A journalism student from Long Island University is all butt-hurt because Steve Jobs was mean to her via email. Techcrunch is uncertain how legit this whole story is, so while they're doing their fact-checking, I'll fill you in on the alleged details. The student attempted to contact Apple's Media Relations department to get a quote for an article she's writing. When she didn't hear back from the department, she took it upon herself to email Steve Jobs himself (whose email address is pretty widely known) with an incredibly entitled message. Some gems from the student, Ms. Chelsea Isaacs, include the following (emphasis mine):

The "Sent via Blackberry from T-Mobile" is a nice touch when emailing the CEO of Apple. Basically, we have a college student who feels that the media relations department from one of the most successful companies in the world is obligated to supply her with a quote for an assignment she's working on that's due the next day. Said student is inexplicably shocked when Apple's media relations department does not return her call in a timely fashion -- I'm guessing they're busy sifting through the thousands of other calls and emails they get from newspapers, magazines, bloggers, and countless other students who are in the exact same position as Ms. Isaacs. But oh well, that's just me being rational. So the student decides to email Steve Jobs without bothering to clear her non-Apple signature at the bottom (not saying she has to kiss ass here, but I'm guessing that if you're trying to win some sympathy from the CEO of a multi-billion dollar enterprise, the least you could do is delete a mention to one of his product's competitors).

Steve Jobs allegedly responded briefly and awesomely:

A bit of a dick move, sure, but seeing as how Ms. Issacs repeatedly mentioned that she expected a response from Media Relations in order to get a good grade on her paper, one can see how Mr. Jobs honed in and pointed out, in a curt fashion, that Apple isn't entitled to help her out with her assignment, especially after the ridiculous and pompous email she sent.

Sure, it would have been nice for the company to help out a frazzled undergrad student with a looming deadline, but that doesn't always happen. I remember being in college and contacting tons of companies for an internship project. Less than half of them responded and were willing to help me out. I understood that these people were busy or simply decided that it wasn't worth their time to humor a student who was trying to get a good grade. Ms. Isaacs clearly does not follow the same path of logic that other, more rational, students do.

She followed up Mr. Jobs' response with more drivel (emphasis mine):

While she didn't explicitly say that their goal should be to help her get a good grade, her repeated mentions of needing the quote in order to get a good grade pretty much imply that Apple should help her get an A by returning her phone call and helping her out. Secondly, are you kidding me? Her "isn't it your job to return the call?" expectations are profoundly ridiculous. Maybe in an ideal world, we wouldn't have to wait 30 minutes calling customer service when we need help, nor would tables at our favorite restaurants be booked, making us wait for a free spot, nor would we have to worry about not receiving a call back from a hugely successful corporation so they can pad our stupid assignment with a fluff quote. But we don't live in this ideal world, we live in the real world, and in the real world, Ms. Isaacs, you don't always get a call back. Deal with it.

Mr. Jobs' response seemed reasonable and less dickish than the previous one:

"Nope. We have over 300 million users and we can't respond to their requests unless they involve a problem of some kind. Sorry."

That's not so bad, right? It's not like she called repeatedly to say that her iPad had caught on fire or that her Macbook Pro went rogue and killed her cat. She wanted a quote for her assignment. That's not so high on the Apple priority list.

Ms. Isaacs still didn't get it:

"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.

I appreciate your help."

For crying out loud, really? First of all, no, she doesn't have answers only Apple Media Relations can answer. She wants a response, but she doesn't need a response. If she's desperately waiting for a stupid quote from Apple to finish her article, she's not a very good journalist. The success of her piece shouldn't depend on one measly generic throwaway quote from an Apple representative.

Secondly, she's essentially asking Steve Jobs to ping Media Relations on her behalf, collect a quote or response from them, and deliver it to her in an email response within her deadline. The balls on this girl.

Mr. Jobs issued a final response that summed up what I've been thinking since Ms. Isaac's initial email:


So now Chelsea Isaacs feels outraged that the CEO of Apple didn't treat her like a unique and special flower and lavish her with quotes and resources for her article that may or may not grace the pages of Long Island University's established school newspaper. Sure, you could argue that Steve Jobs acted like a dick and should have been a bit more polite in telling her that sometimes big companies don't have time to accommodate the requests of everyone who contacts them, and that when mommy and daddy love each other very much, they call the stork up and have a baby delivered, and that's where babies come from. Also, Santa Claus isn't real, but that doesn't mean you should let go of the spirit of Christmas. (Preferably all of this is explained via hand puppets.)

Whether or not Steve Jobs acted like a douche in his email responses, I think he gave Ms. Isaacs a much-deserved kick in the pants. Unless she wants to become the next Nancy Grace, a sense of entitlement and ignorance won't get her very far in journalism when she needs to reach out to various companies and sources and ask them for a favor.

What do you think of how Steve Jobs handled his responses to Ms. Isaacs?