In a normal year, I travel non-stop. So, when my laptop acquired a virus not once, but twice, last year, I made the switch from Dell to Apple. I had been pleased enough with my traveling Apple, but never more so than last week when an unresponsive track pad caused me to visit my local Apple store.

 

What was most noticeable on my visit was that the majority of customers talking to Apple employees were people my age or older (decidedly middle age). I cannot attest that everyone received the same treatment that I did, but I could not have been more impressed. 

 

The young woman who I initially met listened carefully when I described the problem I was experiencing, checked to confirm her understanding, and then created a repair plan.  The store then delivered a fixed laptop when promised. And when I returned to the store to retrieve my computer, a young man jumped through all sorts of hoops to move me in and out of the store as fast as I wanted to move.

 

I don’t know how Apple has done this, but they have found a huge number of employees with the perfect retail attitude. Among all these Apple employees who clearly are 100% comfortable with technology, they made this decidedly non-tech person feel respected and heard. As far as I’m concerned, Apple could teach a lot of other retailers a thing or two.