By now, most everybody has heard about the Chicago-area car salesman who was fired because he wore a Green Bay Packers necktie to work on Monday. John Stone got a raw deal. There was a better way to handle this. Since he didn't want to take the tie off, why not just tell him to go home and come back the next day?
The reason he wore the tie in the first place was to honor his recently-deceased grandmother, who was a huge Packers fan. Stone was one of the top salespeople at a Chevrolet dealership in suburban Chicago. That didn't seem to matter. Stone's boss figured that having a salesman wear a Packers tie might alienate potential customers, many of whom are probably avid Bears fans. Apparently, the boss reasoned that the tie would be bad for business because shoppers might perceive it as a means of rubbing it in since the Bears lost to Green Bay in the NFC Championship game on Sunday. In addition, the dealership has several advertising campaigns featuring the Bears.
To me, it's unimaginable that somebody's allegiance to a sports team could end up with that person losing a job. How ludicrous is that?
Stone, the father of two, won't be out of work for long. The day after his firing, he was offered a job from a rival Chevy dealership. The rival dealership couldn't resist making an offer after being inundated with phone calls. These calls all but guaranteed a substantial boost in sales for that dealership -- but only if Stone was hired.
As of early Wednesday morning, Stone had not accepted the job offer, but is interested and was scheduled to meet with the rival dealership's general manager soon. In the meantime, Stone has been contacted by his former boss and was invited to come back. Stone said no thanks.
But that's not all there is to this story, especially if there's any truth to the buzz going around ChiTown. Rumor has it that Stone will get an all-expenses paid trip to Dallas for Super Bowl XLV, which includes choice tickets to the game. And of course those tickets would be in the Packers section.
How's that for retribution?
Sounds pretty good to me.
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