Apple's retail stores: Great places to shop, miserable places to work

Of course, altruism only goes so far. Like Best Buy employees, Apple retail workers are expected to push service agreements on customers buying products. "Those who don't sell enough are re-trained or moved to another position, depending on the store," the WSJ reports.

Here's where it gets a bit over-controlling and ridiculous to me: Top tech people at Apple's stores, known as "Geniuses," when confronted with a customer problem they can't solve, are trained to use the phrase "as it turns out" rather than "unfortunately," because the latter is considered too negative.

Maybe it's just me, but hearing "as it turns out, your computer can't be fixed" wouldn't make me feel any better than "unfortunately, your computer can't be fixed." Either way, my computer can't be fixed. Word choice is irrelevant.

Even for Apple fanatics who work at the stores, it must eventually grate on them to be treated like a child or to feel as if Steve Jobs is watching from his Cupertino headquarters via an in-store video camera. Especially for $9 to $15 an hour (though Geniuses can make up to $30 per hour).