A Cult By Any Other Name Is Still…Apple

My daughter and I have had this back and forth about Apple….she is a die hard consumer of their products……recently I got a tweet that asked “what will Apple’s big announcement be?”  My response was..”He has risen from the crypt”……that got a bit of the hate mail…something that I do enjoy being characterized without any knowledge of who I am…..

All that aside…..Apple is a CULT!  And as proof I offer these characteristics to substantiate that assertion…….this was written in the The Week Magazine……

1. Applicants are readymade acolytes
Apple stores are inundated with job applications, mostly from “true believers” who “skew young,” says Segal. They are huge fans of the iPhone, iPad, and other Apple products that have changed the computer industry, and eager to fuel the “greater good” that the company is supposedly achieving in the world. “You’ve always been an evangelist for Apple and now you can get paid for it,” Graham Marley, a former Apple salesman, tells Segal. Upon learning that they’ve been hired, many newly minted employees burst into tears.

2. New employees are indoctrinated
The training for new Apple employees is more like an “indoctrination process,” says Philip Elmer-DeWitt at CNN. New recruits are greeted with standing ovations, and told over and again that their mission is to “enrich” people’s lives, says Segal. “The idea is to instill in employees the notion that they are doing something far grander than just selling or fixing products…[Apple] understands that a lot of people will forgo money if they have a sense of higher purpose.” Shane Garcia, a former Apple store manager, tells Segal that he thought of Apple as a place that “wanted you to be the best you could be in life, not just in sales.”

3. Employees aren’t allowed to speak to the media
Apple has implemented a virtual cone of silence over its retail operations, barring employees from speaking to the press. However, the company made an exception for Cory Moll, a “vocal labor activist” who tells Segal that he recently got a raise from the Apple store in San Francisco. “Apple wants to show that it cares about its workers,” Moll says, “and show that it knows how much value you add to the company, by offering a bigger raise than in previous years.” The suspiciously timely raise has observers asking “whether Apple was just trying to pad itself before [Segal's] story dropped,” says Salvador Rodriguez at the Los Angeles Times.

4. Apple is immersed in weird lingo
The help-desk technicians at Apple stores are known as “geniuses,” and Segal reveals that Apple also has a Scientology-like title for its sales staffers, who are known as “specialists.” Employees are required to take a satisfaction survey known, in more cultish jargon, as “NetPromoter for Our People.” Employees rate, on a scale from 1 to 10, how likely they are to recommend a job at Apple to friends and family members. Those who reply with a 9 are marked down as “promoters” — those who put down 7 or below are considered “detractors.”

5. Rapture gives way to disillusionment
The low wages, the lack of career advancement, and the frenetic workday tend to cool the average employee’s fervor, says Segal. There are reportedly far more “detractors” than “promoters,” and many seem eager to leave the job after a couple of years. However, it’s unlikely that Apple will soon find itself understaffed. “People will always want to work for Apple,” says Garcia.

Sounds like a cult to me!  Thoughts?