Apple company attire and grooming surely suck
The CEO himself wears jeans, black turtlenecks and sneakers... The company would be so much better if they were all groomed to your perceived aesthetics...
Wearing a suit does not necessarily a dedicated professional make....
Apple's CEO is casually, but still neatly dressed. He's also very demanding.
Anyway, my experience with the Apple Stores is that the Genius Bar people genuinely try to be helpful. They aren't trained techs, nor do I expect them to be, but they should be courteous and listening, and most of them are. The associates walking the sales floor often leave something to be desired, however. It can sometimes be difficult flagging someone down to buy something. I'm the type who knows what I want and who doesn't need to be "sold" anything. I could go to MacMall or Amazon and get it a little cheaper, but I'll go to the Apple store for the convenience or to get something on the release day.
It could have something to do with the compensation model. With Apple's popularity and staggered releases, selling the base product is probably fairly easy. It's like it's always Black Friday. Who else has lines around the block for product releases, not just occasionally, but routinely (iPhones, iPads, etc.)? Hence the associates aren't rewarded for selling the Mac, but instead are measured by how many Apple Care or One-to-One upgrades they can sell. The stores are successful, however, so I don't see Apple changing the formula much.
