Tuesday, May 24, 2011

A letter to Tommy Chong(in response to his Apple rant)

The way I see it, Tommy, you were both right and wrong. You were right to be upset that a high end store like that doesn't have a bathroom for customers.
And the security guard?
What the hell, man? That's just overkill.
It's filled with expensive merchandise, but why is he guarding the bathroom?

First place you went wrong was in assuming that because you're a celebrity(it doesn't matter what grade, not to me at least) they should have given you preferential treatment. Your third paragraph starts out fine(letting go for a moment that you had already informed the security guard that you were the famous guy who was in there not too long ago who got to use the bathroom), but you don't get out of the first sentence before you lose it again(see, told you it was only going to be for a moment) by referencing your celebrity status to the guard. In that single action you instantly showed that your issue wasn't with the unfairness of customers not being able to use the bathroom, but with the unfairness that you wouldn't be able to use the bathroom.


And then we have the cherry on top. This article's pièce de résistance, if you will. You said, "I'm keeping up the Apple Store toilet issue until they apologize to me and change their policy. Better yet, they should install toilets for the public as crowded as their stores are."


Those two sentences together seem to be saying(and I'm paraphrasing here)"Hey Apple, I'm gonna make noise on this issue until you guys decide to let famous people like me who sign autographs and take pictures with the staff use the bathrooms! Oh, and I guess you should do the same thing for everyone else too."


Your last thought on the issue really confuses me. You say that "without us Apple stores don't exist!", yet you never even so much as hint at the idea of taking your business elsewhere. Why would Apple give you or the other, non-famous customers a bathroom? You didn't seem to care all this time that there is no customer bathroom, why should they?

Shawn says a little humility goes a long way.
Oh, and happy 72nd man!