Joshua’s MacBook was splitting along one side—you could push it back together, but after a few minutes it would start to separate again. When Joshua, who has Asperger syndrome, tried to get it repaired at his local Apple Store, he ran into all sorts of problems. First there was a two-hour wait to see an expert, then an assistant manager walked up and said, “I’ve seen you in here a lot with that laptop, what’s wrong?” Joshua explained, and pointed out that he had a meeting to attend that evening and needed his laptop to take notes, so he was hoping to have it looked at in person.
“I’m sorry if I seem on edge or anything, I just…. I’m born with this”… The assistant manager then says “It’s okay. It’s the Monday before a full moon. There will be plenty more freaks like you before close“. And tells me to calm down.
Here’s the full letter, or skip to the summary below if you’re impatient:
Mr. Jobs,I’m writing this to you understanding that this will probably never see your desk.
I’ve called to file a complaint, but was told “don’t worry, it’s a misunderstanding”. Let me tell you my story, Mr. Jobs. Maybe you’ll be able to help me.
Since the IIe I’ve loved your computers, as a person with autism they never failed me. I’ve been able to lean on them and they’ve come through. Applecare has always made it so I had my equipment when and where I needed it. So I had no hesitance buying a macbook 6 months ago. I love Tiger, and now leopard. However 2 months ago, my “top case” cracked. Where your palms rest for your mouse and such. I was told “I hold my computer wrong”, but they’d replace it for free. I felt insulted that holding my computer wrong was even ABLE to be told to me, though I do hold it in a briefcase. I figured little of it, and moved on. Maybe I caught someone on a bad day. Plus a small smudge on the glimmering history of my customer service, its eventually to be expected.
Tonight, Sir, I was affronted and insulted. The left side of the seam of my laptop came apart. I tried pushing it back together myself. Hoping I could “resnap” the topcase. It sticks for a few minutes then comes back apart. (recent airport card problems have accompanied it and has connection issues but I let them slide.) This is the 3rd time it’s been looked at for this swelling/crack. After a while, it’s a concern. I figured the extreme heat may have caused the battery to swell. No big deal, Apple has an immaculate replacement record, and something has to be able to be negotiated. I unplugged it to let it cool. I immediately went to my nearest apple store. Easton Town Center, Columbus Ohio.
Upon getting there, I walk in and find the walk in wait will be 2 hours. I’m an attendant of a local Aspergers Syndrome club,(My autism), so I told them I could wait if it meant I still got there on time. They assured me they would. And just that time the assistant manager walks by, and says “i’ve seen you in here a lot with that laptop, whats wrong”. I explain to him that I’m upset that my laptop keeps having this problem, last time it took 2 weeks to fix, and all i’m doing is trying to get seen if I have to wait another 2 weeks to get my computer seen. I go on to explain, I take notes at our Asperger Syndrome (AS/HFA) meetings, and that, I email those out. As one could understand, people with OCD would be unhappy. I say.. “I’m sorry if I seem on edge or anything, I just…. i’m born with this”… The assistant manager then says “It’s okay. It’s the monday before a full moon. There will be plenty more freaks like you before close”. And tells me to calm down. He then presses my case, bends it and hands it to the Tech guy. The Apple Genius at the bar, then takes me off the list… and starts serving other people… 30 minutes later, he asks if I’ve been helped. In which case.. I let him know that he’s taken me off the standby and reservation lists. He says he’ll “see me because he’s nice”… proceeds to see the gap in my case and says.. “its just within spec… I can’t help you. Sorry”. After EVERYTHING I’d just been through… He wouldn’t help me, and even SAW the gap in my case and the manager press it, and watched it slowly seperate.
Needless to say, I brought my laptop home. I called Apple Help and filed a complaint. I was told.. “What the manager said is a misunderstanding”. Which, excuse me sir, I’ve been labeled and called names my whole life. There are mistakes, and there is that. Thats the same level of Rush Limbaugh commenting on Donovan McNabb being a Black QB. It’s the same as Roger Imus and the rutgers female basketball team. I was insulted when I’d explained my disablity Mr. Jobs. I love your computers, but I will never attend that store again. Never sir, as I could never look someone so intolerant in the face, ever again.
As for my computer? I can “Ship it off” and see it researched, as I still havent gotten it looked at. I end up losing my computer for weeks, after the 2nd time the case has cracked due to “swelling”. Please Help, as I simply can’t just lose my laptop. I can’t… deal with every month and a half having my top case separate. You’re the only company in the world, I depend on for quality. It means a lot to my syndrome, and to my daily life to have a computer I can count on. If it means I need a MacBook Pro, then so be it. I’ll upgrade to titanium if I can ever afford it.
Summary: This laptop has had manufacturing problems before. At one point the area around the trackpad cracked, and although it was repaired the Mac people told him that he was holding his laptop wrong. This time around, after another 30 minute delay, the Apple genius tells him the laptop is “just within spec” and that he can’t do anything about it. Joshua’s been an Apple customer since the IIe and contacted Apple to complain, where he was told what the manager said was simply a “misunderstanding.”
Luckily this ends on a better note. Joshua emailed “sjobs” and heard back:
Within 12 hours I got a call, an apology, and due to my disability they are letting me into the Easton store before it opens, so I can swap my computer out for an upgrade due to the hardship I’ve endured. I will say one thing for Apple, their corporate is every bit the nice and understanding company they claim to be.
(Thanks to Joshua!)
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My husband always says, “you hire your own problems”. The assistant manager was definitely unprofessional. He probably thought the joke would be over Joshua’s head. Kudo’s to Joshua for following through and getting the last laugh. Hopefully the assistant manager is put through some sensivity training if he is allowed to keep his job.
@Imaginary_Friend: Get over yourself. It’s an Apple Store, not Barney’s. The whole concept behind these stores is a laid back, casual environment. The Genius Bar is designed to be staffed by people who know what they’re talking about and are friendly and helpful. They wear t-shirts and jeans. Professionalism isn’t part of the equation, really.
Hmph. I don’t have Asperger’s and I don’t want a retail clerk calling me a freak. Does this mean I’m overly sensitive too?
Neither the assistant manager, techs, nor corporation were very professional. If there is a consistent error in Apple’s product line there should have been a recall or they should instruct techs to replace all PCs that are brought in of the defective line. No charge, no stalling and don’t blame the customer for “holding it wrong”. The results from Joshua’s letter just looks like the company didn’t want bad press (especially from someone with a disability).
Meh, I have AS too – and I’m harassed on a near-daily basis, but not about my AS, other little things that have pissed me off since 3rd grade the school doesn’t want to deal with.
And with that said:
Way to go, Ogdensburg Free Academy. Way to go, Mrs. Cindy Centofanti. Way to go, Mr. Hal Barry. Way to go, Ogdensburg City School District. You assholes have fucked up my life and don’t seem to care about it.
[/rant]
Ha ha, what a overly sensitive freak. Waaah, Asperger’s; another pseudo malady for people who can’t deal with the scary stuff in life and need an excuse for staying in mom’s basement with the XBox.
From his letter, I actually thought the apple guy was trying to make a joke. I know someone with Asperger’s and that particular syndrome has a difficult time dealing with people–and they really don’t know how to read people. I’ve seen people be sarcastic/rude to my friend with Asperger’s and he thinks they are being complimentary and with others who aren’t being rude, he thinks they might be.
That being said, regardless of how the comment was intended, this guy took offense and I was glad to see Apple deal with his service problem.
All of you who are looking into whether or not the employees should have understood whether the guy was autistic or not are missing the point. He was taken off the waiting list.
Imagine you’re in a restaurant and you’ve put your name and party size in and the host/hostess puts your name down. Then for whatever reason they seat other parties of the same size ahead of you. That’s what he’s described here. Fuck your “get over yourself” bullshit and learn to read, you illiterate fucks.
Doesn’t matter if the guy told him he had aspergers or autism or athlete’s foot for chrissakes… If someone tells you they’re born with an ailment, you don’t make fun of it because it’s obviously not something you can control. When reading it quickly in text it sounds like it could’ve easily been a misunderstanding, however, try to picture the situation in your head. If the customer felt that he had to warn the person of a preexisting condition, then obviously felt he had outward signs of it that he needed to explain to the manager. Bottom line, that manager is a dick and at the very least needs to learn how to appreciate and sympathize with other human life.
@Jordan Lund: well that coincides with the social awkwardness. I hope you never work in customer service.
So, is it possible that the reason the manager made an unfunny (over intellectualized) joke in a socially awkward situation be because he because he has undiagnosed Aspergers? I mean, he probably works there because he is a geek right? Maybe someone who is better with technology than with people?
So, if you’re the boss of the bad manager who let’s say it turns out does have aspergers, can you fire him? Or would that be discrimination because of his mental handicap? This could be an absurdist drama
regardless if it was a joke or not, it was unprofessional and immature. mac “fanbois” or any other customer in that store pretty much write their paychecks.
i hope the manager was sent to some horrible corporate training seminar where he was subjected to countless “videos” about how to treat people. now that would be torture.
@youbastid: wow, that ranks high among the stupidest comments I have seen on here.
I wear jeans to work and I’m quite sure every customer spending their hard earned money expects me to maintain professionalism.
I am an aspie too and had a similar experience in Appleton, WI. The one Apple store had a person so vile that I just could not remove that feeling from my perception of Apple. The problem was with the little fans on the power supply. I had to bribe a local company to fix it because it was driving me nuts (we are very sensitive to sound). I bought a MacBook from them. It DID fix the problem, replacing the power supply. I bought a Mac Mini after that was well from Apple directly, which was a much more pleasurable experience. However, the stink of working with these so called elitist “geniuses” has left me migrating Photoshop and Flash to Windows and using my mini only for testing in Safari. Apple lost thousands on me… I was ready to commit. I now am back in the warm, safe arms of Microsoft, that doesn’t give a crap about me, but at least lets me replace FANS at the local computer store without bullsh*t.
I can’t believe you actually have a meeting for something called the Aspergers Syndrome Club. I mean some folks who have been diagnosed with Aspergers (like myself) recognize that its a dysfunction to tell perfect strangers details of your life for example like how you have Autism in the first place (they could care less!!). Now Steve Jobs knows. Congrats. Why not right a long rambling letter to the UN too? Walk it off Freak.
@CumaeanSibyl: Only if you write a letter to Steve Jobs and the whole world about how you were so offended. That would make you a freak if you were not already.
Apple corprate is not giving you a new laptop because they are nice they are giving you a new laptop to placate you so you won’t file a descrimination suit and generate massive bad PR.
I think I can state with a fair degree of confidence that the employee in question was just making a joke and had no idea that the customer would take it personally. He probably thought that the customer was joking himself when he said he had Asperger’s, or what he said didn’t register. Do you honestly think that someone in his position would call a disabled person a freak in earnest?
I think he really did get bad customer service overall and probably did deserve to have his defective laptop replaced.
But I agree with a lot of the commentators that the “freak” comment was all just a big misunderstanding. I can’t imagine how the employee could have interpreted “I’m born with this” as “I have Asperger’s Syndrome.” In that situation, “I’m born with this,” sounds like a joke that would be made in idle chatter. The employee’s comment was still somewhat inappropriate but I think Joshua misunderstood the intent.
@youbastid: Please tell me you’re still in high school — I find it depressing beyond words to think that you’re actually out in the workforce.
I don’t think referring to anyone as a “freak” is in good taste and worthy of the label “joke”. It is a company and should practice a certain level of professionalism. My daughter has Aspergers and if I caught someone calling her a freak, I’d probably knock them out.
All I know is, the first BB manager that makes fun of my completely legitimate and not at all self-diagnosed Restless Leg Syndrome is getting a goal kick in the junkberries.
@pureobscure: You don’t think being “unable to deal with the scary stuff in life” isn’t a handicap? Sounds like the definition of a handicap to me.
that manager is a prick. The hell with apple employees…they prob think theyre hot shi*t cause everyone loves their products and are in high demand. The have to remember…they are lowly SALESPEOPLE! 90% of the customers make more then they do! they need to lighten up on the rude behavior and take a class in manners.
@gfinakoma:
Funny, I’ve never seen a decent PC repair shop with any level of “professionalism,” as the term is most frequently used.
That said, there’s “unprofessional” and then there’s “being an ass.” You don’t have to be “professional” to not be an ass, and you don’t have to be “unprofessional” to be an ass.
In the end, would you rather have an “unprofessional” shop that gets the job done every time, with employees who joke with you at the risk of being offensive, or would you rather have a “professional” shop like Best Buy that can’t see out its own ass to fix anything properly, ever?
I’ve personally had plenty of potential clients who went with other, more “professional” outfits to do things like small business networking because they didn’t like my T-shirt or my lack of a haircut… I wind up going in more often than not and fixing whatever the “professional” monkey-suited company managed to break, at half the cost.
Oh boo hoo. You are a freak. You buy Apples and you “can’t live without it” It doesn’t have anything to do with your damn “syndrome”. Get over yourself. He was OBVIOUSLY referring to you crazy people who spend all your damn time in the Apple store yet insist that they make good products. I’ve never once sent in any of my Sony computers…and if one went down, I could live. I could write email with my Centro or a work computer or a different computer or a library computer or a freaking pen and paper!
Get over yourself – freak.
@polyex: I don’t know, if some Apple worker called me a freak for no obvious reason, I’d find it offensive enough to complain about it. Why is some guy I don’t even know calling me a freak anyway? I don’t care if it’s a “casual” environment, nobody ought to be calling me a freak unless I’m a bearded lady or something.
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Joshua’s MacBook was splitting along one side you could push it back together, but after a few minutes it would start to separate again.
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as a person with autism they never failed me. I’ve been able to lean on them and they’ve come through.
Just curious, is leaning on your computer covered in the warranty???