I suspect that this is a scene which will be played out in cities across the country today: reader David Barton sent in this photo with the following comments…

When I was typing this message on my phone, I realized the spell checker on my BlackBerry doesn’t even know what the word iPhone is…  No need to, I’m sure on of these 80 people in line at 8:00 this morning can spell it.  I’m on the way to work. I’ll check back later to see if you can get near the AT&T store at The Greene in BeaverCreek, Ohio.

Have you noticed any lines in your city? Are you in one of them? I have to admit that I am totally off the hook, seeing as San Angelo has neither an Apple store nor an AT&T store that is shown as stocking iPhones; I got to sleep in until 8am this morning.

Wayne Schulz reporting in at the AT&T Corporate store in Middletown CT:

I arrived here about 9am (an hour after the store opened). The AT&T people say they received 30 total iPhones. There were approximately 10 remaining as of 9 am. My casual estimate of the line is about 25 to 30 people. Everyone was orderly and there is an AT&T person at the start of the line taking names. It is my guess that they will not make people wait in line only to find out there are no iPhones remaining (smart!).

Next stop - Apple Store in Westfarms Mall - West Hartford CT -

The line here was conservatively about 150 people long. The people at the front of the line said they’d been there since about 7:30 and when they arrived about 100 people were ahead of them.

A quick conversation with the Apple employee guarding the door went like this:

About how many phones are left so I’ll know whether to get at the end of the 150 person line?

I don’t know

How many people have been here?

I don’t know

Will you have enough for everyone in line?

I don’t know

Apparently training Apple employees for launch day was simple

— teach them those three words (I don’t know). The time probably would have been better spent teaching them about the activation software…. Hmm and to think their nicknames are “geniuses”….not very genius like OR customer friendly.

Boo. Hiss Apple. Definitely a highly negative customer experience at the West Farms Apple store. So much so that I immediately left after taking a few pictures.

There an article on Apple in today’s Hartford Courant that basically recapped my experiences at Westfarms Mall Apple. The reporter for the Courant got the same “I don’t know” idiot responses that I did.

Here’s the Hartford Courant story:

Frustration grows in Westfarms over iPhone

Westfarms Mall - Apple Store

Just when you thought you saw the end of the line at the Westfarms Mall in West Hartford, CT …there was a whole other line around the corner. Easily 150 people total at about 11:00 am.