Mac'd Out

Dear Alisa and Gina,

I was waiting in the Apple store last night for my appointment with a Mac Genius. I had made the appointment earlier in the week. They were running behind and while I was waiting, I saw a man come in with a laptop. I’m not exactly sure of his story, but he got the very helpful young woman at the concierge desk to see if someone could look at his computer even though he didn’t have an appointment. Indeed she found someone to do this. I was impressed by her helpfulness and furious that the person without an appointment jumped ahead of those of us already in the queue for our appointments. I wanted to wring her neck. Should I have said something? ~ Outsmarted

Sometimes it’s hard to speak up for yourself when you’re in the throes of anger. If you couldn’t nicely point out, in the moment, that there were people with appointments waiting, you could still call the store manager and just relay the story, and ask that the policy be enforced in the future. ~ Alisa

You know – the guy might have been there for three hours already – and left because he was feeling faint. Or maybe he picked up his computer moments before you got there, but it wasn’t as “fixed” as they said and he needed an adjustment. Next time you have to wait bring a distraction. Read a book. Take up knitting. Talk to other MacGeeks. Last time I was there I met a very nice psychologist. I gave her my card. In case she needs advice. ~ Gina