The Nanny

It was the fall of 1984 and time for my annual performance review. Steve was very pleased with all that was going on. He wanted to give me a very large raise. I surprised him by telling him that I didn’t need a raise, but that I had something else in mind. He asked me what it was.

The Mac was launched on January 24, 1984. On May 1 of the same year my wife Joyce gave birth to our twins, Alex and Blake. This gave us four little kids and I was very, very busy in my job. Taking care of infant twins, plus two others under the age of 5 was a challenging and tiring assignment for any young mother. I wanted to also be a great husband and father. But I was working very long hours – often from 7:30AM until 1:30AM and I was also traveling extensively. How could I help Joyce? Not with more money, but with a nanny paid for by Apple. This is what I proposed to Steve. His only question was, “How much do they get paid?” I made up a number based on a raw hunch and he immediately agreed. We would get a nanny and Apple would pay for it.

At that time we had a wonderful, mature babysitter who had just graduated from high school. She needed money for college. So she agreed to become our full-time nanny. We established a daily schedule. She would come for four hours during our morning “rush hour” and then four more hours during our late afternoon, early evening “rush hour” of meals, commotion, baby care, etc. This allowed her to work eight hours everyday. And it was a true Godsend for us. Our nanny was placed on Apple payroll and received full benefits for the period of time in which she helped our family. She lived with her parents a few blocks away from our house, saved all of the money she earned as a nanny, and thereby paid for her college education.

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Thanks Steve for our nanny!