He Was the Apple Employee Named 'Sam Sung'. He Changed His Name to Avoid Attention

An employee of Apple went viral back in 2012, not because he landed one of the most sought-after jobs, but because of his name. Working in the retail department at the Apple Store in Vancouver, Canada, ‘Sam Sung’ gathered attention galore for his name’s striking similarity to Samsung, one of Apple’s biggest rivals. However, tired of being the centre of attention—and online memes, Sung decided to change his name. He’s now Sam Struan.

In an interview with Business Insider, Struan recounted how the early years of his career at Apple were full of humour, including cheeky jokes at how “Sam Sung” worked at Apple. “I’ll never forget the moment I went viral,” Struan told Business Insider. “I was working at my other part-time job, and my phone started ringing like crazy. I thought a family member had died. I peeked and saw a text from someone saying I’d gone viral on Reddit, and they sent me a link.”

Struan said he was not familiar with Reddit, leading him to believe the incessant messages and the link were all part of a scam. However, when he began receiving calls from journalists and even other Apple employees, he knew he was no longer an ordinary employee. “A few hours later, I received several missed calls from the Apple Store. Someone had posted a picture of my Apple business card online, and it actually went viral,” Struan said.

“I was terrified.”

Things went out of hand when a journalist went to the Apple Store in search of him. Apple relocated him from the store floor and asked everyone else not to identify him if anyone inquired about Struan, who was famous as ‘Sam Sung’. Apple also asked him to surrender his business cards and change his identity if anyone asked about him directly. While he formally did not change his name, he knew he had to do something about his name.

Struan left Apple in 2013, and the online attention and memes on him had already faded away. He auctioned his business cards and part of his Apple uniform to raise money for charity. Rid of all his past affiliations, he then decided to change his name to Sam Struan, inspired by one of his favourite spots in Scotland. “I’m glad I adopted a new professional name, and I’m not sure if I would have if the viral moment hadn’t happened, but I wish I could tell my younger self to see it as a funny thing…I wish I’d just chilled out a bit about it and been less worried about job security and potential work opportunities, and enjoyed it for what it was,” Struan mentioned during his interview.

Sam Struan now lives in Glasgow, working as a consultant and a resume writer.

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