Went to the Apple store to get a new phone, salesperson was deaf - could not speak and could not read lips, so communication was done by writing on an iPad back and forth, over and over. This was quite hard to do, took a lot more time to discuss details and limited what could be discussed.
So is this overall a good idea for Apple? Would your company hire a deaf salesperson?
How do you balance supporting the disabled with supporting one's customers?
Could you have requested another sales person without causing a scene?
Considered it but concerned it would offend the salesperson or their co-workers.
I don't think it would have offended anyone. If you told them you had a time sensitive event they probably would have moved you to another sales person. Not sure on my thoughts about the deaf salesperson TBH.
I would tread those waters lightly.
Full disclosure: I have an uncle who was born deaf, my father is mostly deaf due to his time in Vietnam, and I went to a technical university that has (one of?) the largest deaf and hard-of-hearing schools in the US.
Concidentally, I worked multiple on and off-campus jobs with deaf or hard-of-hearing coworkers, some communicating via hand writing/ASL, others with cochlear implants, and others who could read lips and speak impressively clear English. It could be a challenge at times, but I've worked with fully hearing co-workers that were much more difficult to get a point across to.
I think its a great idea for Apple, as it is an under recognized and underserved, and often mocked group. More exposure and access is good for everyone. What better situation than a tech store where the ability to communicate back and forth with a piece of technology is so handy?
I agree there are challenges, and every working environment is different, but that is no excuse to me.
"my father is mostly deaf due to his time in Vietnam"
Many of us are. The military didn't start using hearing protection for many MOS's until well after the Vietnam era. I have "Moderate hearing loss" myself. Actually, the tinnitus (ringing in the ears) is far more annoying than the actual loss (which my wife accuses me of using as an excuse to ignore her ;^O
It has become so annoying that it is difficult to fall asleep in a silent room. I've taken to playing YouTube videos like this to help mask the ringing https://youtu.be/ELK2IRZ3BV8.
Apple FAIL.
Turning on speech-to-text, available on virtually any Apple product in the store, would have made the experience far easier on you, while showcasing Apple’s technology at the same time.
One of the top goals of sales is to get the sale closed as quickly and efficiently as possible. In that regard, this is a failure on Apple's part.
If the store is near an area that has a large deaf population, I can see where it would make sense to have a salesperson that can cater to those people, and at times when there are no deaf customers it would also make sense for that employee to try to help other customers. However, if this is just a case of a random deaf person wanting to work in retail, or at an Apple store, it would seem like there would be roles potentially better suited for the person. Few, if any, non-deaf customers are going to really enjoy that kind of interaction in the sales process, and I could easily see it causing some customers to just give up and buy something else (maybe still an Apple product, but at a different retailer, or maybe a non-Apple product).
Another angle could be if this person was super knowledgable about the product, or had some other way that made his ability to help customers offset the friction from the interactions, but from your description that did not seem like the case.
We're you there to buy? Did you buy?
Did you get good advice from the sales rep?
If yes, its not a problem. One of my friends of 36 years already is deaf. Like Sean said, deaf doesn't mean stupid, I've met many hearing people much more difficult to deal with than him.
Maybe this was an opportunity to engage a "different" type of sales person, and relish a new experience? Would this appear to be on a par with talking to a support person from another country with a difficult accent?
At least with a face-to-face experience, you get to read expressions and body language to help the communications along.
Not sure why everyone said FAIL, its called Equal Opportunity Employment, corporations get Kudos for promoting it even for Deaf folks in customer facing roles. Next time just ask for someone to do ASL or another non-hearing impaired rep to help out.
So the ability to verbally communicate is not a required part of a face-to-face sales job?
Was the sales person not communicating even though it was written? The salesperson was deaf, not a vegetable.
I really dislike reading these kinds of threads... seriously. :(
a recognized disability in another human that you come in contact with is your chance to show that you are a good and decent human being - not an opportunity to showcase how you were personally inconvenienced.
Spend a few minutes and work with this disabled, working every day, employee and you can feel better about yourself afterwards.
Any deaf security salespeople?
I would guess if Apple told this individual they couldn’t be a salesperson for Apple and this is what this person wants to do and are qualified then they would most likely get in a fair amount of trouble. This person is being a productive member of society like the rest of us working stiffs and not complaining about their disability. Good for them. To me the one with the disability at the Apple store is U1. The disability of being narrow minded and only thinking about themselves.
I am hard of hearing and have to wear hearing aids. Luckily I can still hear without them but not very well and I usually end up yelling at someone if I’m not wearing them.
You ask if there are any deaf security sales people I’m sure there are but I am a close second.
If you are in sales and you come across a deaf customer are you going walk away from the sale because it is too much work or hard to deal with, I would guess not.
I would guess if Apple told this individual they couldn’t be a salesperson for Apple and this is what this person wants to do and are qualified
The person is not qualified. They cannot speak. This is a job that requires speaking. Imagine a guy who only speaks Polish. Is he qualified to work in an Apple USA store?
If a guy with degenerative disc disease wants to install servers in a rack all day long, is the employer being discriminative to not hire him for that? To the contrary, that same person with the bad back, might easily be able to work in sales at an Apple store since they would not have to lift anything heavy. And vice versa for the deaf person who worked as an installer.
I actually worked for years with degenerative disk disease installing systems. Finally had a plate put in. Only in YOUR opinion is this person not qualified.
See that is the beauty of living in the USA. Someone speaking Polish is NOT a disability so not even the same. Someone that is deaf is protected under the American’s with Disabilities Act and guaranteed not to be discriminated against for employment.
Sales is about communication of selling a product to another. I have never seen anywhere that says the communication can ONLY be through speaking.
To me this would have been a welcoming change to the excruciating and almost like going to the dentist experience of buying a cellphone. I have spent less time closing on a house deal.
I commend UD1 for posting the OP - even though I pushed back hard.
These are the kinds of things that humans need to talk about.
great from apple I like it.
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