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September 18th, 2010, 14:40 GMT · By

Steve Jobs Fends Off College Student Saying 'Leave Us Alone'

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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 sjobs@apple.com.

“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.

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READER COMMENTS:


Comment #1 by: Steve on 18 Sep 2010, 17:11 UTC reply to this comment

What else is new, Jobs is a pompous d**k for no apparent reason - we all know that...
Someone who's got the cojones to pull an iPhone 4G stunt and mess with several hundred customers (I think, is it?) and blatantly lie to public that everything is peachy, obviously doesn't have any problems in telling a mere COLLEGE STUDENT to piss off...
I continually lose respect for that man and his company with every new article...
So sad. And so unneccessary.


Comment #2 by: GetOverItDarl on 18 Sep 2010, 17:48 UTC reply to this comment

Well, she got a story, didn't she?

Seriously, if it costs $50 to answer a helpdesk call, it probably costs $1000 to generate a vetted-by-PR answer and $10,000 to get a genuine-from-the-CEO answer.

I'm an Apple customer and I want them to spend their time building great products, not sucking up to students.

Leave Apple alone.


Comment #3 by: SomethingSmellsFishy on 19 Sep 2010, 08:42 UTC reply to this comment

Fake?


Comment #4 by: SomethingSmellsFishy on 19 Sep 2010, 08:46 UTC reply to this comment

Oh, yeah, Gawker.. They own Gizmodo, which stole the prototype iPhone 4. Then they didn't get invited to the Apple event. Hence, the grudge - they try to publish as many negative stories about Apple as possible. So, thanks Gawker, for more FUD..


Comment #5 by: Joe on 19 Sep 2010, 19:03 UTC reply to this comment

She needs to go back to Journalism 1A. She should have told Jobs who she was, what she wanted, and asked for a quote. He would have given her one. Then she could have thanked him and advised him of her previous requests to the PR department.


Comment #6 by: kin on 21 Sep 2010, 05:01 UTC reply to this comment

I hope she failed that class.


Comment #7 by: tadinport on 21 Sep 2010, 15:46 UTC reply to this comment

Let's stay with the fact:

1) First, Jobs is an acid head. Jobs said, "his LSD experiences (was) 'one of the two or three most important things [he had] done in [his] life."

Source: Markoff, John (2005). What the Dormouse Said: How the 60s Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry. The Penguin Group. pg. xviii–xix. ISBN 0-670-03382-0.

2) Institutions of learning spend millions and millions of dollars on the products that Apple peddles.

3) Jobs dropped out of collge afer just one semester.

My take:

Who the hell does he think he is treating a college student like that...one is who is merely attempting to learn. Colleges should immediately stop purchasing anything from Apple, and students though think twice before purchasing his computers, iphones, itouches...whatever.

Comment #7.1 by: ChrisCA on 23 Sep 2010, 20:36 GMT

@tadinport
"Who the hell does he think he is treating a college student like that
Better yet, who the hell does she think she is demanding a response from the CEO?


Comment #8 by: Shane on 24 Sep 2010, 12:54 UTC reply to this comment

As a journalism student as well, she approached it all wrong. The PR department is not required to get back to you. You hope they do, but you never really know. She should've then tried to contact a manager at a local Apple store to help her with her answers. I am sure they are trained just as well and could handle a couple questions. If she continues her career like this, no one will want to get back to her.

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