Tuesday, September 21, 2010, 7:10:26 AM | Toni Bowers<\/p>\n
In a blog called The grouchy side of Steve Jobs, Mike Krumboltz tells the story of Long Island University journalism student Chelsea Kate Isaacs and an unfortunate email exchanges with Steve Jobs.<\/p>\n
It seems Isaacs had tried repeatedly to call Apple\u2019s PR department to get a quote for a class project she was working on regarding the iPad\u2019s use in the classroom. When she failed in that endeavor, she emailed Jobs directly.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s her email:<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Jobs, I humbly ask why Apple is so wonderfully attentive to the needs of students, whether it be with the latest, greatest invention or the company\u2019s helpful customer service line, and yet, ironically, the Media Relations Department fails to answer any of my questions which are, as I have repeatedly told them, essential to my academic performance.\u201d<\/p>\n
His answer:<\/p>\n
\u201cOur goals do not include helping you get a good grade. Sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
I fail to see the issue here. Was Jobs a little curt? Perhaps, but I have to say, \u201cGrouch away Steve!\u201d<\/p>\n
(And no, I don\u2019t own an iPad or a Mac so I\u2019m not speaking from some kind of blind Apple love here. I\u2019m just a firm advocate of crabbiness when and if the situation calls for it.)<\/p>\n
I could be a little biased (and maybe a little bitter) after eight years toiling in the savage, war-torn land of Blogville, but here\u2019s the deal: First of all, she didn\u2019t \u201chumbly\u201d ask anything. She was being sarcastic by nature of the very wording of the email. She was inherently criticizing a perceived shortcoming in the way the man\u2019s company is run. Her email was snarky so why should his response be any less so?<\/p>\n
And, really, did she expect the CEO of a multinational company with over $42 billion in annual sales to go scold his PR department for not taking time to have a thoughtful conversation with a student trying to ace Journalism 101? And what does it say about Miss Isaacs perceived value as the center of the universe that she would expect Jobs to apologize for his PR team\u2019s apparent disregard for her needs when his company serves a bajillion customers?<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t stop there of course. Isaacs emailed Jobs again, clarifying that she wasn\u2019t looking for the company\u2019s help in getting a good grade, she just wanted a comment. Jobs replied: \u201cWe have over 300 million users and we can\u2019t respond to their requests unless they involve a problem of some kind. Sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Personally I admire his restraint in this attempt to add some perspective to Issac\u2019s life view. He probably should have begun with this reply and maybe he could have avoided being demonized all over the web. Of course, Isaacs wrote back, explaining that she was an Apple customer with a problem \u2014 the PR department wouldn\u2019t talk to her.<\/p>\n
At this point I would have slammed my head against my monitor about ten times and just let it go. But I guess Jobs lacks the supreme self-control that I have, because he replied to her: \u201cPlease leave us alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Krumboltz\u2019s blog also relays another instance of Jobs\u2019 apparent email rudeness with a story a customer who wrote to Jobs to complain about the new iTunes logo, which he believed isn\u2019t as good as the old one. Jobs\u2019 reply: \u201cWe disagree.\u201d<\/p>\n
Customers and readers have the advantage of getting to see only the end-results of complex processes. Sometimes they forget the months of work that came before it. They often don\u2019t take in mind the multitude of details involved in giant tech undertakings. So for someone to complain about the look of a logo is like a patient who has undergone complicated heart surgery that has saved his life and then asking his surgeon why the scar isn\u2019t smaller.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, our society breeds in people the attitude that everyone else should consider them as important as they consider themselves. Sorry, it doesn\u2019t work that way. It would be nice if Jobs\u2019 emails helped that young lady learn some much-needed life perspective but I\u2019m afraid that she, and much of the media, has instead defined her as the victim.<\/p>\n
Tuesday, September 21, 2010, 7:10:26 AM | Toni Bowers In a blog called The grouchy side of Steve Jobs, Mike Krumboltz tells the story of Long Island University journalism student Chelsea Kate Isaacs and an unfortunate email exchanges with Steve … Continue reading