and, who knows, maybe it’s even the same guy?

What do you think about these former Apple Store employees and their entertaining tales from the front lines? Let us know in the comments! 

Featured Photo Copyright: ozgurdonmaz