Quote of the Day: Honest Salespeople Need Not Apply Edition

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

There is nothing in the record that suggests that plaintiff’s (Lamson’s) particular act — refusing to report to work because unlawful trade practices might occur there — enjoys high social value.

Oregon Supreme Court Justice W. Michael Gillette in his opinion finding that whistleblower protection does not apply to “business practices that pose no threat to public health or safety.” The business, in this case, being the selling of cars. Kevin Lamson was fired from Crater Lake Motors in Medford, Oregon, for (allegedly) refusing to participate in a sales campaign led by Real Performance Marketing that (allegedly) used deceptive and misleading tactics. According to Gillete’s opinion (by way of the AP/Google), Lamson’s suit “did not involve interests of sufficient public importance to support a claim that plaintiff (Lamson) was discharged for fulfilling an important societal obligation.”

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Dwford Dwford on Aug 21, 2009

    @Bearadise: It doesn't get better than that. Made my day!

  • Patrickj Patrickj on Aug 21, 2009

    Saw an ad in a local weekly here yesterday promising 0% financing on 2005-2009 used cars. Small print at the bottom said "minimum 740 FICO SCORE". Credit score to those lest familiar with jargon. That gets the number of Americans eligible for the deal down to 7 or 8. An exaggeration, but even before the recession, 740 was significantly above the median.

  • Newcarscostalot Newcarscostalot on Aug 22, 2009

    Funny. My ex and I went to purchase a car a few years back, and we gave the dealer a check because we thought we might buy the car. We decided to not to buy it, and the dealer did not want to give me the check back. I got the check back and never returned. And dealers wonder why people hate to go car shopping!

  • Dwford Dwford on Aug 22, 2009

    The funny thing about those deceptive ads is that THEY WORK. The whole point of auto ads is to get people into the showroom, nothing more. My old manager used to run all sorts of B.S. ads, which we as salesmen hated because there really was no way the numbers added up. People would come in and get pissed and tell us "I knew this wasn't real!" which always made me think "but you came anyway.." Finally that manager got fired. So if you read an auto ad and it seems too good to be true, obviously it is. There is no such thing as free money.

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