Guy Grilling the iPhone Guy – A True Story Told in Tweets

July 10, 2009 · Comments

Guy Grilling the iPhone Guy So, sometimes, waiting around stinks. I got to the Apple Store a bit early for an appointment to see if they could fix my iPhone (hint: they couldn’t help me replace it, because I’m a business customer, and evidently, I have to deal with the AT&T store for that). I had some time to kill and I landed on a conversation between a prospective customer looking at an iPhone, and an Apple store employee.

This entire story is true. It was first live-tweeted on Thursday, July 9th, and took place at the Apple Store at the Maine Mall in Portland. Here the story is, in its entirety, in little bite sized chunks.

Guy Grilling the iPhone Guy

Guy across from me is GRILLING the iPhone guy, and the questions suggest he’s recently arrived at this planet. “I can CALL people?”

Guy grilling the iPhone guy – “Wait. Can you find my HOUSE on this?” Not kidding. “Go down the street a little. That’s Bill’s house!”

Guy grilling the iPhone guy – “Now, if this thing could take PICTURES and upload them, now that would change EVERYTHING.”

Guy grilling the iPhone guy – “I wonder how often they CHANGE those photos?” (google maps streetview).

Guy grilling the iPhone guy – “Now, is sending email COSTLY?” (I’m half laughing, half ready to Taze him.

Guy grilling the iPhone guy – “Would you DEMO sending an email? I want to see if I get it.” (I’m SURE he won’t buy this.)

Guy Grilling the iPhone Guy – “So, you just TOUCH it to type? That’s CURIOUS!” – I want to take him to Hot Topic next. “Piercings?”

Guy Grilling the iPhone Guy – “So, what is the BIGGEST question people ask you about the iPhone?” iPhone Guy: “yours?”

iPhone guy to Griller – “My Dad, who’s probably older than YOU, really loves it. They LOVE it. THey won’t stop touching it.”

Guy Grilling the iPhone guy – “So, on a regular phone, I can’t get all this information. I feel like I’ll save money with this.” Um…

Guy Grilling the iPhone Guy – “Let’s just say I want to call my friend Chris. Do I have to set up a contact, or can I just say, Call Chris?”

(I’m a little weirded out that he said Chris, but it turns out the iPhone Guy’s name tag says Chris.)

Guy Grilling the iPhone is now TALKING to the iPhone like Scotty in Star Trek 4. “Hello Computer!”

Guy Grilling the iPhone Guy – “Hey, what about covers for these? Can I buy covers?” (Standing in front of WALL o’ “covers.”

God’s Truth, I am NOT making this up.

Guy Grilling the iPhone – “So what’s the warrantee cover? For example, can I just blow this thing up and get a new one?” (pyroguy?)

Guy Grilling the iPhone Guy – “How long do you think this thing will live?” iPHone Guy- “I left mine on the roof of my car, and its okay.”

Guy Grilling the iPhone Guy – “Do you have a repair shop out back?” followed quickly with, “And if I just want to make a call?” (???)

Guy Grilling the iPhone Guy – “How MANY people can I call at once? 10?” (He’s evidently also very convivial.)

Guy Grilling the iPhone Guy – “Text messages. Huh. Now what’s this? Is this… is this an email?” iPhone guy looks SO earnest.

Guy Grilling the iPhone guy is now back in Google Maps trying to find other friends he knows. iPhone guy is pretending this is useful.

Guy Grilling the iPhone guy – “Look! There’s that castle!” So he’s googlemapping Scotland?

LAST Guy Grilling the iPhone Guy update – wait for it – … he did NOT buy the iPhone. iPhone Guy didn’t bat an eye.

—

Yep, that’s the whole story, start to end. It was about one hour tops in length. I tweeted the whole thing live from a Macbook Pro on display in the Apple store. I almost got caught twice because my shoulders were jerking from laughing a bit too obviously.

Ah, life. There is absolutely no caloric value in this story, but it was fun to do.

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  • Haha! That is insane. I am laughing so hard right now. You definately just made my day with that.
  • Wonderful! Made me laugh out loud, thank you!
  • Thank you very much!
  • This was a hilarious story to follow, thanks for sharing. If that guy knew about this new technology they're working on he'd seriously wig out: http://mashable.com/2009/07/10/iphone-object-re...
  • Makes me kinda glad I didn't get that job at the Apple Store...
  • O.M.G.!!! After all that, he did NOT buy?? Guess the Apple store folks are used to all kinds, eh?

    Great story, thanks for tweeting/sharing!
  • Andrea
    That made my day :)
  • belchingmonkey
    The best part may be that the guy has no idea you wrote this article. #iphonegrill
  • Kate
    I really hope that was a prank the poor guy's friends dared him to do.

    Seriously!?! Does he live in a bubble?

    Great for a summer Friday afternoon!
  • I hope so too. He can't be for real.
  • This made me smile :) I love it
  • OMG, I saw all your tweets yesterday, and was cracking up the entire time. Thanks for the entertainment.
  • Same here, I was rolling, eyes tearing, waiting for the next update - like seconds later - then more howls!

    Unfortunately reminds me of when I worked at Radio Shack some twenty-mumble years ago - had LOTS of folks like that looking at those computer-things. Guess they had kids...
  • Priceless. Just priceless.
  • I was in a conference when you started the "grilling the iPhone guy" bit and had to leave midway because I could not hold back the laughs. This was sooo funny! Thanks for capturing it in a blog post, it really was something to watch live.
  • Crap. No refunds on that conference you missed! : )
  • This is the most awesome overheard tweet story I've read to date! Too funny!!
  • Almost Seinfeldian. I did tech support for Adobe for five years, so I'm quite acquainted with that - especially from manning a station at MacWorld - but at least the customers I spoke to had already bought the product.
  • Not to compare ... but my 1 and a half year old can already answer calls on my Blackberry. Maybe I can send him over as a tech consultant for this guy. ;-)
  • Oh, I think most folks could outwit the griller. But hey, he had the coolest hearing aids EVER. They had Bluetooth in them. Not kidding. How cool is that?
  • rohitbhargava
    Great - though he's probably going to CVS next to ask if he can pair them with a box of Q-tips ...
  • Wow! A full on ...SNORT out of me from that one. : )
  • The Griller had Bluetooth Hearing Aids and was asking these types of questions about the iPhone?
  • I should be clear: My feelings on the story aren't like "what a moron. He's clearly not very advanced. har har har." Instead it's more like, "He was going SO DEEP into the product demo requests, and it was just a bit silly in the larger scale of things."
  • reneestorey
    I followed this thread live last night and just cracked up. This is the stuff I love on twitter. Also, Chris, enjoyed seeing your kids during podcampohio.
  • bill_free
    I can CALL people?

    Thanks. Turned an upside down day rightside up again. Sort of. Great post.
  • I must be a freak... I picked the iPhone up for the first time and the sales guy walked over and asked me if he could help me and I said yes... I want this. No questions, no nothing... Ring me up.
  • That was definitely one of the best stories I have followed on twitter! Thanks for the hour of laughs =]
  • One thing is for sure. That guy will probably NEVER stumble across this post and realize he was blogged about.
  • Chris, what a great use of Twitter! I'll have to remember to try this the next time I overhear one of those stranger than life conversations we always seem to come across!
  • freakin hilarious! I OH someone saying the other day (I live in a tourist town in AK) ~ they have a Mexican restaurant here! I swear.....
  • Are you sure the guy grillin' just wasn't pulling the iphone guy's leg? Because some customers like to do that. They probably think it's funnier than you did.

    It's such a grey line.. I really hate it when you can't tell!
  • I love Will it Blend!
  • sueontheweb
    Thank you for this, it was too funny.
  • Chris - that was good Friday night entertainment - thanks!

    And thanks to your advice at SobCon, I just got a new iPhone too. The only thing I thought was interesting to overhear, or 'curious' as your guy put it, was how much teen/young adult kids totally suck up to their parents in the Apple store. I'm sure they barely speak outside of the mall, but in that store, parents - with credit cards, are honored and admired.

    And, I'm loving my iPhone. Thanks!
  • amywesely
    Chris, I was following your tweets live on this event - I was cracking up. I
  • nickybailey
    That is a very funny post and I really love your blog Chris so keep up the great work.
    Nicky xxx
  • I was so disappointed that you didn't interview him afterward. He will never know he is famous :-)
  • Jet Boy
    Many of those sound like reasonable questions to me. In fact, many of them I don't know the answer to.
  • designamigo
    what makes chrisbrogan different ?
    humour..
    nice post!!
  • jjtoothman
    For whatever reason, I'm imagining Guy Grilling the iPhone Guy to be something like the Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons. Except instead of snark, he's full of wonderment
  • Hilarious. You can't help but wonder if the griller was just pulling the Genius™'s leg.

    Thanks for sharing this story!
  • This story is insanely funny! You are genuine, Chris. This gets me into thinkin', what do you think you could have done if you're the Apple guy?
  • Chris, I think you can get at least one more post out of this scenario. I'd love to hear you praise the iPhone Guy for engaging the Guy Grilling The iPhone Guy for an hour and patiently showing him every detail of the iPhone he asked about without getting uppity or trying to force the customer to make a purchase. And as you admitted, after the man didn't make the purchase, the iPhone Guy didn't bat an eye. That's the kind of customer service we ALL want!
  • <<Picking myself off the floor from laughing.>> I used to work at an AT&T Wireless dealer and I am really NOT surprised by this. It is truly amazing the questions people ask.

    I tried an iPhone for a while and its just too thin for me. Went back to my AT&T Tilt (well cingular 8195 that is now called the Tilt). I'm one of those that just use my phone as a phone though (I know, dinosaur) but I'm almost always at my desk.
  • michelemiller
    This made me laugh out loud. Loved it so much I posted it to my Facebook page. And love the fact that the Apple salesperson didn't bat an eye when the potential customer didn't buy the iPhone there on the spot. My guess is, he went home to think about and tell his family/friends about it, and then returned to buy it cuz he couldn't live without it.
  • MtnMom
    Had you not already specified which coast you are vacationing on, I would swear that you had come across my spouse in the Apple store. Dude! That was FUNNY! Thanks for sharing! :)
  • Tre
    THANK YOU for adding this story via tweets to your blog. God it was hysterical following the tweets along and yet, albeit I'm a dweeb, my heart went out to the guy a bit. He's brave enough to be in the store and ask the questions at least. Did you think of trying to get him on video? Stop rolling your eyes....Sounds like he would have adored some more stage time. Thanks for yet again showing another window to the world of your vacay....give us an update on how at&t handles your business question. Keep having fun.
  • Seth Hosko
    Maine Mall!?!?! Hilarious... You can run into all sorts of 'interesting' people there :). Awesome story!
  • Reminds me of the friend who asked me once "Did you get that text letter I sent?"
  • I saw this tweet stream live and was Rolling.
  • Thanks for making Sunday a little lighter Chris! I felt like I was reliving every single technology conversation I've ever had with my parents. Very funny!
  • SaraKate
    This made me laugh quite hard. It was a cute story. Props to the iPhone guy for not batting a lash and making the experience good for the dude grilling him, as well as entertaining (and not dramatic or a huge annoyance) to you or other customers!
  • Me
    I actually look at this a different way. I APPLAUD the guy for stepping out of his comfort zone and seeking out new technologies -- even though all you "snarky" types think it is hysterical when people ask questions about things.
  • LMAO Love this Apple Reality Show...like listening to the old radio when TV's didnt exist.
  • kat
    and then he went home to continue making a beautiful piece of art work
    or bring his grandson fishing

    iphone my ass
    you're all a bunch of "we're so cools"
    :P~~

    -kat brogan
  • Oh my God that's hilarious!
    Guy Grilling the iPhone Guy: “So, what is the BIGGEST question people ask you about the iPhone?”
    iPhone Guy: “yours?”
    - This is the best question he gave. And the best retort from the iPhone guy. :D
    Well, I can't blame him. Sometimes people get intimidated around new gadgets that they pretend like that they don't know how to use it. Otherwise, this guy is just completely clueless.
  • OMG, this is absolutely hilarious. And I'm afraid I know a few people like this. Hey, free entertainment Chris! One hour of laughs at no charge!
  • OMG I was really Laughing Hard ,
    I think I also Meet With Some of those kind Of People,i was not selling them but they saw my blackberry thunder and wanted to know What features it had
  • Very entertaining. Great post. And you got away with it!
  • backgarage
    The ironic thing is that that whole situation was set up as an ad: the Apple store knew who you were, that you were coming in, and that you are heavy into Twitter. So they set up this situation, with actors, that you couldn't HELP but Tweet about, and you advertised for them -- dropping the word iPhone into the Twittersphere at least 28 times in one hour. Man, marketing really is getting sneaky these days.
  • FJ
    Is that perfectly round teal ball in the background the guy asking these ridiculous questions? Because he's got some SERIOUS caloric value that needs to be taken care of.

    Wonder if those were his real friends or if he found the iPhone a useful tool for his stalking needs.
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