Steve Jobs was known for not tolerating tardiness among his employees. However, one employee who arrived late received a car from him. This is recounted by a former Apple employee.
Steve Jobs hated it when everyone else was late. It went so far that he would start important meetings without some participants because they did not show up on time. However, when a secretary showed up late due to a broken car, Jobs came up with something special.
A new car so the employee would not be late to the office again
What a fascinating anecdote! The story about the late secretary comes from Ron Givens, who worked as a quality manager at Apple for 5 years. The magazine Applesfera.com reports this. One day, according to Givens, Jobs’ employee arrived late to the office.
Givens recounted how well Steve Jobs’ secretary worked at that time. Her name is not known, nor are further details, except for the fact that she was a single mother. However, on one occasion, she arrived late to the office. When she entered, Steve Jobs was already waiting for her.
He asked the secretary why she was late. She apologized and explained that she had trouble starting her car. Steve Jobs nodded and let the matter rest without commenting further. This seemed surprising to Givens, as Jobs usually did not tolerate tardiness from his employees and colleagues.
How did it end? However, some time later, Steve Jobs appeared with keys for a car for the secretary and said, “Here, so you never come late again.” The vehicle was a Jaguar. The company Jaguar primarily manufactures luxury models. Thus, Givens recounted (via wral.com):
[She was a] single mother, a good secretary. She said, ‘My car won’t start.’ That afternoon [Jobs] came into her office, tossed her a set of keys to a brand new Jaguar and said, ‘Here, don’t be late again.’ He always did things like that, surprising people.”
How the employee reacted to this is unknown. Nor is it known whether she was ever late for work again.
The relationship between Bill Gates and Steve Jobs had its ups and downs over many years until the death of the former Apple CEO. Even a betrayal from Microsoft did not change the mutual respect between the two visionaries: Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were fierce rivals who respected each other despite a major “betrayal” by Microsoft
