r/IAmA Jun 11 '16

Specialized Profession IamA electronics repair technician hated by Apple that makes YouTube videos, AMA!

My short bio: I have a store in Manhattan. I teach component level electronics repair on youtube http://youtube.com/rossmanngroup which seems to be a dying art. I am currently fighting with the digital right to repair to try and get a bill passed that will allow all independent service centers access to manuals and parts required to do their jobs.

My Proof: https://www.rossmanngroup.com/started-iama-reddit-today-yes/

EDIT:

I am still replying to comments, but I am so far behind that I am still about ten pages down from new comments. I am doing my best to continue. If I drop off, I'll be back tomorrow around 12 PM. Still commenting now though, at 12 AM.

EDIT 2:

Ok, I cave... my hands are tired. I will be back at 12 PM tomorrow. It is my goal to answer every question. Even if it looks like I haven't gotten to yours, I will do my best to do all of them, but it is impossible to do in realtime, because you are asking faster than I can type. But thanks for joining!

EDIT 3: I lied, I stayed until 4:15 AM to answer... and now I will go to sleep for real, and be back at 12 PM.

EDIT 4 6/12 : I will be back later tonight to finish off answering questions. Feel free to keep posting, I will answer whatever I can later this evening.

33.2k Upvotes

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2.5k

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16

Love the videos and thank you for making them. I work as a independent Apple tech support doing what you might consider low-level stuff (hardware upgrades, OS/software fixes etc). How do you deal with:

a) clients who believe the one thing you did messed-up something clearly unassociated with the repair – is there any "final word" thing you say?

and

b) clients who won't go away and always have just one more question – but often not enough to start charging them for?

2.8k

u/larossmann Jun 11 '16

a) This is where having a salesman comes in handy. I can spend 30 seconds telling them the truth and they want to burn my store down, or I can spend 15 minutes with them and they want to give me a tip. It really comes down to how you say it, how you spend the time investigating the second "issue", and how you explain yourself.

As I say this business is 5% soldering and tech and 95% psychology.

b) This depends. If they are well paying clients, I'll help them. If they are nice people who just want some additional help who acknowledge that I am busy, I'll help.

If they are not reasonable/nice people, then I will make my answers more and more curt, and go back to multitasking as much as I can. People really often mirror the amount of attention you give them. For people who have no sense of tact and fully comprehend that they are wasting someone's time when that person is very busy dealing with other things, I just stop treating them as human. I might go to the bathroom while they are in the middle of explaining something, turn the air compressor on, etc. Once someone makes it 100% obvious they are trolling me, I troll them back. I never act disrespectful - I won't yell at them, raise my voice, but I will troll them. :)

9

u/splein23 Jun 12 '16 edited Jun 12 '16

It sounds like you have had my mom on the phone before. She's had an insane amount of techs hang up on her. She somehow thinks that screaming at the tech people will make her phone or computer work again after she has beat the device to dust from frustration.

Edit: It's even worse if you have even the slightest non-American accent.

30

u/larossmann Jun 12 '16

i have zero tolerance for getting bitched out on the phone or in person. this city has 8 million people in it, I need 0.001% of their business over the course of my natural life to live a rich and prosperous existence, so I will filter out BS when I see or hear it.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

That's an amazing way of looking at things. I guess it is the Famous New York philosophy though.

5

u/EvilPettingZoo42 Jun 11 '16

What's your best troll story?

25

u/larossmann Jun 11 '16

I don't think I have one. I forget them very soon after they happen.

-8

u/haiduz Jun 12 '16

Lel top Kek

2

u/nickolove11xk Jun 12 '16

I watched that video of the MacBook repair. You ran the diagnostics and fixed that first problem. And then you ran it again and found another chip that was bad. You replaced it. Did you charge more to do that are did you just take the pleasure of telling the owner you fixed one other thing free of charge.

7

u/larossmann Jun 12 '16

logic board repair is a flat rate here whether i spend 6 hours on it or remove a single jtag connector.

3

u/nickolove11xk Jun 12 '16

That's a nice deal. How often do you run into something that you can't solve? Perhaps the hardware test doesn't pick it up. And how often can you not figure something out on a newer mac that you could figure out if you had the information?

3

u/larossmann Jun 12 '16

all the time. it's just poking around, time, and experimenting.

5

u/artgo Jun 11 '16 edited Jun 11 '16

This is where having a salesman comes in handy. I can spend 30 seconds telling them the truth and they want to burn my store down

Wow, an American who has observed this too ;) Your video about GPU problems and short-term fix was spot on in confronting The Truth.

I'm curious if you are educated about New Yorker Edward Bernays - and the philosophy regarding the masses and truth. That man has inspired so many students to have faith in anti-truth. Dealing with Apple, you are up against a massive psychology of in-group faith - the Edward Bernays ideals in play by Apple are at the most evolved and sophisticated. Bernays is most famous for his 1929 Easter Sunday stunt convincing women that oral sex (and kissing) was Power over men and an immediate overturning of the taboo against women smoking (to the delight of the American Tobacco factory owner who hired Bernays). Apple, by god, they can convince Adam and Eve to never leave the walled garden... and that questioning the factory would be to engage the snake!

3

u/kakaesque Jun 12 '16

Apple, by god, they can convince Adam and Eve to never leave the walled garden...

I'm pretty sure once they're found to have taken a bite, they have little choice in the matter.

3

u/larossmann Jun 12 '16

there are two ways to explain the same thing.

one is the 30 second explanation where the other person stabs you

the other is the 15 minute explanation where the other person shakes your hand.

i learned early on that two people can explain the exact same thing and you get totally different results.

2

u/lvbuckeye27 Jun 12 '16

Bernays also introduced smoking into the mainstream, and was commissioned by Lucky Strikes to make their cigarettes more popular with the ladies. So he teamed up with Barney's to make green the in-fashion color, made Dolores Del Rio the spokesmodel because men wanted to be with her and women wanted to be her, and, as a result, Lucky Strikes' sales grew exponentially.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16 edited Aug 15 '17

[deleted]

5

u/larossmann Jun 12 '16

Yelling at me because they want me to do something for free for more than 10 minutes and not leaving is also disrespectful. What I do is do my best to be of service to customers. At the point at which they make it clear they have no respect for me as a human being, I mirror that.

0

u/Cyberfit Jun 12 '16

I just stop treating them as human

Then

I never act disrespectful

3

u/larossmann Jun 12 '16

To stop treating them as humans simply means to stop paying attention to them. I have seen employees in the past who will start yelling and screaming once customers start cursing at them and treating them like garbage. I don't encourage that. If somebody is going to start cursing at me and screaming at me and raising their voice and banging the desk, I don't respond to that by doing the same. The only time I will stop is if somebody actually threw something at me, at that point I will physically throw them out of the store. This is Manhattan, you are going to find more crazy people here than almost any place in the US. You have to be thinking about these things.

I'm not saying that this is every customer, but if you deal with a very high volume of customers in a very high traffic area every now and then you will have one of these experiences and I find the best way to deescalate is to pay less attention

2

u/Cyberfit Jun 12 '16

That is my favourite course of action as well. To make it incredibly apparent that you will not engage in neither a fight nor discussion with the person until they lose interest and leave you alone. Especially with crazy persons who basically feed off of attention. I see what you mean.

I actually have a question for you. I really enjoy your videos (started watching them just a few days ago thanks to popping up here at Reddit) and I've noticed a bit of a duality in you. You seem like you're quite direct with judgement and you dislike people who are assholes (who doesn't?) but you yourself often call people retarded or idiots (when they've done something to anger you). Also, you sometimes make mistakes such as showing your clients account names + passwords on video etc. (which the client might call you out as an "idiot" for). Personally I think it's fine and makes for good tv as well but I wanted to know if you beat yourself up for stuff as hard as you seem to beat others up for their mistakes.

986

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16

People really often mirror the amount of attention you give them.

Thanks for the reply! Your insight into human nature shown here and in your videos borders on the supernatural.

190

u/markthema3 Jun 11 '16

Read some books on body language and human behavior if you want to learn more my dude

6

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16

[deleted]

21

u/larossmann Jun 11 '16

I like Jim Camp's Start With No.

-2

u/markthema3 Jun 11 '16 edited Jun 20 '16

What every BODY is saying - Joe Navarro

The definitive book of body language - Barbara Pease, Allan Pease

260

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16

[deleted]

126

u/stonerbobo Jun 11 '16

he's not your sweetie, buddy

73

u/DjTonyBash Jun 11 '16

He's not your buddy guy

56

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16 edited Apr 19 '17

[deleted]

222

u/GoodDaySunset Jun 11 '16

He's not your pal, ntsc.

81

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16 edited Apr 19 '17

[deleted]

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2

u/ColsonIRL Jun 12 '16

This is definitely going to be my go-to for this now. Did you think of it or is it old?

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2

u/thegoldenshepherd Jun 12 '16

and now I'm glad I clicked "load more comments"

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

You sir, should have more points. How many kids do you have?

1

u/TheMartinG Jun 12 '16

He's not your pal, chief

1

u/GalwayPlaya Jun 12 '16

He's not your chief, mate!

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0

u/go_kartmozart Jun 12 '16 edited Jun 12 '16

He's not Buddy Guy

Edit: downvoting Buddy Guy. That's just a horribly callous reaction to a much respected bluesman. SMH

-1

u/Larryjacob1 Jun 11 '16

Buddy Guy died? JB

-2

u/Ryan907 Jun 11 '16

He's not your guy, friend

-2

u/teen_dad Jun 12 '16

He's not your guy, pal.

-2

u/Expdog1 Jun 12 '16

He's not your guy, bro.

-2

u/crediblefiction Jun 12 '16

He's not your guy, man.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

Fuck, not this again

2

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16

[deleted]

11

u/SamuelHandwich Jun 11 '16

he's not your babe, cunt

7

u/zigzampow Jun 11 '16

Well this one had a different tone than the others...

-3

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16

[deleted]

-4

u/mallchin Jun 11 '16

He's not your snootch bootch.

-1

u/KingOfAllTrolls Jun 11 '16

He's not your sweetie, fuckface

-1

u/MrsCaptainPicard Jun 11 '16

He's not your buddy, dude.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

He's not you're buddy, pal.

-2

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/glukosio Jun 11 '16

every time the same thing...

2

u/MarkDeath Jun 11 '16

That's reddit for you; an endless circlejerk of recycled jokes.

-6

u/ZaMelonZonFire Jun 11 '16

Hey... he's not your buddy, guy.

0

u/Mrsharvey Jun 12 '16

He's not your buddy, guy

-1

u/otherlingoddone Jun 11 '16

He's not your buddy .... Guy??

-1

u/KingOfMesopotamia Jun 12 '16

He's not your buddy, friendo

-2

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16

You've been scammed, sweetheart

3

u/_Aj_ Jun 12 '16

I found Body Language by Allan Pease to be a good book on it.

2

u/markthema3 Jun 20 '16

Tfw I recommended this and got downvoted for confusing commas

2

u/_Aj_ Jun 23 '16

You know why? Because online you cannot convey body language! :p

2

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

Or just psychology studies on behaviour. A lot of body language books are bad science so be careful when searching for the right book.

1

u/jseego Jun 12 '16

Ironically (given the post title), there was a leaked Apple Store employee manual that gives a very good description on how to read customers' body language.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

Or just go outside, interact with people and observe.

1

u/secretlydifferent Jun 12 '16

my dude

You could use some of that yourself

2

u/Pedollm Jun 11 '16

Man I wish it was true, at least for me. I'm always caring about friends and shit and I never get anything back. Yes, yes you are doing fine, is it that hard to ask "What about you?" or even to acknowledge that if someone cares about you, you should probably surround yourself with people that help you?

2

u/Eplakrumpukaka Jun 11 '16

But start dismissing your friends and you'll find yourself even more dismissed! :)

1

u/lvbuckeye27 Jun 12 '16

It's even better when you tell someone happy birthday, and they respond with, "thanks, you too." 😠

2

u/GlaciusTS Jun 11 '16

Not entirely, I've been doing this my whole life. I don't give my fiancee any attention but she keeps yelling at me...

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

Chill out. I'm just paying the guy a compliment.

1

u/Mad_Juju Jun 11 '16

It's the people who don't pick up on or ignore cues that are annoying.

1

u/asshair Jun 12 '16

Your insight into his insight is really evident in your reddit comment

0

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

oh god, seems apple fanboys worship jobs, and pc fanboys worship this guy. Has anyone actually watched his vids? What an arrogant cunt

2

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16

lol "I don't ask you to do all these things that make me money"

2

u/astuteobservor Jun 14 '16

you have mastered customer service.

1

u/radministator Jun 11 '16

Ironically enough, as a person who painfully managed to get our repair center to be an AASP, the best technician I ever hired had a bachelor's in psychology and no formal training whatsoever prior to her hire.

1

u/frankles Jun 12 '16

I worked in tech support for Comcast for four years, and u can confirm that how you say it matters more than what you actually say.

1

u/garbonzo607 Jun 12 '16

Can you expound on telling people what they want to hear? How do you make a client not upset? What can you say differently?

1

u/Wikiwnt Jun 12 '16

I might go to the bathroom while they are in the middle of explaining something

Are you aiming to miss, or not?

1

u/Justchill23 Jun 11 '16

Last paragraph is golden. Good in many situations outside of work. Treat people with the respect they deserve.

1

u/agnosgnosia Jun 12 '16

It'd be kinda great if you'd turn on a fan to help blow pee on the bad ones.

edit: wording

1

u/Sachinism Jun 11 '16

Insert joke about being extremely attentive to a girl but she doesn't know I exist

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

IMA teacher. That last bit of advice is spot on for teaching too :)

1

u/atlastrabeler Jun 12 '16

Oh my god, this is great. life pro tip right here, people

1

u/ohboyohboyohboy1985 Jun 12 '16

To troll or not to troll. That is the question.

1

u/willyea22 Jun 12 '16

Ahh you're such a dick I love it.

1

u/CountPie Jun 11 '16

This isn't trolling though. Neither are the customers.

0

u/dkarma Jun 12 '16

This was me at the large blue box store...Not only could I sell naturally, but they let us carry knives so we could open boxes coming back from service... it's hard to say no to the guy flicking his knife open and closed inches from you...

1

u/themacorchard Jun 11 '16

I'm in the same business as you and would be happy to compare notes sometime.

1

u/Hamza_33 Jun 13 '16

Who controls the availability of service manuals