In the early iChatAV days...Steve Jobs called me “fuckchop”

http://gklst.tumblr.com/post/24870582043/in-the-early-ichatav-days-one-of-the-many-things-steve

by reubeneli • 14 years ago

14 6 14 years ago

gklst.tumblr.com

Announced on Geeklist - “In the early iChatAV days, one of the many things Steve Jobs called me was a “fuckchop”. When I got to iPod, I thought it would make a nice title.” - Andy Grignon

wyclif• 14 years ago

This post failed to answer the one question I had while reading it: why did Steve Jobs call him this?

chrissanz• 14 years ago

that's a good question! you can ask directly on his link http://geekli.st/agrignon/micro/16528

taligent• 14 years ago

That was my first question.

My second question was if that wasn't the only thing Steve called him then what on earth was he doing wrong ?

agrignon• 14 years ago

Good questions - here ya go :

Why did I get called a fuckchop? Scott Forstall had these meetings with Steve every Tuesday, where Scott and team gave updates on things Steve wanted to know about. Sometimes these were fun, sometimes not. (imagine a small room full of anxious people.. [execs, UI guys, engineers] getting a call from steve's admin saying he was on his way. 'oh, and he's just coming back from the dentist, not in a good mood') This day in particular started light, with Steve laughing/incredulous about this insult he was called or had heard "fuckchop", and wtf did that mean anyway. (this is the way back machine here, so it's fuzzy) I was up to show what would become iChatAV, very early days. That still didn't excuse a bad demo. We talked about a couple things, and then I went to my office to get the party started. A few seconds in to the demo, my mic went dead - I could hear/see them, they could see but not hear me. Trying to debug during a demo is a rook move, but I did it anyway. He got agitated, and said something to the effect of "I think I've figured it out... you're a fuckchop!". It was meant to be funny.. or at least that's I say when I cry myself to sleep at night.

What was I doing wrong? Well, plenty I'm sure! Anyone who had any dealings with Steve at any point eventually incurred his wrath. Just the way it was. You didn't get to that point however by being an idiot (or, 'fuckchop'). Steve always pushed the envelope, and that guaranteed you were going to fail at some point. That's good! If you don't fail, you're not trying hard enough. However, chalking up failure with a simple "oh well"... that's bad! He wanted you to take failing seriously. Or maybe he was having a bad day. Either way, you got the business.

chapel• 14 years ago

I work for Geekli.st and was honestly surprised to see some of the achievements Andy Grignon was apart of. I honestly feel that is is people like him, not well known, but an important part of creating some of the things we love and use every day. Everyone hears about the big names, but it are the people you don't hear about that make stuff happen.

I also have some invites if anyone is wanting to get into the beta. It will work even if you have signed up and are waiting for beta.

http://geekli.st/chapel/invite/80F1354E49

stefanhoth• 14 years ago

I'm impressed by his achievements, too and like the way Geeklist surfaces such people.

But if you want to get into Geeklist better take my invite code, it's WAY better http://geekli.st/stefanhoth/invite/992C6CFAE8

In the early iChatAV days...Steve Jobs called me “fuckchop”

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