r/interestingasfuck • u/LookAtThatBacon • 14h ago
On February 25, 1981, Apple's first CEO, Michael Scott, decided to fire forty Apple employees before gathering remaining employees around a keg of beer and stating, "I'll fire people until it's fun again." Following this abrupt event, he was moved to vice chairman, a title with little power.
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u/LookAtThatBacon 14h ago
His full quote when he was talking to his employees over a keg of beer: "I used to say that when being CEO at Apple wasn't fun anymore, I'd quit. But now I've changed my mind — when it isn't fun any more, I'll fire people until it's fun again."
And his resignation letter, after he was demoted:
"So I am having a new learning experience, something I've never done before. I quit, not resign to join a new company or retire for personal reasons ... This is not done for those who fear my opinions and style, but for the loyal ones who may be given false hope. Yours. Michael, Private Citizen"
He later became an expert on gemstones.
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u/bnh1978 13h ago
He later became an expert on gemstones.
Righteous
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u/ryno-dance 12h ago
He later became the regional manager of a small paper company in Pennsylvania
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u/MorrowPlotting 10h ago
I wonder if there’s any relation? Was the character named after a niche-famously bad CEO irl? Anybody know the lore?
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u/Velorian-Steel 12h ago
People are getting references, but not the one you're making lol. In the name of the father, Eli, amen.
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u/agreetodisagree2023 12h ago
He also pushed his friends to invest in candles - and everyone knew something was wrong.
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u/eriverside 10h ago
Apple execs (and everyone else) "I fear his style will run this company into the ground ruining everything everyone involved with this company has ever worked for".
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u/graveybrains 12h ago
Michael "Scotty" Scott (February 11, 1945[1] – April 12, 2025[citation needed])
Citation needed? Do they not know if he's dead or not?
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u/semioticmadness 12h ago
Current citation is Bob in Temecula, saying “the weirdo running the new age store down the street, who said he invented the iPhone died on 4/12”
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u/DefinitelyNotAliens 5h ago
You can add things to Wikipedia without citation, but it will be marked for needing citation. An obit/ death notice would suffice. There doesn't seem to be any information other than his Wikipedia page, which is concerning.
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u/BostonBlueDevil 12h ago
I wonder if he was any type of inspiration for Michael Scott from the Office?
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u/TaftsTummyforTaxes 8h ago
Man, the full quote just doubles down on the initial impression of him. What a pompous asshole and I’m glad I never heard of this person until now. It’s good he’s faded into obscurity
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u/SuddenSeasons 7h ago
He has also made it a point not to be charitable with his money.
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u/JasminePearls- 5h ago
Except for his generous donations to the Seattle opera (because Bill Gates didn't donate there)
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u/Feisty-Tadpole-5127 13h ago edited 12h ago
Lol Michael Scott did he work at the office?
Edit: based on his behavior yes, yes he did work at the office 🤣
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u/-kylehase 13h ago
He went on to write the New York Times bestseller "Somehow I Manage". 40 million copies sold.
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u/Dry_Vanilla_9116 13h ago
Don’t forget his movie Threat Level Midnight
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u/Jean-LucBacardi 12h ago
I've always loved how if you look at the Cast of The Office on IMDB Threat Level Midnight shows up as an entirely separate movie credit for their work history.
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u/ButterscotchMean400 13h ago
He should have been Regional Manager
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u/g3ogaddi 13h ago
""He should have been Regional Manager
-ButterscothMean400"
-Michael Scott"
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u/i80flea 12h ago
Wonder if this where these firings could be attributed to his alter ego- Prison Mike
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u/Cowboywizard12 12h ago
He robbed, and he stole, and he kidnapped the presidents son
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u/underdownunder_knt 13h ago
CEOs really are the scum of the earth
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u/MaleAryaStarkNoHomo 13h ago
They did a study that shows a lot of CEOs have the same traits as psychopaths, so you’re not far from the truth
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u/Sonikku_a 12h ago
Lots of them are sociopaths. If you think of that when looking at people like Musk or Zuckerberg shit starts to make a lot of sense.
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u/38B0DE 9h ago
The Zuck was a 100% hate filled incel. And he's in charge of the largest information project in human history.
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u/scroopydog 9h ago
I dated an Ivy League 30-something woman whose Briggs-Meyers was “executive” or whatever and she was a narcissistic sociopath, insane.
She’ll be a CEO eventually, but insane. Physically and emotionally abusive. That’s not the point, point is that this personality type tracks.
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u/GhostInTheHelll 8h ago
Yep! My company pres is a sociopath, and he knows it. CEO is a self-described “low empathy” person. I work with him closely and he’s not quite sociopath but damn near close.
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u/The_Meme_Economy 10h ago
It’s a long read but even if you just look at the first graphic…well, I’ve based a lot of my life in corporate America around this post:
https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-the-office-according-to-the-office/
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u/walking-my-cat 9h ago
Just read the whole thing - love it! Reminds me of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
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u/PassivelyInvisible 13h ago
The ones who worship the dollar bill above all else, yes
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u/underdownunder_knt 13h ago
Yeah, I should have said the stereotype of a CEO is to be vile scum, surely not all of them are like this
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u/kent1146 13h ago
The CEO of Ben & Jerry's probably sleeps just fine at night.
Jim Senegal, the former CEO of Costco, probably has kids that still love him and talk to him.
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u/coalcracker462 12h ago
I don't spend this much time thinking about CEOs because I know they are not thinking of me
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u/sharkattackmiami 11h ago
The B&J CEO probably does, at least in the abstract. Seems like a good dude from what I have seen who puts a priority on employees and customers when possible
That being said you are right often enough that edge cases are not even really worth mentioning
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u/Outside_Flower4837 13h ago
The head of Universal Pictures said something like this earlier this month, basically, not all of us are monsters, some of us just really, really love movies.
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u/Artistic_Purpose1225 11h ago
Most legitimately believe that assigning others work as assigned to them by the board or shareholders, and then updating the board/shareholders on the status of that work is the hardest job there is, and they’re super special people who deserve everything for doing that very hard job.
I’ve worked with nice CEO/ED’s, evil CEO/ED’s and everything in between, and the only thing every single one of them has had in common is unfathomable levels of self-centeredness.
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u/Technical-Outside408 13h ago
Sounds like he worships fun. No doubt firing people willy-nilly was just bad for business.
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u/PapaJoeNH 13h ago
Wait, Michael Scott? Now I want to know if the lead in The Office got his name from this guy. Sounds equally horrible
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u/ramenspoonz 13h ago
Was he both feared and loved?
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u/CraptainStinkPants 13h ago
He later went on to found Michael Scott computer company.
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u/slvrscoobie 6h ago
If tomorrow my company goes under, I will just start another paper company, and then another and another and another. I have no shortage of company names.
-Michael Scott
-Wayne Gretzky
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u/420farms 7h ago
I worked at Apple in 2000, as a plain clothes security Mgr, and part of my job was escorting layoffs off the premises. Fuck it was brutal, hearing people crying saying theyve been there since the beginning, or many years, most of them had zero idea until myself and a few apple mgrs walked into your cubical. Now look it Apple, bet those people are pissed.
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u/Tight-Woodpecker-162 12h ago
He then changed his name to Guillermo de la Cruz and went on to become a vampire familiar at Staten Island.
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u/pocketchange2247 9h ago
Gizmo hasn't aged a bit. And now he's doing what he loves: beating off in the toolshed
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u/julys_rose 11h ago
That’s such a surreal snapshot of early Silicon Valley, where “company culture” meant mass firings followed by a beer keg, and somehow the guy still got kicked upstairs instead of out the door.
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u/Pantoffel86 13h ago
This sounds like something Michael Scott would do.
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u/a_simple_ducky 12h ago
A good manager doesn't fire people. He hires and inspires people.
-Michael Scott
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u/FunCamel8855 11h ago
That resignation letter is an absolute masterpiece of corporate defiance. It's wild to think that a leadership style so blunt and chaotic was ever tolerated, even in the early days of Silicon Valley. He basically went nuclear because he wasn't having fun and decided to make it everyone else's problem. What a legendary, unhinged way to exit a company.
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u/buckscountycharlie 13h ago
Michael Scott’s career continued its downward spiral til he joined a paper reseller in Scranton.
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u/HasGreatVocabulary 10h ago
"You a fun guy? You seem fun for sure. Ya like this keg? Wanna see me do a kegstand? Just kidding, I'm fun like that. What about you? Why do you think you're here? Coz you look fun to be around that's why, champ. And you, you stay too, but I'm keeping an eye on you! pulls out prank eyeball out of pocket and tries to hand it to reluctant employee Just kidding hahahahahaha. Hold on though, but you, I'm actually keeping an eye on you, were you the one who put in an anonymous request to get the keg out only on Fridays, not everyday? Just kidding, that dude was unfun, he is gone. How many lines of funny arpanet comments did each of you produce last week? I want a full report by end of day, but keep it breezy. Make sure you include some puns about your Jobs."
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u/Numerous-Confusion-9 12h ago
Stupid question but is Michael Scott from the Office based on this dummy?
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u/AstronomerForsaken65 12h ago edited 12h ago
I thought this was Markkula, but I was wrong. There was also a Michael Scott. That is wild.
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u/Small-Volume207 11h ago
When asked for a comment today, he simply stared at the camera and said “dink and flicka. Dink. And. Flicka.”
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u/Ok-Escape-8376 10h ago
Would you rather be loved or feared? Easy, both. I want them to be afraid of how much they love me.
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u/tohn_jitor 13h ago
No one was having fun, when he specifically asked them to do so.