tfaz1 said:
Again, talk to your manager. ANY posting on rumor sites could be grounds for termination, not just speculation about future products. They could have changed the policy since I left, but I doubt it. I don't want to be a buzzkill, but while I was at Apple, a retail employee was fired just for posting on an Apple forum. His posts weren't about rumors or Apple products either.
Apple takes this stuff VERY seriously and Steve generally dislikes the rumor sites. They don't want employees participating in these discussions at all. My advice, if you like your new job, is to just read and keep your opinions to yourself - regardless of what the subject might be. That's what I had to do...
Yeah, take it from an ex-employee as well. My store was not to keen on us being on MacRumors or any of the other sites. The problem is not really rumors (since as Retail employees you hear about practically nothing), it's that if you start speculating or saying things like "yeah, I hear the new iPod is coming out too and we're low on stock on the current ones" that some customers take that as gospel. Managers scold you if you say anything that sounds like a rumor or opinion. Honestly, it's a retail job that doesn't pay commission.
Don't get me wrong, I loved it while I was there. But as time progressed, there were less "fanatic apple fan" employees and more "let's get the bottom line numbers up" salespeople. I know, I know, Apple is a business and that is the nature of commerce. But when I started (which was from the opening of the store), there were guys there who sounded alot like the guys from here at MacRumors; excited about the brand, knew their hardware in and out, and we're pros on practically every piece of software. Slowly, they were replaced with retail people. What once was a fun place where you could spend two hours showing someone the fine details of Final Cut became a statement like "Final Cut is right here, what else would you like to buy?".
I guess the lesson I learned from all of it is "Don't mix business with Pleasure". I love Apple, I love all of my Macs, but I don't think I would ever want to try and sell one in a retail setting again. Eh, maybe I wasn't cut of to be in retail.
Good luck with the job. Enjoy the HUGE number of Apple shirts they give you. You get so many, you could almost wear a new one each time you come in to work.