iDiots

So, my granddaughter's iPod refused to let her hook it up to her computer because she didn't have a more current Windows version. It told her to take the iPod to the nearest Apple store for assistance.

We went to Arden Fair Mall, because according to my grandkid, that was the closest Apple store. I was finding that hard to believe, since Folsom and EDH are so affluent, but we were down at the Farmer's Market in Sacramento anyway, so it wasn't that far out of our way.
I hate malls. I hadn't been to Arden for at least a couple years. I think I went to the Downtown mall the time prior to this, and that was probably a year or so ago. I only go to malls if there is no way to avoid them. For instance, I needed a pair of good walking shoes a few years ago, right away, and knew that the Arden mall had specialty walking shoe stores. Malls just irritate me and turn me into the kind of grump that dislikes everyone, and I don't like to be like that. I'd rather live in my fantasy world, where everyone spends their discretionary income on books and museums. So, I was already struggling not to be grumpy when we eventually made our way through the mall to the Apple store, only to find a line of about 30 or 40 people stretching down the promenade.
"What are y'all doing in line?", I asked a pleasant countenanced young lady.
"We're trying to get iPhones," she replied.
"All of you people in this line are here for iPhones?", I asked, a bit incredulous.
"Yes"
"What if I don't want an iPhone?"
At this point, a gentleman with an East Indian accent who appeared to be guarding the line broke in to tell me that I could enter the store if I did not want an iPhone. So, we did.
And we were met by a young Apple-shirted employee who asked us if we had an appointment.
"You need an appointment to shop here???"
"no, but it's strongly advised"
"but my grandkid's iPod told her to come to the closest store. It didn't tell her to make an appointment..."
"it's ok, I'll get someone to help you", he said, and snagged a nearby female Apple-shirted co-worker.
"Do you have an appointment?", she asked.
"NO! We have a problem with our iPod, and we were told by the iPod to come to the nearest Apple store. It didn't tell us to make an appointment!"
"Well, I can set up an appointment for tomorrow at 10 am," she said.
At this point, my grandkid, sensing that I was going to lose it, interrupted.
"Look, I just need to ask one question. I'm just having a problem downloading."
The female Apple employee reluctantly answered the question, by telling my grandkid that she needed to hook the iPod into a computer that had Windows XP, which the damn iPod could have just told her in the first place rather than have us go to the mall and be hassled by Apple employees.
We left post haste, and I proclaimed under my breath "fuggin IDIOTS".
The people waiting in line are idiots to still be lining up for the rare privilege of purchasing an over-priced and over-hyped toy. I'm guessing most of them could spend the money paying down their credit cards or buying gas or food. I'd have thought that most of them would have learned their iPhone lesson by now, after Apple basically screwed the first purchasers of the silly thing for an extra $300.
The store employees are idiots for thinking their menial jobs are so key to society that we need to schedule appointments with them.
Apple is an idiot corporation for not making enough iPhones that people don't need to stand in line for them, because some of those people (the ones who aren't idiots, really) are going to have second thoughts while waiting and they're going to decide they'd rather feed their kids for a month than buy whatever it is that an iPhone is to them. (Is it a phone? Is it a iPod? Is it a Web browser?) And Apple is so far into idiocracy that I hope every stockholder takes a good, long look at their holding if Apple thinks that consumers are going to continue making appointments to spend their money at Apple stores. You think Starbucks went a little overboard? I've got a feeling that's nothing compared to Apple.
Periodically, I get really ticked off about a certain consumer situation and I swear that I'm never darkening the doorstep of that business again. I'll overlook an occasional rude salesperson, but an entire store of them leads me to believe that this is corporate policy, for instance. I'll overlook crappy merchandise once, but two times and I'm not coming back.
It's not that the Apple store employees were rude. They were exceedingly polite. But any retail business who demands that it's customers make appointments to obtain help or spend money does not deserve customers, period. It is the most iDiotic thing I have ever seen.