Mac marginalization is a painful fact of life for Apple fans everywhere. From banks that won’t allow Safari to use their web services to peripheral manufacturers who refuse to make Mac drivers, the list is large.
Sometimes even using a Mac can be a stigma in the workplace, as Trent Durbin, a 26-year-old paralegal at McCain, Keller and Root, a Chicago law firm.
“I’m a bit of a rebel here,” Durbin said. “I kind of wear my love for Apple on my sleeve and, let me tell you, I have suffered because of it.”
According to Durbin, he has been ostracized by his co-workers because he frequently tries to use his iBook in place of the firm-provided Compaq desktop and his tireless Mac advocacy.
“I’ll take it to meetings to take notes and I’ll try to inform people about Apple and the Mac. I think that rubs all the people here who are stuck in the Windows mind set the wrong way.”
Durbin’s co-workers, however, point to other things about Durbin that make them uncomfortable.
“I didn’t know he used a Mac,” said lawyer Linda Hung. “But that may be because I stay as far away from him as possible. He’s creepy.
“His glasses are all wrong for his face, not to mention being about thirty years out of style. I mean, I don’t need the people around me to be fashion plates, but I’d like them to at least be aware that there is such a thing as fashion, you know?
“Plus, I saw him scoop the glass he never cleans right into the ice machine we all use. Eww.”
According to Hung, none of the other employees use the ice machine anymore.
Darren Prater, a system administrator at the firm, echoed Hung’s discomfort with Durbin.
“For starters, the dude never washes his hands in the men’s room. What’s that about? Then one day I was showing him a picture of my daughter and he asked if he could keep it.
“That… that’s not right.”
Lawyer Chris Bailey, another Mac user at McCain, Keller and Root, expressed chagrin to hear that Durbin also used a Mac.
“Oh, crap, you mean that squirrelly guy with the bowl cut?” Bailey asked.
“Look, just… just don’t tell him I use a Mac, OK? He’ll be over here every five minutes. I don’t need that.”