November 14, 2007
Get A Real Job
Fast Company put up an article praising Apple Stores' employment practices, especially compared to other retailers. Who better to write such an article than a guy who got his hands dirty down in the trenches, so to speak?
In what wound up as a two-year undercover project, I took a series of entry-level retail jobs, becoming that critical employee who represents the company's face. I did it to better understand the world of commerce and the corporate cultures that drive it.
Fake Steve said it best:
...in which some filthy hack tells about spending the last two years working in menial retail jobs and tries to pass this off as some kind of George Plimpton "Paper Lion" participatory journalism project... Hey, whatever. If that's the story you need to invent so you can face your family at Thanksgiving, fair enough.
Hey, at least the guy got a book deal out of it. Others in the service industry aren't so fortunate. Take the Dell Dude... please. The guy's now slingin' tequilas in NYC. Oh and he's also got a band. Bands are cool. Aren't they?