No longer “Sam Sung”: Ex-Apple employee with a new name

A story that caused a smile in the Apple scene thirteen years ago has now found a (happy) ending: The former Apple retail employee with the rather inappropriate name Sam Sung has officially changed his name. Sam Sung will now become “Sam Struan,” the now 36-year-old shared in a guest article on the US business site BusinessInsider with. The renaming was also done because his birth name had gone viral.

From Scotland to Canada

Struan had previously worked in several Apple stores: first in Glasgow, Scotland, then later in Vancouver, Canada. Struan most recently held the position of “specialist”, and also had corresponding business cards. One of the customers got their hands on it in 2012 and ended up posting it on Twitter, which was a whole viral wave. Struan visibly took this with him, he deleted his LinkedIn profile under the name. In 2013, he finally left Apple and then auctioned off parts of his Apple clothing, including a “name badge” and business cards, a year later for the benefit of a children’s foundation.

According to his own statements, he then made the name change because he did not want to be “known for an Internet joke”. “Struan” has a meaning for him, that is his favourite place in Scotland. Today, however, Struan sees the situation somewhat differently than in 2012. At the time, he feared that he might lose his job due to the fuss. “I was so scared, I just didn’t want to attract attention and keep working.” Looking back, he says, it’s funny: “At that moment, I probably had the highest job security I’ve ever had. If Apple had fired me, it would have caused even more uproar.”

Reporter in the store looking for Sam Sung

At that time, reporters came to the store. “Apple therefore initially took me off the sales floor.” His colleagues were told not to identify him to third parties. There were no more business cards for him. “People came to the store and asked if Sam Sung worked in the store. I then pretended that I wasn’t.” On the phone, he was not recognized because of his Scottish accent. After all, the uproar subsided after a few months.

Struan later had another problem: After trying to establish himself in the field of career consulting, there were hardly any opportunities to become a brand due to the old name. “The Big Tech company already has its own brand.” So it made sense to change the name. Today he wished he could tell his younger self that it had been funny after all. “I wouldn’t have had to worry about my job.” It would have been better to keep the LinkedIn profile open and thank the people who had contacted him at the time. “I could have enjoyed the whole thing more for what it was.”