14 DAY TRIAL // A college journalism student from Long Island reportedly emailed Steve Jobs about a problem she had with Apple's PR department. According to Gawker, the conversation ended with Jobs telling the student "Leave us alone."
Long Island University senior Chelsea Kate Isaacs, a 22-year old former hand model, reportedly emailed Jobs saying that her journalism professor had assigned her a story.
The story was on a new initiative at her college to buy iPads for all incoming students. Kate wanted to get a quote from Apple about the use of iPads in academic environments.
Kate could not get a response after leaving as many as six voice messages at Apple’s PR department, according to the report.
So Kate turned to Steve Jobs (Apple CEO) himself.
“Mr. 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's 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," Kate reportedly told Mr. Jobs in an email.
The student did not expect Jobs to respond, according to Gawker, even though Apple’s CEO is known to randomly answer to emails sent at [email protected].
“Our goals do not include helping you get a good grade,” Jobs wrote back. “Sorry.”
Angry at the CEO for not understanding that her request did not task Apple’s PR with elevating her status at her school, Kate reportedly emailed Jobs back, saying:
“I never said that your goal should be to ‘help me get a good grade’. Rather, I politely asked why your media relations team does not respond to emails, which consequently, decreases my chances of getting a good grade.”
“But, forget about my individual situation,” she added. “what about common courtesy, in general —- if you get a message from a client or customer, as an employee, isn't it your job to return the call? That's what I always thought. But I guess that's not one of your goals.”
Steve Jobs wouldn’t barge. Visibly not on the same wave length with Kate, the CEO fired back:
“Nope. We have over 300 million users and we can't respond to their requests unless they involve a problem of some kind. Sorry.”
The relentless student insisted that Jobs hear her out, and that she had no time to spare.
“You're absolutely right, and I do meet your criteria for being a customer who deserves a response:
1. I AM one of your 300 million users. 2. I DO have a problem; I need answers that only Apple Media Relations can answer.
Now, can they kindly respond to my request (my polite and friendly voice can be heard in the first 5 or 10 messages in their inbox). Please, I am on deadline.”
To Kate’s surprise (and everyone else’s for that matter) Jobs’ final response was:
“Please leave us alone.”
Isaacs assured Gawker Media that the email conversation was "100% real, authentic and unchanged."
A bunch of “technically-savvy” people working at Gawker reportedly looked over the email headers and concluded that they were legit, the blog network said.