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I've struggled with deciding which job I would abhor more. A) Apple store genius B) Geek Squad member Sounds like a fun poll opportunity.

ashleyw 18y ago
A, firstly, because your a genius, secondly because you use OSX all day, as apposed to Windows, and lastly you get store discounts. As you may have guessed, I'm an Apple fanboy, so fixing adware/spyware/malware infested windows machines all day at geek squad would likely give me nightmares! ;)
- mattmaroon 18y ago
  Wait, so as an Apple fanboy you abhor working at the Apple store more?
  - unalone 18y ago
    No. Note how he said "geek squad" would give him nightmares.
    - mattmaroon 18y ago
      I was just being a nit, but the original comment asked which would be abhorred more, and he responded with A when he clearly meant B. Let us all agree to never speak of this again.
- silencio 18y ago
  Geek squad employees get discounts at Best Buy, which is arguably better than an Apple Store discount in the variety of things you could get. At any rate, both are typically overpriced to begin with for accessories, and just how many times are you going to buy a computer? I'd rather spend the time getting to know an Apple employee to buy me hardware, or to get an ADC membership with a hardware discount. One thing you haven't mentioned is pay though, as far as I know, geniuses are paid higher than the geek squad you usually see in best buy stores and the like (http://tr.im/7mo http://tr.im/7mo which afaik is one of the better paying geek squad jobs, although if I remember correctly it's also the one involving off-site jobs). Job satisfaction is quite lower than you'd expect though (as a genius). I hear nothing but horror stories from my genius friends who bitch that the pay is very low and the scheduling is awful and they'd rather go work elsewhere (and, true to their word, many of them have quit and moved on to better-paying less stressful jobs). edit: Ugh, excuse the link. I think it's checking referrers to decide what to display. The average Geek Squad Double Agent hourly pay is $17.23/hour, with $7000-10000 in bonuses. If I remember, it's possibly the "highest" ranked Geek Squad job and one of the better paying tech-related Geek Squad jobs as well.
mattmaroon 18y ago
I'd bet the Geek Squad doesn't pay $17/hr. Also, Apple doesn't make you drive around in a VW Bug painted in such a way as to somehow be even more emasculating than that car is normally. I always wonder what those cars burn faster, gasoline, or the self-esteem of the man behind the wheel. Plus, I know the number 1 question people ask me when they find out I "work in computers", as they say, is "how do I make this Dell I got 7 years ago run faster?" At least with Apple, nobody owns one that's over 2 years old. Even though I loathe the fanboys, I think I'd take the Apple store hands down.
- silencio 18y ago
  The double agents that do drive around in the VW bugs get paid around that much. But yes, the geek squad jobs generally suck. And, well, I have seen ones over 2 years old hanging around the genius bar waiting for an appointment. At least a few iMacs (most of them serious), someone brought in some ancient Apple ][ (I think) as a joke...
- josefresco 18y ago
  Customer question: How do I make my 7 year old computer run faster? Apple 'Genius': Buy a new Mac. Geek Squad: Uninstall bloated apps, remove startup programs, buy (cheap) memory upgrade, run optimization utilities etc. Which answer takes more 'genius'?
  - nihilocrat 18y ago
    Ok, I'm calling foul here. I had a friend who was trying to buy some new RAM for his older system. He is not super-nerdy so he took the RAM stick to Best Buy to see if they sold a similar module, or could at least tell him what sort of RAM it is. The Geek Squad guy took a look at the module, noticed that it was old, and immediately gave him a pitch about buying a new computer. The the PC platform has arguably a better set of tools and third party components out there to make more use out of old equipment, but Best Buy is still a company that sells computers, and thus make the most money by convincing people to throw out their old systems. It ended up being an RDRAM module and thus could only realistically be found online, but people who are trying to upgrade an old system don't appreciate being given a sales pitch, especially if, god forbid, they are poor.

ashleyw 18y ago

A, firstly, because your a genius, secondly because you use OSX all day, as apposed to Windows, and lastly you get store discounts. As you may have guessed, I'm an Apple fanboy, so fixing adware/spyware/malware infested windows machines all day at geek squad would likely give me nightmares! ;)

mattmaroon 18y ago
Wait, so as an Apple fanboy you abhor working at the Apple store more?
- unalone 18y ago
  No. Note how he said "geek squad" would give him nightmares.
  - mattmaroon 18y ago
    I was just being a nit, but the original comment asked which would be abhorred more, and he responded with A when he clearly meant B. Let us all agree to never speak of this again.
silencio 18y ago
Geek squad employees get discounts at Best Buy, which is arguably better than an Apple Store discount in the variety of things you could get. At any rate, both are typically overpriced to begin with for accessories, and just how many times are you going to buy a computer? I'd rather spend the time getting to know an Apple employee to buy me hardware, or to get an ADC membership with a hardware discount. One thing you haven't mentioned is pay though, as far as I know, geniuses are paid higher than the geek squad you usually see in best buy stores and the like (http://tr.im/7mo http://tr.im/7mo which afaik is one of the better paying geek squad jobs, although if I remember correctly it's also the one involving off-site jobs). Job satisfaction is quite lower than you'd expect though (as a genius). I hear nothing but horror stories from my genius friends who bitch that the pay is very low and the scheduling is awful and they'd rather go work elsewhere (and, true to their word, many of them have quit and moved on to better-paying less stressful jobs). edit: Ugh, excuse the link. I think it's checking referrers to decide what to display. The average Geek Squad Double Agent hourly pay is $17.23/hour, with $7000-10000 in bonuses. If I remember, it's possibly the "highest" ranked Geek Squad job and one of the better paying tech-related Geek Squad jobs as well.

mattmaroon 18y ago

I'd bet the Geek Squad doesn't pay $17/hr. Also, Apple doesn't make you drive around in a VW Bug painted in such a way as to somehow be even more emasculating than that car is normally. I always wonder what those cars burn faster, gasoline, or the self-esteem of the man behind the wheel. Plus, I know the number 1 question people ask me when they find out I "work in computers", as they say, is "how do I make this Dell I got 7 years ago run faster?" At least with Apple, nobody owns one that's over 2 years old. Even though I loathe the fanboys, I think I'd take the Apple store hands down.

silencio 18y ago
The double agents that do drive around in the VW bugs get paid around that much. But yes, the geek squad jobs generally suck. And, well, I have seen ones over 2 years old hanging around the genius bar waiting for an appointment. At least a few iMacs (most of them serious), someone brought in some ancient Apple ][ (I think) as a joke...
josefresco 18y ago
Customer question: How do I make my 7 year old computer run faster? Apple 'Genius': Buy a new Mac. Geek Squad: Uninstall bloated apps, remove startup programs, buy (cheap) memory upgrade, run optimization utilities etc. Which answer takes more 'genius'?
- nihilocrat 18y ago
  Ok, I'm calling foul here. I had a friend who was trying to buy some new RAM for his older system. He is not super-nerdy so he took the RAM stick to Best Buy to see if they sold a similar module, or could at least tell him what sort of RAM it is. The Geek Squad guy took a look at the module, noticed that it was old, and immediately gave him a pitch about buying a new computer. The the PC platform has arguably a better set of tools and third party components out there to make more use out of old equipment, but Best Buy is still a company that sells computers, and thus make the most money by convincing people to throw out their old systems. It ended up being an RDRAM module and thus could only realistically be found online, but people who are trying to upgrade an old system don't appreciate being given a sales pitch, especially if, god forbid, they are poor.