Illinois salesman fired for wearing Packers tie

[Statick]

Illinois salesman fired for wearing Packers tieESPNChicago.com

OAK LAWN, Ill. -- A car salesman in suburban Chicago has been fired for refusing to remove a Green Bay Packers tie that he wore to work the day after the Packers beat the Chicago Bears to advance to the Super Bowl.

John Stone, 34, says he wore the Packers tie to work Monday at Webb Chevrolet in Oak Lawn to honor his late grandmother, who was a big Green Bay fan.

The sentimental gesture did not impress his boss, Jerry Roberts, who fired him.

"I'm still wondering and baffled why he fired me over a tie," Stone told SportsCenter.

Roberts said that Stone was offered five chances to take off the tie but he refused.

"If he loves the tie more than his job, he's welcome to keep wearing it -- elsewhere," Roberts said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Stone said that he was asked three times to take the tie off, once in a joking manner and another time when he was with a customer and was allowed to keep working. Finally, Roberts came out of a meeting, Stone said, and confronted him.

"Take your tie off or your f'ing fired," Stone told ESPN.


Stone is a father of two who had worked at the dealership for a month and a half, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. He said that he has been a Packers fan since he saw running back Ahman Green play.

"I liked the way he played, and I liked Brett Favre before he left, and I love Aaron Rodgers, the coaching staff -- the whole organization," he said, according to the newspaper.

Roberts told the newspaper that Stone was a good salesman who sold 14 cars last month and that no customers had complained about the tie. Stone agreed.

"I was just showing my love for my team and it was a nice, smart tie that matched my clothes -- none of the customers minded: They had a sense of humor about it," he said.

Roberts says the dealership has done promotions involving the Bears and he was afraid the tie could alienate the team's fans and make it harder to sell cars.

"We spend $20,000 a month on advertising with the Bears on WBBM during the season, and we have Bears players including Corey Wootton driving loaner vehicles, and here was a salesman openly undoing that work," Roberts said, according to the Sun-Times.

Stone told ESPN that he didn't know the dealership had a deal with the Bears. He said if Roberts had approached him professionally and explained the situation, he would have taken off the tie.

Instead, "he hollered at me and he cussed me out," Stone said.

Roberts said that Stone's timing was bad.

"If he'd worn the tie on Saturday I wouldn't have minded," he said, according to the Sun-Times. And if the Bears had won, Roberts said, "I suspect he wouldn't have worn the tie."

It looks like Stone, like his beloved Packers, will live to fight another day. While The Dan Patrick Show reported that he landed a new job at a Chevy dealership Tuesday morning, Stone told ESPN that he doesn't yet have the job but does have an interview lined up.

And in spite of it all, he hasn't changed allegiance.

"I'm a Packers fan all the way," he told ESPN.

[Jesus]

Well that's some bitter shit.

[USAF HART]

I smell a lawsuit in the making

[Jesus]

I've been in grocery stores around here in Chicago and they have signs hanging up for workers saying: You can wear only Bears paraphernalia on Sundays or game days.

[Peyton]

The guy was just flat out insubordinate. He deserved to get fired. He chose the tie over his job.

[ChrisD]

Taking law classes, I'll tell you right now that any lawyer would lick his chops at something like this if Stone went to them. That's not really grounds for firing someone. Unless it's a "Uniform" that he has to wear, which it probably isn't since most dealerships just go with suit and tie, or dress shirt and tie.

Kind of pathetic, ridiculous if you ask me. I can bet you anything that even spokespersons from the Bears wouldn't have an issue with something like that. That's like (Yepp I'm going to say it) firing someone because of their skin color or the way they wear their hair.

[Dyoshot]

I read this this morning, it's ridiculous. This is obviously a case of having a jerk for a boss. I hope Stone takes this to court.

[Peyton]

(01-25-2011 04:32 PM)ChrisD Wrote:  Taking law classes, I'll tell you right now that any lawyer would lick his chops at something like this if Stone went to them. That's not really grounds for firing someone. Unless it's a "Uniform" that he has to wear, which it probably isn't since most dealerships just go with suit and tie, or dress shirt and tie.

Kind of pathetic, ridiculous if you ask me. I can bet you anything that even spokespersons from the Bears wouldn't have an issue with something like that. That's like (Yepp I'm going to say it) firing someone because of their skin color or the way they wear their hair.

I wouldn't have sympathy for him if I was on a jury. The boss asked him to take it off. Bosses ask us to do things that seem unfair all the time out here in the professional world.

The boss gave him the choice of wearing the tie or keeping his job. He chose to take a stand with the tie.

I don't see how there is a case there....straight up insubordination.

[USAF HART]

(01-25-2011 04:43 PM)Peyton Wrote:  I wouldn't have sympathy for him if I was on a jury. The boss asked him to take it off. Bosses ask us to do things that seem unfair all the time out here in the professional world.

The boss gave him the choice of wearing the tie or keeping his job. He chose to take a stand with the tie.

I don't see how there is a case there....straight up insubordination.

Unless there is a rule in the dresscode that says something about not being able to wear a packers tie, then there is no way that the dealership would win the case. It's an easy case for the dude wearing the tie. He wore a suit and tie. The tie just happened to be that of a rival team. It's an easy lawsuit

[kane#7]

Well he earned himself a healthy pay out