It was just a year ago when Sam Sung—or at least his business card—became a viral sensation when a visitor to an Apple store in Canada noticed the interesting name of the specialist assisting a family member.

CNBC has learned that Sam Sung, a one-time specialist at an Apple store in Vancouver, hasn't worked at the giant tech company for months.

You may not have known that they were together, but Apple and Sam Sung have parted ways.

This week, this CNBC writer called the number on Sung's business card to confirm Sung's departure. We reached Apple's Pacific Centre, saying we were from CNBC and speaking with an employee who gave his name as John. It played like a scene from Abbott and Costello.

"Hi, I'd like to speak to Sam."



"Sam who?"

"Sam Sung."

"Oh. Sam Sung no longer works at Apple."

"Where did Sam Sung go?"

"He decided to move on. He may have wanted to do something else."

Sung was said to be very friendly to Huffington Post reporter Andree Lau before Thanksgiving 2012 when she visited the store to confirm his identity. "He said he was aware of the Internet interest but couldn't say much because of Apple's strict media policy," Lau wrote.

Apple declined to comment to CNBC on the status of the man who bears the name of its biggest rival.

At first, Sung did not respond to a message on LinkedIn. Once this story went live, though, we found our way to him.



"Want to know where [Sam Sung] went?" tweeted Victoria Welsby, a Vancouver-based headhunter and recruiter. "We stole him. He is at Holloway Schulz."

Holloway Schulz is a corporate recruiting firm.

Welsby put us in touch with Sung who said he would prefer not to comment for the time being out of respect for his current (and former) employer.

Proud of the accomplishment, Welsby offered the story this headline: "Sam Sung ends relationship with Apple to join top recruitment firm."

This got us thinking: What would be the best worst possible names for an Apple employee?

Here's our running list:

• Sam Sung

• Ann Droid (via Jack Baker)

• Mike Rosoft (via @jaslusher)

• Eric Son (via @donohuechris)



• Wendy Sfone (Windows Phone, heavy accent)

• Galaxie Esfore (via @AllDaveAllDay)

• Elle Gee (via Bobby Isaacson)



• Moe Terola







—By CNBC's Eli Langer. Follow him on Twitter at @EliLanger. CNBC's Ryan Ruggiero contributed to this story.

