Packer fan fired...for wearing a tie????

KilrB

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Pretty screwed up for sure.

If the guy is a sales man in Chicago I dont know what the hell he was thinking. Its kinda like showing up for your biggest sales event of the year and you drive right up front in another brand car.

I live in turd Vikings land were hatred runs deep and actual fan loyalty runs shallow. I have learned to never wear anything Packer related when purchasing something or trying to haggle. Even the guy behind the meat counter tossed boarder line insults at me last night (glad I was only passing by and not buying).

I am not saying any of its right, it just is.
 

armand34

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I am always choosing a peaceful path, I'm never in any altercations, and I would never probably wear packers stuff to my profession when 99% of the employees there are Chicago natives or Bears fans, that's just me...I'm respectful & professional enough not to provoke...I can understand the point the manager was making about conflicting promotions...still the owners sounds like a ******-bag even though both were wrong

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DTown SBrown

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Petty. Regardless of significance of the tie, the salesman knew what he was doing (ive done this type of thing before), and in contrast, this was not a business decision, this was a manager/ owner exerting his only method of control on a situation that was there to make him feel better as a bitter bears fan.

Regardless, the salesman, unless completely dense, had to know he would catch heat for it, if for no other reason than to not be selling any cars that day to anyone in IL. He also was warned, and weather he thought it would lead him to termination or not, he chose not to take it off, as a stand of principal or anything else.

With all that being said, I would have done the same thing. Living in an area and being the only one where I work, drink, go to school, etc as a PACKERS fan, I sport my gear with PRIDE! Fair weather fans do the crap that owner/ manager did, and had the bears won, I am sure that they would have found a way to make his Monday hell anyways.

Enjoy your new job salesman, hopefully for a dealership north of the border.
 

gbpackersgal

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UM WEAR YOUR PRIDE! PROVOKE!

Living in Chicago-land, we have been surrounded by Bears fans ALL SEASON and had to listen to all this STUPIDITY about a terrible team!

Now it's our turn to gloat! And I'm doing it all day every day by wearing my green and gold everywhere I go!
 

tmlfan3

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meh it's tough on this one. He's a car salesman. Personally I've worn jerseys and gear the day after big wins and whatever (including yesterday) but I don't work with customers for the most part and don't live in bear country. As a manager that would bug me too cuz you know he has 0 chance of selling a car that day simply because of that tie. That's where the difference is between that and if the bears won. It's not necessarily right, but that's how it is. Stuff like that is fine until you're actually hurting your business. Don't agree with him being fired for it but whatever.
 

7thFloorRA

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I would never wear tie with any team logo on it anywhere...ever. A simple green tie would have sufficed. The bears fans wearing bears ties, if in fact they did last week, also come off looking like clowns.
 

Murgen

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Yeah, bad idea to wear the tie. I can see why if he refused to remove it the dealership would have a case to fire him. Guess he didn't like the place anyway. Seems like he KNEW what would happen and wanted the publicity.
 

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Chicago car salesman keeps his Packers tie, loses his job

John Stone is a car salesman and big Packers fan. Webb Chevrolet in the Chicago suburb of Oak Lawn is an official sponsor of the Bears’ radio broadcasts. The dispute over Stone’s decision to wear a Packers tie to work at Webb Chevrolet on Monday led to Webb no longer working at Webb Chevrolet. Webb…
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Source: ProFootballTalk.com
 

ivo610

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if I was the car salesman I would have asked the manager if he wanted me to remove my boxers too lol.
 

SpartaChris

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Sorry, but the sales guy deserved to be fired. If the roles were reversed and this happened in Green Bay, we would all agree with the termination of the sales guy. The manager is right- The tie antagonizes their customers, and is just bad PR when you consider that dealership is a sponsor of Bears radio broadcasts. Regardless of the manager's personal feelings, it's a decision that had the potential to impact business.
 

Kitten

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It wasn't the brightest of ideas but it still didn't give the company grounds to terminate his employment. I think it's grounds for wrongful termination. I wonder if this guy has considered going to a lawyer, I say he has a case, IF he can prove that the tie was the reason for his termination. Or unless that tie was in violation of a dress code. The burden of proof would fall on him.
 

SpartaChris

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It wasn't the brightest of ideas but it still didn't give the company grounds to terminate his employment. I think it's grounds for wrongful termination. I wonder if this guy has considered going to a lawyer, I say he has a case, IF he can prove that the tie was the reason for his termination. Or unless that tie was in violation of a dress code. The burden of proof would fall on him.

Sure it did. The employee was asked to remove his tie or be fired, and was told it undermined the business relationship in the community by alienating their customers.

Most employee handbooks have language saying something to the effect of, "If you do anything that makes us look bad to our customers, we can fire you." This certainly falls into that category.

Keep in mind, we have an obvious bias as Packer fans. The reality is the business still has to operate in it's best interest, not necessarily in the interest of their employees.
 

SpartaChris

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WOW,this is America right?

Yes, but there is nothing un-American about this incident.

The guy chose to work for that dealership, and in doing so, agreed to follow their guidelines, which include some kind of employee code of conduct.

Wearing clothing that some could consider offensive (A Packers tie after beating the Bears in the biggest game of this generation falls under the offensive category) can and is grounds for termination. I mean, the guy might as well have worn a tie with a giant middle finger on it.

We're outraged because a fellow Packer fan lost his job for showing his green and gold pride, but the fact is he was out of line. Imagine if the reverse happened in Green Bay- We wouldn't even be having this conversation.
 

Kitten

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Sure it did. The employee was asked to remove his tie or be fired, and was told it undermined the business relationship in the community by alienating their customers.

Most employee handbooks have language saying something to the effect of, "If you do anything that makes us look bad to our customers, we can fire you." This certainly falls into that category.

Keep in mind, we have an obvious bias as Packer fans. The reality is the business still has to operate in it's best interest, not necessarily in the interest of their employees.

I agree with that, but if this guy wants to be a *****, he can still take it to court. They will then work out the legalities of whether not the company was withing the bounds of the law when they issued him the ultimatum to remove his tie or be fired. The question here was the company's actions legal whether it was in their handbook or not.

As you said, the company will argue that his actions were detrimental to the company. He was also being insubordinate to his employer. But it still comes down to whether or not it was lawful for the employer to demand removal of the tie or face termination of employment. I'm no lawyer, but I can see an argument either way.

If it were me personally, I would of just removed the tie to keep the peace or not of worn it at all.
 

JJP41

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Sure it did. The employee was asked to remove his tie or be fired, and was told it undermined the business relationship in the community by alienating their customers.

Most employee handbooks have language saying something to the effect of, "If you do anything that makes us look bad to our customers, we can fire you." This certainly falls into that category.

Keep in mind, we have an obvious bias as Packer fans. The reality is the business still has to operate in it's best interest, not necessarily in the interest of their employees.

In that case, anyone who works there and wears anything that is Cubs related should be fired as well. If you want to talk about insulting customers, it can't get any worse than reminding them of the biggest losers in all of sports.

And by the way.........:chisux:
 

SpartaChris

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I agree with that, but if this guy wants to be a *****, he can still take it to court. They will then work out the legalities of whether not the company was withing the bounds of the law when they issued him the ultimatum to remove his tie or be fired. The question here was the company's actions legal whether it was in their handbook or not.

As you said, the company will argue that his actions were detrimental to the company. He was also being insubordinate to his employer. But it still comes down to whether or not it was lawful for the employer to demand removal of the tie or face termination of employment. I'm no lawyer, but I can see an argument either way.

If it were me personally, I would of just removed the tie to keep the peace or not of worn it at all.

I agree about not wearing the tie at all. The sales guy wanted to be an as*hole, and it backfired.

That said, the only way he could bring a case for wrongful termination is if this his firing is more excessive than previously related incidents. For example, was someone else simply sent home in the past for a similar offense while he straight got the ax?

In the end it's probably better this guy just let it go. A lawsuit isn't going to be worth the headaches..
 

Kitten

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I agree about not wearing the tie at all. The sales guy wanted to be an as*hole, and it backfired.

That said, the only way he could bring a case for wrongful termination is if this his firing is more excessive than previously related incidents. For example, was someone else simply sent home in the past for a similar offense while he straight got the ax?

In the end it's probably better this guy just let it go. A lawsuit isn't going to be worth the headaches..

Agreed. The thing I was concerned about is somebody who would do that is somebody who would be likely to sue, or perhaps that was his goal to begin with.

If I were him, I'd let it go too. He's already been hired by another company so he's not out of a job and it's caught the attention of the media. He's had his 15 minutes of fame, thinking along those lines made me think this might of just been an attempt by him to get publicity.
 

Zeck180

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Packer Fan Fired from job....

Packers Fan Fired For Wearing Green Bay Tie to His Car Salesman Job In Chicago

John Stone is a Packers fan living in Chicago. Up until yesterday, he worked at Webb Chevrolet in south suburban Oak Lawn. When he showed up for work yesterday wearing a green and yellow Green Bay tie, his boss, Jerry Roberts, told him he could take it off or he was fired. I guess no one told Roberts that spring training is only a month away.

Packers Fan Fired For Wearing Green Bay Tie to His Car Salesman Job In Chicago | The Big Lead
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Apparently the dealership had a contract with the Bears which didn't let employee's wear anything outside of Chicago Bears, but John Stone didn't know this and it wasn't in his contract of what he can and can't wear. (Heard that on ESPN). But still really?
 

IluvGB

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If it goes to court.. it will ulitmately boil down to is if the Judge is a Packer fan....or a bear fan!
 

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