I used to work for Apple and before I joined the Genius Bar I was working the avenues (what they call the sides where they keep accessories) and because I’ve been known to pull a few scams myself (companies, never people) I have an eye for something out of the ordinary.

So I saw a lady bring in an iPhone and receipt to change it for the same phone in a different colour. Not that odd mind but I did notice it.

A few days later I see the same lady do this again with another employee and now I am thinking something is definitely off.

The next time she comes in I make sure I approach and ask them if they need help, again they ask to swap for a different colour.

I then say sure we can help with that and as is procedure we would confirm the Serial Number matches that on the receipt, we didn’t have access to the tools that read this from the hardware as we would on the GB, so we would power on the device and press the little “i” to view and compare. It’s a match, but still this isn’t legit obviously.

At this point, not that I’m protecting Apple here I wanted to work GB and this would get me on their radar, plus I was the shit at faking extroversion and giving outstanding service as I was depressed and I found being overly nice and energetic made me happier I would leave work on cloud 9 and then crash. I take the phone to the GB host (dude who checks people in) and say something is off here and explain all of the above. They send me to the repair room 🥰 never been in before and I was excited.

Once inside I explain to the tech guys that’s up and they’re like yeah that’s odd. They say to tell her that we need to do a few more checks and to come back in 30 minutes. Basically we were going by to open the phone and verify it’s innards. As well as using the serial number reader tool (forget the name now) to verify all is legit.

Go back to the lady and explain this, she’s flustered but agrees as she can’t not. Take the phone and box and drop it in the GB repair room. When I come back out I can see the lady is on the phone in an irate conversation with someone. A few minutes later she says she’s changed her mind and wants the phone back.

Go get her her phone and am instructed to write on the receipt to do a check before returning (again I forget the terminology) so that if she went to another store they’d now go open this phone up.

She’s pissed at this and leaves with her phone and receipt unhappy.

A while later I recall seeing a bust of a gang of folk from a certain country (the same this lady appeared to be from) for returning iPhones that either had fake innards or were not the phone in question.

As a scammer in the past it hurt to stop someone doing the same but this was my patch and I wanted to make a good impression. Which I did as I moved to the GB for 3 years which changed my life. They offered so much encouragement and you’re surrounded by talented people that I unskilled and I’m now a software developer (not for Apple).

I don’t know what it’s like working there in the USA, but in England it was amazing. They paid more than any other retail store, stock was given every year, you could buy it too at a discount, you were trusted and not micromanaged, the benefits were outstanding and led me to my ADHD diagnosis with healthcare (as sadly mental health support on the NHS is underfunded).

Nah.

So about 8 years ago I’d never heard of such a thing as flat earth and I’m out with a friend getting twisted up and he says he has a gaff we can go to and he can sell a bit of coke and we can get sniffed up there too.

We get to this shitty flat (not judging I’ve lived in shitty pads and after all we are getting fucked up so can’t judge) and there I meet quite possibly the most intellectually challenged 3 people I’ve ever met (again I’m not genius but I do like to think I have critical thought).

This one girl starts chatting to me about flat earth, not in a way just to be different, but genuinely believed it. Imagine my face when I’m like this can’t be happening, and start to question why it is flat which they can’t really articulate and I just wanted the world to end to get me out of this conversation.

Point being stupid people exist and will believe this shit. Even if the most prominent people are doing it for a grift.

I guess when I say machine gun I’m meaning (incorrectly) a rifle like an AR-15. Whether it be single shot (is that semi-auto) or automatic. Although I believe you can’t get autos as that’s why people use bump stocks; I again guess.

I definitely saw guns. Maybe shot gun?

Only 18 months.

So my company is less ticket based and more here’s a spec for the whole application go ahead and build it kind of thing. My boss is amazing but he keeps a lot in his head and when I ask for help he doesn’t explain it in way that makes me understand or feel more confident. These issues do pass and they’re never as bad as I make them seem in my head at the time. Then we get emails from clients which we just action as and when. You’re right about it not just being about coding, as a lot of time is in client meetings, email writing and stuff like that.

I don’t know if glad is the right word for you having imposter syndrome, but I’m kinda relieved so many people say they experienced it too.

Yeah I’m an enigma as I’m incredibly socially adept at times, but then others I’m a fucking idiot. Especially, if I think people are overreacting as I’ll then try all the wrong things to get them to calm down. It was just strange that they were screaming and talking to me like shit and the second I’m like fuck this mate they wanna get physical, I’m not adverse to physical altercations but not over something so trivial (in my mind). Perhaps I should watch the way I say things.

Thanks for the response.

Yeah I agree they were just people not cut out to handle the stress of the accident and just got mad. It was my fault and I owned up to that instantly, I’m just more a chill guy as things could always be worse and no body was injured thankfully.

Thanks for the book recommendation I’m have a look for it.

Yes we are consultants and we write extensive spec that clearly the clients don’t read and then we have to go back and redo a lot of work as “it’s not what they want” but they can’t articulate what they want so you have to infer it and then when it’s wrong they’re like bruh. This is what I struggle with, the ambiguity of it all. I like to know what I’m doing and when, whereas this small company is incredibly chill and don’t expect a lot which I find hard as I’m used to being worked to death in crappy jobs and here it’s like the staff come first the code is second after we are all happy. I am blessed in that regard.

I’m a software developer but a lot of the work is ambiguous and the instructions are lacking sometimes. My company puts no pressure on me and is amazing with my neuroticism and ADHD. Yet I can’t not wreck my mental state by worrying about things and thinking I’m not cut out for this. This issue is worst Mon-Tue and then gets better towards the weekend. It’s also dependent on the work load and client emails.

Also, crashed my mums car last night by not paying attention and rear ended someone. Then they tried to fight me cause I asked them to all stop screaming as nobody is hurt and it’s only material objects and I’m fully comp so they’ll be fine. Fucking cavemen. I’m not adverse to hitting someone, but it would have to be over something more serious than a minor accident.

British.

I found a lot of things weird, but I did go to Florida like 8 times so it’s to be expected and maybe some of these are exclusive to that state.

• I found it weird that alcohol seemed to be sold only in liquor stores. But you can buy a machine gun in Walmart.
• The food. Don’t get me wrong it’s nice and all but the quantity. Take sizzlers, you go in order your main meal then get an endless buffet for free. Like I couldn’t eat my steak when it arrived as I was full from the buffet.
• syrup all over breakfast items and people bigger than id ever seen were gorging and then taking a box home too.
• enthusiasm: grown ass adults whooping and hollering as we were queuing for rides. I’m a man child myself but it was startling.
• Jaywalking. Wtf

To throw out some positives. Everyone I met was lovely and nothing like the nut jobs we get to see online. People were polite, friendly and accommodating.

Beautiful nature and national parks.

Yeah it’s crazy. Imagine the contribution he could have made to CompSci or Mathematics had he not been driven to suicide.

Fair point. I, perhaps wrongly, assumed OP wanted to short them out of existence and not just profit from shorting them.

Even if you 1000 x your $10k I don’t think you’d have enough to short something valued at $157B, however inflated that valuation might be.

Alan Turing. My government did him dirty.

I think this conflict only started when Israel were given someone else land and decided to take more and more.

Perhaps the one nation that is inextricably linked to the west could stop escalating it then aye.

Like we can’t control Iran, but we should be able to reign in Israel’s bloodlust. Alas, if we couldn’t control them in Gaza then I’m afraid that rabid dog is out of control.

But I want to be a lemming, that way my suicide ideation is just normal.

I have a theory on those stands and stuff. It’s a marketing ploy as people will be talking about the absurdity of it and that’s free advertising for them.

I mean for all the things you can meme on Apple for, releasing products for the sake of releasing something isn’t something they’re known for. See Air Power.

Fair point.

Who is making all those pc parts? It wouldn’t be corporations would it.

Is that what we are?

Lemmiers and not lemmies? Or even better lemmings.