When Steve Jobs worked at Atari, he mistakenly thought that a fruit diet would prevent body odor. For this reason, he was banished to the night shift, which he had to spend alone.
There are so some surprising facts about the visionary Steve Jobs, who passed away in 2011. The Apple founder was known, among other things, for his strange behavior towards employees, who for example lost their jobs multiple times.
Applicants were also not safe from his treacherous tricks during the interview. Before founding Apple, Steve Jobs himself was a regular employee who worked for Atari in 1974. During that time, his lack of personal hygiene caused problems with colleagues.
Steve Jobs had to work nights at Atari due to poor hygiene
Why did Steve Jobs forgo personal care? After dropping out of Reed College in Portland, Steve Jobs went to Atari in 1974 and worked there as a technician for the console and video game manufacturer.
During this time, Jobs followed a special diet. He almost exclusively ate fruits. He mistakenly assumed that this fruit diet, which mainly consisted of fruits, would prevent body odors.
Believing that he could forgo personal hygiene with this special diet, Steve Jobs no longer showered regularly. He also stopped using deodorant. His body odor became very unpleasant, much to the chagrin of colleagues who worked with him.
How did Atari solve the hygiene problem? Allan Alcorn, Steve Jobs’ supervisor at the time, did not want to do without the services of the young technician. He had no choice but to ban Jobs to the night shift. Steve Jobs spent this time alone, without other colleagues.
However, Jobs did not last long in the night shift. He planned a spiritual journey to India and wanted to leave Atari for that. Alcorn did not want to simply let the young Jobs go and made him a proposal.
Steve Jobs was to fly to Germany at Atari’s expense to solve a grounding problem with Atari’s American power supplies in the German power grid. After that task was completed, he could then continue to India. Jobs agreed and set off on the journey.
What happened next? After a short stay in India, Steve Jobs returned to Atari in the fall of 1974. Together with his colleague Steve Wozniak, Jobs created the video game Breakout, which became the second biggest success for the game developer after Atari’s first success, Pong.
Just under two years later, Jobs and Steve Wozniak left their employer Atari to found their own company, Apple, together with Ronald Wayne as the 3rd founding member on the historic date of April 1, 1976.
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