I’m confused about the store. They don’t want to sell merchandise!?! Fine, I won’t buy any of the crap you’re selling.
Like most Apple stores, this one sells out of iPhones essentially every day.
Before they had the daily limit, the same group of “regulars” would be waiting every morning, and would buy all the iPhones/iPads as soon as the store doors opened. This would continue for months, until supply caught up with demand. Ordinary folks waited in the line outside for the mall to open, and found that the “regulars” were already lined up at the Apple store. Someone lets them into the mall early.
The per-person limit cramps their style somewhat, since they have to hire a bunch of associates to reserve phones and stand in line en mass. It makes it easier for regular folks to buy merchandise.
The staff in the store doesn’t care who buys the phones. They don’t make commission, and they can count on selling out every shipment that arrives. They DO have the normal, justified desire to minimize their interactions with obnoxious customers. This woman must have behaved pretty badly if they asked her to leave and not come back. I don’t know if this woman was one of the “regulars”, but the story indicates that it wasn’t her first visit to the store.