My work colleague used to clean Jobs' windows. For the first few years, he'd really only ever dealt with the wife, Mrs. Jobs, and hadn't thought anything of her surname. Apparently, she was pleasant enough.
One year, Steve was home.
'He had a Van Gogh on the wall right by a set windows that we had to clean...'
Knowing that my colleague is not an art connoisseur, I'd asked, 'How'd you know it was a Van Gogh?'
'Well, he came into the room as we were removing the painting from the wall & he began screaming at us not to touch the art as it was a Van Gogh & very valuable. We put the painting back, but still had to protect it, so we covered it with a drop cloth. Jobs came back into the room & screamed some more.'
My colleague gave Jobs three options: to remove it, to cover it, or to not clean that set of windows. I can't now remember what Jobs chose.
The following year Jobs was there at the house again when the window cleaners came & was again being a bit difficult to deal with. My colleague responded this time by being rude to him. Small wonder, he was never called back to clean windows for Mr. and Mrs. Jobs again. A blessing in disguise, I'd say.
Or he could have sliced it with his squeegee ala Steve Wynn. I love Van Gogh by the way. He's a favorite. It seems the hard asses of the world do better in business, but who'd want to live like that?
ReplyDeleteI know!
DeleteCan Gogh is a fave of mine as well. The Van Gogh Museum I'm A'dam is, as you might imagine, amazing. I wonder what piece Jobs owned. I would have asked, but I don't think my colleague would remember.
Why oh why does our society reward nastiness?
ReplyDeleteI hear you. It's a question often asked...
DeleteYou'd think that he would have wanted them to be careful, hence removing the painting from their cleaning. But some people just don't think, do they?
ReplyDeleteYeah, I was wondering why Jobs had not removed the art prior to the cleaners' arrival. Who knows, maybe he wanted to bellow, 'That's a Van Gogh!' to any and all.
DeleteClean your own windows, Jobs!
ReplyDelete-probably the one thing he'd have been horrible at doing.
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