Chicago Salesman Fired for Packers Tie

Sometimes life is exactly like sitcoms.

I love this story for so many reasons. First, you got the overreacting car dealer owner who acts irrationally and fires a salesman for wearing a Green Bay Packers tie. He had to have had a cigar in his mouth at the time. He just had to.

I love the salesman getting all uppity about his choice of tie and making it into a principled stand. Dude, you’re a car salesman. A moral stand? Really? And I love how he brings his poor deceased grandmother into the mix to give his little heroic stance a little extra oomph.

This is one news story I wish I could’ve been there for – just soaking up every moment of this reality/sitcom madness.

But mostly I love it because it’s such a guy story. A big blowup over nothing that becomes this giant thing where two guys make a line in the sand and then a few days later it cools down.

But mostly, I love that this story is in the Washington Post. This little kerfuffle made national headlines. And it’s exactly the kind of thing I’ve always loved newspapers for. Everyone once in a while you read a story about humans. Not politicians or delegates, ambassadors or generals. Just two men who any normal person can recognize. A story that sounds like something that I’d stupidly do.

The Washington Post reports:

A car salesman in suburban Chicago who was fired for refusing to remove a Green Bay Packers tie says he won’t be coming back even though his former boss has relented.

John Stone wore the tie to work at Webb Chevrolet in Oak Lawn Monday, the day after the Packers beat the Chicago Bears to advance to the Super Bowl.

Stone says he wore the tie to honor his late grandmother, who was a big Green Bay fan.

But his boss, Jerry Roberts, says the dealership has done promotions involving the Bears. He was afraid the tie could alienate the team’s fans and make it harder to sell cars.

Roberts now says Stone can come back, but Stone says he won’t. He’s also been offered a job at another dealership.

See, it’s even got a happy ending.