iWait

I've been on the West Coast for the past few days. Last night, my host and I attended a Padres game and cut out an inning early to give the Apple store one last try. We'd been all over Southern California and hit up several, between meetings, trying to get the newest version of the iPhone, released just yesterday.

We got to the store and were surprised to see the line vastly diminished. In fact, they'd cut off the line and were taking their last customers. We were shuffled to the "standby line" and told that if we'd like to wait around for a few more minutes, they'd try to get us in too. The Apple folks looked complete unfazed by the madness of the day, and seemed in high spirits. My colleague and I were impressed.

The queue manager was a congenial twenty something and seemed friendly enough. "How long have you been here today?"

"Since 9am," he said, without even a hint of exasperation or fatigue. I looked for white residue under his nostrils, but saw none.

"You must be exhausted," I said, fishing.

"I'm a little tired, but it's all good, after all I WORK FOR APPLE." It wasn't an explanation, it was more like an anthem.

I marveled at the man's unbridled enthusiasm even as I contemplated his sanity. What a cult these Apple people have created, I wondered with a slight air of smugness. I chuckled quietly at the concept of working a 14 hour day for a retailer's salary and having the audacity to actually appear ecstatic about it. Then I realized that I, in fact, had an equally long day in meetings all over Southern California, and here I was in a line waiting to buy a phone. And I wasn't even getting paid.