When I visited a Verizon Wireless corporate store in LA last Thursday to pick up the Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 LTE tablet on its first day of release (in fact I was the first in LA to own one) I experienced something else for the first time as well, ageism by VZW staff. Keep in mind that I am from NYC and am visiting LA.
I am clearly not a 30-something anymore, but does this mean that the Verizon store staff can be rude to me? How can they assume that someone who is such an early adapter and already has a Galaxy Note 2 (I had it on the counter) can be clueless about electronic devices just because he isn't "young."
Case in point. I was sitting at the sales counter with a sales person while she was installing the screen protector on my tablet, another employee wearing a white dress shirt (the rest are in black polos) comes up to me and says, you know we can schedule a workshop for you. Then he pauses and says, don't worry we'll only cover the real easy stuff. I just looked at this rude je**off without saying anything and wondered:
1) How the hell this a**hole got to rise to this level at a VZW retail.
2) How can he be so dumb and arrogant to assume someone who is clearly a professional (by the way I dress, my Note 2, and the Note Pro 12.2 on first day of release) to be ignorant about mobile devices just because I am not 25.
3) Shouldn't he be tactful enough to first talk to me to find out my level of knowledge before insulting me like that.
What made this even worse and caused me to write this note a week later, because the incident is still bugging me, is this: when I did decide to say something to him about the Note Pro 12.2, he looked at me with a very condescending gaze and without letting me finish my statement, he just looked away and then walked away. Trying to send me a "message" that you are too old to have an opinion about this topic. And I am in my 40s and quite fit actually. Wow!
I am thinking to fire off a letter to VZW top retail exec, but didn't get that jerk's name...
I am clearly not a 30-something anymore, but does this mean that the Verizon store staff can be rude to me? How can they assume that someone who is such an early adapter and already has a Galaxy Note 2 (I had it on the counter) can be clueless about electronic devices just because he isn't "young."
Case in point. I was sitting at the sales counter with a sales person while she was installing the screen protector on my tablet, another employee wearing a white dress shirt (the rest are in black polos) comes up to me and says, you know we can schedule a workshop for you. Then he pauses and says, don't worry we'll only cover the real easy stuff. I just looked at this rude je**off without saying anything and wondered:
1) How the hell this a**hole got to rise to this level at a VZW retail.
2) How can he be so dumb and arrogant to assume someone who is clearly a professional (by the way I dress, my Note 2, and the Note Pro 12.2 on first day of release) to be ignorant about mobile devices just because I am not 25.
3) Shouldn't he be tactful enough to first talk to me to find out my level of knowledge before insulting me like that.
What made this even worse and caused me to write this note a week later, because the incident is still bugging me, is this: when I did decide to say something to him about the Note Pro 12.2, he looked at me with a very condescending gaze and without letting me finish my statement, he just looked away and then walked away. Trying to send me a "message" that you are too old to have an opinion about this topic. And I am in my 40s and quite fit actually. Wow!
I am thinking to fire off a letter to VZW top retail exec, but didn't get that jerk's name...