Ah, the Apple Genius Bar. "I'd like a pint of Genius, please!" you say, slapping your slightly chipped iPhone down in front of one of the Genius barmen, who scoop it up, look at it for maybe ten seconds then tell you it's beyond repair and that you need a new one. You leave, happy the Geniuses have solved your problem and only £200 lighter. Thank heavens for the Geniuses, it's a job for the elite, the select few, the Spartans of Apple.
You think just anyone can just become a Genius? Think again. JK Scheinberg, a retired engineer whose 21 years of service for Apple helped shape the development of Macs, applied to become a Genius as a way to keep himself busy. Bet he thought he was a right shoe-in. Instead, Scheinberg got the boot - or would have, had he been hired and subsequently fired - but he was just flat out ignored.
Speaking on the cold rejection, Scheinberg recalls: "On the way out, all three of the interviewers singled me out and said: ‘We’ll be in touch’. I never heard back."
There have been concerns raised that the rejection has actually stemmed from pointed ageism; Scheinberg being 54, compared with the relative youth of the average Genius, which means applicants are turned away not on their skillset but on irrelevant attributes, but accepting this would mean we might waver in our steadfast belief in the institution of the Genius.
We imagine the interview went a little like this:
