Recently in a Apple Store in Melbourne, Australia, was attacked as racist, as the store did not allow some to enter the store for fear that they might steal products. A security guard initially blocked access to the store to students from a nearby school, and later an employee of the Apple Store informed the students why they were not being granted access to the location. The incident was videotaped, and as such, it was made viral very quickly. Apple quickly apologized for the incident.
In response to this incident, an email on behalf of the entire company was sent by the CEO Tim Cook, Titulado "Apple is open". He says the way the situation was handled was "unacceptable", and he goes on to say that not a single individual within Apple's leadership was happy with the way things were run.
Tim Cook goes on to say that the actions of some employees at that store do not reflect Apple as a whole, and that the company is "Open to all people of all social classes, without distinction of race or religion, sex or sexual orientation, age, disability, income, language or point of view".
You can read the full email below, which was initially posted by BuzzFeed:
Team,
I am sure you are all aware of the unacceptable incident that took place in our store at the Highpoint Mall in Melbourne, Australia this Tuesday. Several young people who are the students of a nearby school, they had been kicked out by a security guard and ready to leave the store. In an attempt to cope with the situation, one of our store employees gave a shocked answer to many of us.
What people have seen and heard on video does not represent our values. It is not a message that we might want to deliver to a client or listen to ourselves. Our employee immediately expressed his regret and apologized to the students.
Neither of us are happy with the way this was handled. But we can all be proud of Kate, one of the top managers in the store Highpoint.
On the same Wednesday, he greeted the same group of students to express a sincere apology on behalf of our store and our company. She assured these young people that they and their classmates would always be welcome in our store. The school principal later told a reporter that he received the message from Apple "gladly," and one of the students said, "I feel like we have justice."
Apple is open. (Apple is open).
Our stores and our hearts are open to people of all walks of life, regardless of race or religion, sex or sexual orientation, age, disability, income, language or other point of view. All through our company, being inclusive, and embracing our differences so that our products get better and our stores get stronger.
The Apple Store in Highpoint (Melbourne) is served by people who share these values and illustrate our commitment to diversity. The team consists of co-workers from Australia, as well as Egypt, Italy, India, and five other nations. Together they speak 15 languages, including Portuguese, Arabic and Mandarin Chinese.
While I strongly believe that this was an isolated incident and not a symptom of a larger problem in our stores, we will use this moment as an opportunity for all of our teams to learn and grow leadership Around the world, starting in Australia, your training in customer engagement and inclusion will be refreshing. These are the concepts and practices that we know well, but you can always be reinforcing more.
Respect for our customers is the foundation of everything we do at Apple. It is the reason why we take great care in designing our products. It is the reason we make our tbeautiful and cozy shops, and extend its reach to benefit the communities that live around it. It is the reason we are committed to enriching people's lives.
Thank you all for your dedication to Apple, to our values, and to the customers that we are so very fortunate to serve.
Tim.
Sorry, I think I did a good translation, I hope you like it. GREETINGS.