On today’s installation of The Internet Is Not To Be Trifled With, a Honda salesman found himself without a job earlier this month after posting a TikTok proudly proclaiming to have overcharged a single mom $10,000 on a new car sale. While the story was entirely made-up, the online blowback targeted towards the dealership was great enough to get him fired.
A man identified by CBS 58 Wisconsin as Kenny Rua, who goes by the TikTok username @KennySelllss, published a video earlier this year with overlay text reading, “You look happier… thanks, I just sold a single mom a car $10,000 over sticker.” The video, which has since been deleted, garnered hundreds of thousands of views and drew the ire of many commenters, according to Automotive News.
Zeigler Honda of Racine, the dealership at the center of the drama, also received its fair share of criticism at the time. On August 1st, management issued a statement on Facebook to clear things up:
We are very disappointed in the recent comments made by a salesperson on his personal social media account regarding the amount of money he sold a vehicle over MSRP. To be clear, this scenario did not happen.
His claim is false, and regardless of his intent as a joke, it is in no way representative of Zeigler Honda of Racine’s values or those of Zeigler Auto Group.
Although we value freedom of speech, we do hold our team members to a high standard of decency, truthfulness, and service—these values were not displayed in this situation.
At this moment, this person has been suspended indefinitely and is under a full investigation to assess our next steps.
Three days later, Ziegler Honda released another statement stating it had “parted ways” with Rua, adding that “[h]is actions do not represent the values we stand for as a dealership and a community of professionals.” Ouch.
@kennyselllss Official apology ! #fy #fyp #fyppppppppppppppppppppppp #fypage #kennyselllss #dealership #sales #dealershiptok #dealershiplife #carsaleshumor #carsalesman #sales #dealershiplife #carsaleshumor #carsalesman #fypシ The #salesman #saleshumor #carsaleslife #carsales #dealershiptiktok #fypシ゚viral #fypシ #fypシ゚ #fyppp #fypppppppppppppp #foryourpage #apology #apologyvideo
Rua was quick to issue an apology through TikTok on August 5, clarifying that his account is purely based on satire, and that he would never post “actual, true events.”
I want to apologize to the single mothers, just mothers in general. I’m a single parent myself, I know what that struggle is like. Going to work, having to take care of the kids, you know, jumping through hoops, trying to get everything done on a daily basis. It was insensitive of me to do a joke like that.
I’m no longer associated with the dealership. If you guys can just do me a solid, stop contacting them. Stop bashing them online. Stop attacking them. They did nothing wrong. It’s me. I fucked up. And I’m owning up to it.
Later that day, Rua published another TikTok claiming he had received death threats over the original video. When reached by The Autopian for comment, Rua said “idc about that shit anymore life moves on. [sic] It was a joke and I got fired it is what it is.”
Losing your livelihood over a joke with a make-believe scenario might seem like an overcorrection, but it’s tough to blame the internet. People hate scammers, and a lot of people have disdain for the franchise dealer system, too. On face value, Rua’s video is a double-whammy of evil forces taking advantage of a vulnerable individual. Not a great look!
I don’t think the dealership overreacted, either. Once a reputation sours online, it can take years to rebuild that trust with buyers. Even if the dealer itself did nothing wrong, Rua’s debacle will stay a part of Ziegler Honda’s digital footprint for a long, long time. So it was best to stamp out the issue before it metastasized.
The lesson here? Be prepared to stand behind anything you say online. Or it could come back to haunt you.
Top photo: TikTok
Those hashtags on the “official apology” post gave me a brain aneurysm. Should be a fire-able offense on its own.
“I’m a single parent myself, so I know how it is” then WHYYY did you make the joke??? Presumably, you get how it is, so why would you think that’s funny? I bet he’s a real winner as a parent too
So divorced dad likes to make jokes about getting one over on divorced moms. I think I understand the source of his “humor”.
Even if this particular story isn’t real, the idea that a dealership would fire a salesperson because they are good at making money is hilarious.
They didn’t fire him because he overcharged a customer, they fired him because that story got publicity.
My step father sold Chevys years ago and the sales people would hold up a small ceramic chipmunk, they had near some plants, when they saw a single mom with kids come in to look at cars. The haggle over car price dealership model works for rich white dudes and works against so many others.
Can you explain it for us dunces?
it was their version of a “mark” and “easy target”. It should have been a squirrel. sorry not to clarify. They knew they would make easy money.
Or maybe it works for “rich white dudes” (there’s always going to be that one dumbass who brings race into everything) because they know about the product rather than be some clueless idiot.
I have lost track of how many times someone posted a question about cars online or asked about them in real life and the person asking couldn’t be bothered to know even the most basic of basic things about the tool they use on a daily basis to let them get around. Not saying you need to be a mechanic. Not saying you need to be an engineer. You don’t need to comb over every little spec, but you earn your living from your car, shouldn’t you know some basic shit about it for when you need to buy a new one or need repairs??
Like torque ratios!<g>
It is usually racists who bring race into everything and that they are usually denying that racism exists.
Project harder! Keep going! One day you’ll get it.
It would have been interesting to see where the actual satire in that whole shitshow was. But it’s hard to imagine it was there to begin with.
Good for that dealer, but after I went to a local CarMax auto mall place and bought a car, that’s probably the only way I’m going from here on out, assuming they don’t fold. That was such a great experience. I’m not sure I can ever buy a car just through the internet, but the on site, hands off, in-person experience was the best I’ve ever had while car shopping.
I just helped my daughters best friend car shopping this past weekend, we ended up at Carmax and I couldn’t agree more. It’s so painless, the prices are all on the windows, no bull sh*t, no “Well what do you think this car is worth? How much did you think you want to pay for this? Well let me go talk to my manger…” sleezy dealer crap. She came away with a nice clean low mileage Civic at a fair price that will probably last her years and she’s thrilled. Maybe we could have done a little bit better by doing the dickering thing at a regular dealer but it wouldn’t have been much and definitely not worth the hassle.
Im not trying to be a jerk but isn’t it the case Carmax prices are thousands of dollars higher to begin with? Like, the reason theres no dickering or negotiating is because they are just hammering you to being with?
The things we have to haggle over are also the things so expensive we have to finance, houses and cars. Do people haggle over dishwashers and fridges at Best Buy, no. If they are happy and satisfied with their experience, good for them.
When I worked at a big box-type store years ago, yes, people often tried to negotiate the prices on appliance purchases. But I get where you are coming from.
Did it work? Could they get a lower price?
Sometimes it worked! Maybe it got them free delivery, an extra 10% off, or they would be offered an open box version from the warehouse for cheaper.
There prices are not fantastic but about inline with what a new dealer would be charging for used cars on their lot, at least in my area. Maybe a bit higher but not thousands, at least not on the small cars we were looking at. Probably could have done better with a small/independent dealer but what you get there can be more hit or miss.
Overall it was a good experience, no pressure and she drove out with a car she loves that was in her budget. I’m calling it a win.
CarMax recognizes that there is an opportunity cost to not having to deal with the dealership haggling sleaze and they generally charge a few hundred $$ for it.
We bought our van (very low mileage, 1-owner 2018 Kia Sedona) in August of ‘24 from the Louisville, KY CarMax and paid about what other dealers were wanting for similar ones. Got the big ol’ CarMax warranty and a lower interest rate than our credit union was able to offer, too.
I have not found that to be the case across the board. Yes, Carmax’s prices on some cars will be higher than some local dealers. At Carmax you will pay taxes, tag or title fees like any other dealer. But, Carmax’s $599 document fee is way lower than almost every other dealer I’ve ever seen. And there are NO other hidden fees. No haggling. Nothing sneaky or underhanded. It’s like buying a TV, stress free.
Now this is one data point so take that for what it’s worth. I looked at my local Toyota dealer for used Camrys, very common car. a 2020 LE with 116K miles is listed $17K. The local Carmax has the same model and mileage for $1000 less.
Their prices locally seemed pretty in line with other options. I’m pretty sure carmax also only takes in the creampuff used cars. After seeing so many other car lots, when walking the carmax lot, it felt like the best of the best. From economy cars to an S class. All were in great shape. You don’t get to the carmax lot, only to be disappointed and find hidden damage, loose trim or some engine issue they band-aided up. If it has a tiny paint blemish, they go out of their way to highlight it.
Felt completely different than the shadiness I’ve often seen. That was my experience, anyways.
Agreed. I had my first CarMax purchase last year and it involved a $99 transfer. I almost laughed at the photos of the “problems” they sent before shipping. If I had walked up cold to the car on a lot I wouldn’t have noticed them. I found their net OTD with trade-in pretty competitive. And I got to shop across their nationwide inventory. Don’t know if I would take a chance on the higher transfer fees though.
When I bought a car from Carmax, the price was pretty much right in line with what it should have been. Also it was nice because I found the same car in a better color at a Carmax in a different city, and it was no big deal to ship it down to me. They even gave me a decent trade-in price for the absolute POS I was replacing.
Not thousands, but there’s a lot to be said for just being able to get something like a car and not have to worry about the bullshit. Sometimes it’s worth paying a little more to avoid that. It’s like moving. I’m a) not in my 20s/30s anymore and b) make enough to pay someone to pack/unpack my stuff. I’m paying that money every single time. If I could get a car I wanted at a decent price that I know hasn’t been messed with just to sell? I’m paying a bit more.
In my case there wasn’t anything nationwide that was even close… So at least the correct price, I thought it was a deal.
I haven’t purchased from CarMax, but I like them. No commissions, so they don’t care if you come out and test drive something and decide you need to keep looking. And the ability to ship in vehicles if you find the one you want at a good price at one of their other locations isn’t bad, especially if it’s at one of the nearest locations and can be shipped for free.
The prices are usually a little high, but there are definitely some reasonable deals that roll through sometimes if you’re willing to watch for a bit.
For what it’s worth, CarMax employees are paid near minimum hourly wage to do the work of three people (salesman, porter and washbay duties often combined).
They are not paid to care as much as a real salesman grinding his way to a six figure salary.
But turnover is high in both cases, for different reasons.
Good to know. I did not realize that. I wish places would pay a reasonable wage with work expectations befitting that wage. It’s too bad that people have to choose between the shady grind and the low-wage/high-work situation if they want to sell cars.
I also did not realize that. I can say that the entire staff seemed to be in good spirits whenever I was there. It felt better than the predatory atmosphere at any given dealership or the weird vibes they often have. I usually can’t leave those places fast enough. I never felt like that at carmax.
Years (decades) ago people loved Saturn because of their no haggle sales approach. I read an article where a dealer (Chevy I believe) went no haggle. One of their top salesman was interviewed and talked about how worried he was about his paycheck, but that it had actually increased because he was able to see (and sell) to more people in a day since the transactions had less friction.
I’ll second that, I found my GTI on CarMax, it was in Virginia, and even with transportation it was a deal, based on comps. I had planned to get an extended warranty (personally they have been worth it) and when the car “stalled” in transit, taking a couple weeks to arrive in Arizona, they refunded they transportation fee, against the warranty. (discounting the warranty the same amount as the transport fee) As I did everything ahead of time online and was paying cash, all I had to do was sign the paperwork and drive off, like 15 minutes? They even kept it parked under cover (it was May) all that morning . Good guys, great experience.
Reason #10,009,782 for treating dealerships and their people as horribly as possible and not feeling bad at all about it. Almost as gratifying as screaming at anyone at Spectrum (or insert your cable/internet provider here) except the tech that actually fixes your shizz when your internet goes down.
I dunno. You’re screaming at some poor soul getting paid way too little to have to deal with people like you all day. They neither caused your problem and likely don’t have the abilities to fix it.
The real villains are the ones creating these miserable policies while knowing full well they don’t have to deal with the consequences. If making someone call, wait on hold, then listen to the rep read a 30 second script before letting them cancel a subscription keeps 3% more people subscribed, they’re gonna do it.
TL;DR: you’re yelling at the wrong person.
You sound like a peach.
He fucked around and found out
I know I chose to click this article, read it, and engage with it, but there is SO much good content on the Autopian now that you don’t need this! Leave it to the old site to report on tiktok controversies…
I feel for them, they’re trying to balance what we consider normal Autopian content with stuff that gets the clicks. I think they do a solid job overall, there aren’t too many social-media related posts. And at least they put some thought into the article itself instead of just jokes.
Articles like this are only good because the discussion is good. Like the nut busting boat “towing” article.
Throw some chum in the water and let the Autopians shred it.
thanks for the grounded perspective — I tend to click everything assuming it will be a banger. I think if there’s more of this, I will just re-calibrate to what interests me.
Was it a joke? A joke is something funny that makes people laugh. It’s been turned into the standard excuse for when you’ve been caught saying something offensive.
It’s suddenly “just a joke” when the blow back results in some serious consequences. But hey, free speech and all that. And it’s my opinion that the ex-salesman is a gigantic, useless DOUCHE BAG. FREE SPEECH MAN!!!
“It was a Joke!”
-Trump Spokesperson (tomorrow)
Unfortunately, it wasn’t….
The dealership wouldn’t have fired him if he actually sold a car for $10k over sticker. They’d just reprimand him for posting about it.
Tempting to believe, and maybe some dealers would permit that sort of thing.
There’s good ones too – have a friend who recently took over the sales manager role at a local luxury brand dealer. When one of the finance team came to him bragging about gouging a customer on a warranty (not quite as bad as the example in the article, but still bad) he made them return half the money to the customer and then gave them a warning.
On the plus side, this stunt has made his 2019 arrest disappear from the first page if you Google his name?
This guy is playing some 12 dimensional chess!
“The lesson here? Be prepared to stand behind anything you say online. Or it could come back to haunt you.”
Or, just stop posting trash online. NOBODY gives a shit about your stupid jokes and observations.
FAFO
In the car business, there’s no such thing as moral objections, only bad business.
And publicly saying “the quiet part” loud is bad business. What’s 10x worse? Begging for forgiveness. Ask any lawyer.
Normally the only thing required to get these jobs is a pulse but this guy is truly boned.
The sad part is that, since this behavior IS encouraged internally, good salespeople can go bad. That guy spent minimum 60 hours a week getting praised for screwing people over. What do you expect?
“When reached by The Autopian for comment, Rua said ‘idc about that shit anymore life moves on. [sic] It was a joke and I got fired it is what it is.'”
My guy, “no comment” is a perfectly viable option as well.
I’m not surprised, remorse and personal reflection don’t seem like something this guy has in his upbringing until getting caught. I guess he can now focus on his career of telling jokes and become a comedian.
He makes the TikTok, of course concepts like remorse and self reflection have no meaning to him.
Oh absolutely: views and likes =/= tangible human interactions.
I feel like maybe the dealership should have investigated this situation before declaring that it didn’t happen.
Give that lady her 10k back
Legally she said yes to the deal. And a bad deal is still a deal.
Management prices the car over sticker. It’s his job to sell it at that price. He probably had her focus on the monthly payment.
Yeah, they should give her her money back. Regardless of whose fault it is, she is the one taking the loss.
They absolutely should. But because they do it every day, the precedent would unleash a slew of claims that would put them out of business.
This reminds me of a not well off individual from my small town that got taken advantage of on a car sale from a ‘stealership’ in Lincoln. Well, she told our town church’s pastor and he and a couple other towns people did the march into the dealership office and got them to take the car back. This was the ’90s and wouldn’t work now without a viral Internet post, but there was a time when a Bible and a couple proverbial pitchfork wielding farmers can do. Honestly, I don’t think anyone from our town purchased cars from that dealership for years.
That’s awesome!
We had a lady here a while back that was in the news because a Mazda dealer sold her a new Mazda 6 at double the going price (60k vs 30k).
The lady had a learning disability, and in this situation, the dealer was not able to pin the entire situation on the salesman.
Thanks to all the noise in the media, Mazda ended up taking their dealer licence.
Fast forward a few years, and in the news again, there was a young lady that bought a new Hyundai Accent. They gouged her to the tune of $27k.
Shortly after purchasing, the engine failed. They voided her Warranty because she went to Mister Lube or something, and told her she would owe 15k for repairs.
Then they said they could help her out by getting her a new car. So she signed on the dotted line for another 27k for a new Accent.
Her other new car with the broken engine? They kept that, and now she was on the hook for nearly $60k for a ew Hyundai Accent.
The media spoke up, but this time the dealership had dotted all their Is and crossed all of their Ts. Hyundai said go kick rocks. Our customer funded and dealer run consumer protection tribunal told her the same.
They ruined her life.
I’m confused. Who said they didn’t?
This is one salesperson . . . it would be easy to look back through their recent sales and compare against MSRP before posting an “official” statement to Facebook.
Well, they never said they did.
All sales go through the sales manager’s office, so if they admitted that this actually happened, they would be admitting partial blame.
If you want to believe their statement though, you are welcome to do so.
And if you want to believe they issued a denial without validating whether the sale in question happened, despite the likelihood of the single mother in question finding out and coming forward thereby making the situation exponentially worse for them (the internet always finds out), you are welcome to do so as well.
Yes absolutely I believe the dealership lied. I think I made that pretty clear.
There was no lady.
Based on my experience at Honda dealers, the reason he was fired is only because he didn’t get her for $15k over.
Honda dealers make Kia dealers look like Lexus dealers.
Honda dealer ADMs: only matched by Toyota. “My manager is feeling generous and willing to cut the Tacoma/4Runner ADM in half to only $7500!” (heard from several Utah dealerships).
God dammit, you beat me to the joke.
I literally had to push a sales manager out of my way to leave a Honda dealer once.
This dealer was trying to do ‘no haggle’ pricing, when five other Honda dealers within 20 miles were not. They were our closest dealer so I went in to see if they would match a deal I already had at a slightly more distant dealer (5 miles further away, if that).
They did not match the deal (which was real – we bought the expected car at the expected price from the other dealer), and I will not go back to that dealer.
Yeah I’ve purchased an Accord from this dealer. Took much arguing and threatening to walk out for them to drop the “mandatory” vin etching, paint protection, lojack BS, etc.
I was at a Honda dealer earlier this year and the sales manager had a desk fan positioned behind him to blow his suffocating perfume into my face. Everything about the experience was greasy and disingenuous, we had already test-driven a car the previous week, chosen the exact one, agreed to their price before coming in, and despite us making zero attempt to negotiate anything, they still employed every dumb-ass waiting tactic for absolutely no reason.
I hate to admit this, but this isn’t far off. Had a friend who was (at the time) pregnant with her second kiddo and I talked her and her husband into a minivan. I knew that Siennas were commanding big markups, so we went to Honda. The only van they had on the lot was an ELITE model (pinkies up!). 50K for a van was kindof spicy, but they drove it. We went back inside and asked for pricing on a more realistic lower model (EX). With all of the markups, add ons, and other BS, it was more than the MSRP on the ELITE. The sales manager came over and put on so much pressure and was able to get them out of there. So frustrating and awful.
Apparently my friend’s dad and husband went back and made a scene with the manager and they left with that ELITE at MSRP. Sucks that you have to be so aggressive with some dealers. The sales process is probably one of the best things Tesla/Rivian/Lucid has done. You pay one price, online. The end.
If it can get you fired, don’t post it. Online is forever.
Solid life lesson – don’t shit where you eat.
Definitely not on TikTok.
That content is better for OnlyFans.
He may have been joking, but what exactly was the funny part? Overcharging at all or or overcharging a single mom?
And what part, if any, deviates from what he considers acceptable?
I was wondering about that too. All I can think of is he and his coworkers regularly “joke” about how much they screw customers. Do that long enough and you forget the rest of us do not consider that behavior humorous.
The funny part, I guess, was supposed to be him openly admitting to doing something shady that everyone suspects car salesmen of doing anyway
It would be like a lawyer posting a shot of himself smiling with the caption “when you beat the ambulance to the hospital” or something
Its probably a sort of self deprecating humor
Could very well be, but it’s definitely ambiguous. That’s why you should probably make such jokes in private among friends who know your character.
My generous read of it is that it’s a self-aware joke about how dealers are evil, in the same vein as “BMW drivers never indicate”.
Of course, it falls flat because while the BMW joke is just a stereotype, car dealers are, in fact, for-realsies evil.
It’s like dark humor among medical workers, laughing about patients with unusual problems, etc. You don’t want the patients to hear.
This guy might have been caught and told to distance himself from the dealership, but overall I think Tiktok dealership guerilla marketing tactics are generally in bad taste and really expose the truly unpleasant personality types that dealerships attract.
That isn’t to overgeneralize and say everyone working at a dealership is a nasty person, but too often dealerships create Tiktok accounts for social media clout that end up just being yes-men (or women) for their given brand, showcasing trade-ins as ‘worse’ than the new car they ‘upgraded to’ as rage-bait for engagement or blatantly telling lies or half-truths about other car brands in order to paint their own in a better light.
As an enthusiast, it really drives me away from your dealership in general if you’re willing to allow those sorts of employees to represent your brand and OEM as a whole since it reeks of either blatant insecurity or outright desperation to need to paint every other brand as horrible in order to move any of your own product. After all, for every one of their posts that might get seen by a normal consumer there will be 50 enthusiasts champing at the bit to tell you why a Nissan Rogue will blow up or why modern Mercedes CUVs are all hideous (it’s me, I’m the problem).
That’s not even to mention the new ‘trend’ of going around the showroom and asking everyone what they drive and how much they pay monthly for it. I’ve seen YouTube videos suggesting that as a manipulation tactic to normalize higher payments and I definitely believe it considering how no one bats an eye at $700-$900 a month for a Traverse anymore.
All in all, dealerships are such a weird facet of the way we purchase cars that simply doesn’t exist in the same way for other products. You don’t see Best Buy employees on Tiktok trying to tell you why a Samsung fridge is leaps-and-bounds better than a Maytag, nor do you see Target employees processing the return for a Stanley mug and saying their customer has now ‘upgraded’ to an Owala.
The single-brand aspect of dealerships fosters a weird tribalism on social media that I think will only harm the image of automakers in the long run on top of all the other ridiculous post-pandemic phenomena of trim-level creep, randomized mark-ups, and lackluster warranty treatment.
I wish I could convince myself the $700-900 was a reasonable car payment! I would be driving a used Porsche Taycan or something else exciting. Instead I use that money to pay for things my family actually needs or savings.
I dunno if it’s changed in the 20 years or so since, but a buddy of mine worked in appliances at Best Buy and they absolutely worked on commission and would absolutely try to sell you the highest markup item in the store regardless of whether you needed it or not.
He lasted less than six months there and hated just about every minute of it, so at least there’s that.
I went to BestBuy a few months ago for a router since I needed it to work from home and Amazon misses every delivery I care about receiving on time.
Sales guy was literally breathing on my neck as I read the router box to confirm it was the one I wanted. I had to tell him to go somewhere else, I’ll find you if I need you. Then he got very mad that I wouldn’t join their club.
Next time I’ll risk a delay with Amazon.
Yeah, but that’s only if you go there in person. They’re not on Tiktok shilling their electronics and telling you to avoid Costco because ‘they’re bad’.
Play stupid games win stupid prizes
The official statement just came out: “We at Honda do not condone this action. We categorically condemn the use of social media to share corporate sales tactics with the general public. We hope this serves as a warning to all future sales associate and service team members that overcharging must only be done with the utmost discretion and may only be celebrated after hours during closed meetings and gatherings.”
There is probably a car salesman joke in here somewhere.
How slimy does a car salesman have to be to get fired by a a car dealer for being slimy? This slimy.
It’s not the crime it is getting caught. I bet he showed it around the dealership and got a bunch of laughs but then Boom goes the dynamite you fired. My guess is this guy was “fired” and will now be selling cars on FB out of the dealership inventory.
To be fair it isn’t just the car sales business that screws people over just about any sales job that has high paid sales people is probably screwing their customers over. In fact the storage industry screw people over pretty good and don’t even have Salesforces.
They have written special sweetheart laws for themselves and most even violate those laws.
You can find those laws online, by state and nationally.
There are hundreds of years of storage law, and they don’t even accept being bound by those rules.
Additional, most violate consumer protection laws as well.
Actions have consequences. Just because you have freedom of speech does not mean you have blanket approval to say whatever you want without consequence. At least this guy owned up to it and took responsibility. I hope he has learned and someone gives him another chance.
This, the shitty actors in this country want to be able to say whatever horrible shit they want without any repercussions. That is not what freedom of speech means.
Did he though? The one entity that he hurt the most, his employer, still hasn’t gotten an apology.
(I can’t believe I’m advocating for an apology to a car dealer, but here we are)
“I’m no longer associated with the dealership. If you guys can just do me a solid, stop contacting them. Stop bashing them online. Stop attacking them. They did nothing wrong. It’s me. I fucked up. And I’m owning up to it.”
Quoted from the article, bolded by me. That looks like taking responsibility to me. You may disagree and that’s fine, but that’s where my comment came from.
I see your point, but that’s also not an apology directed at the dealer. At least not in the same way he specifically apologized to single moms.
This is very shaky ground. For the most part, what you do on your own time is none your employer’s business. If he didn’t name the dealership, claim to be representing them, or film it on the job, he is free to say whatever he wants without risking his job.
If he acts like this on the job however, then yeah, totally fine to fire him for it.
It’s entirely possible to be a terrible person but keep it to yourself during work hours and be a perfect employee. I’m not saying that’s what happened here, but how he acts while on the job is all that should matter to his employer.
If they want control of someone’s off-time, they should pay them for it.
That picture looks like it was taken at some dealership.
Right. And whether it was or not, it looks like it could have been. And on the internet, that’s all that matters.
There’s no shaky ground here at all, he did something on his own time that resulted in major negative blowback to his employer, so he was fired, that’s pretty reasonable. Is the dealership supposed to suck it up and deal with floods of angry phone calls, death threats, maybe protesters, negative media attention, etc instead of just firing the one guy that caused all that?
Most places require employees to sign a social media policy, where, if they choose to publicly identify their employer on their profiles, they can be reprimanded or fired if they do anything on that profile that denigrates their employer, which is also what happened here. The guy identifies himself as a Honda salesman, and also films videos of himself at work, clearly he’s putting himself out there as a voluntary representative of his employer
I mostly agree except the Internet Mob doesn’t always get it right. From the employers point of view, it doesn’t really matter: even if they want to stand up for their employee, after a couple thousand harassing phone calls, they’ll do what they need to do to be able to stay in business (and I can’t really blame them).
Yeah, he chose to mix his work into his personal life and vice versa, so the consequences ended up following him to work.
Not like the two exist in completely separate, walled-off parallel universes, freedom of speech doesnt mean freedom from consequences of speech
I don’t think that logic works anymore. Every day some jerk gets caught saying something racist or bigoted. The internet mob gets to work figuring out the person’s employer and destroying their yelp review page or whatever. Employer issues a statement saying they value diversity and so and so did not live up to their standard and no longer works there.
Honestly, I’m not sure if being a racist jerk in your off time should disqualify you from being an accountant. But as long as it’s caught on video, that’s what’s going to happen.
As an accountant I believe it should disqualify you. Cut out the effing middle person and the world will be much happier. And as much as I despise Leon Skum the direct sales model or the win
Nearly all employers place restrictions on employee actions outside work. From non-competition clauses to social media rules to moral standards, they’re all out there and generally accepted by society.