Stupid name for technical support staff

I went to an Apple store for the first time today to get advice on a cracked screen for an iPad2. The whole experiece was very ordinary. I was told the price - which as expected was a large sum of money - and got a replacement. What I didn't expect, though, was I had to deal with a "genius" at the "genius bar". How pretentious is this? What sort of company calls its technical support staff "geniuses"? I felt embarassed for the poor guy who had to act in the guise of a "genius". I wish Apple would do everyone a favour and just call their support staff technicians or give them some other, more understated, title. Hopefully no other company follows this lead. What's next? Sales staff that are called "gurus" that operate behind the "guru counter"? Does anyone else find this pretentious or is it just me?

 

I think it's pretentious, but not something I'd get worked up about.

I find any company that would replace what I broke at deep discount kind of extraordinary. If there are others that do likewise, I'd happily buy from them, too, if they sell stuff I want.

 

I don't let something so silly bother me. Life's too short.

 

Yep!!!

Sent from my Verizon Black 64GB iPad 2 With IOS 5.01 Update From NYC using iPF

 

I kind of like it. It shows some pride. It sets expectations not only for the customer but for the technician. If sometimes those expectations are not met, that's still a lot better than being just another tech in just another store working for just another company.

 

Reminds me of a story. On my first day of graduate school at an ivy league university, coming from a small liberal arts college, I walked into a professor's office and to the fellow sitting at his desk said, "Dr. Hacker?"

"That's MR. Hacker. Want to know why?" he replied. I'm not sure I even replied, having been suitably intimidated.

"We're all Mr's here. Because we're all Dr's here," he said.

In those days they were all "Mr's." Fortunately, the world has changed and many are now "Ms's."

P.S. I never had to ask my parents to call me by my first name. They weren't too impressed by my doctorate when they found out I couldn't prescribe drugs. Although my father later decided I must be running some kind of scam when he asked me how many hours my university required me to teach and I told him six hours. He snorted, "Only six hours a day?" "No, Dad, six hours a week." I think he later passed away assuming I must have some kind of illicit scam to bring enough money home to support a family.

 

I'd bet the concept and use of the term "Genius Bar" was conceived and intended in the same light-hearted and symbolic way as "Geek Squad".