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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.
Mike and Mike in the Morning
Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic discuss the story of a Packers fan being fired from his job as a salesman at a Chicago car dealership for wearing a Packers tie to work on Monday. Was the firing justified?
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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.
Roberts adds 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 was furious when he spoke to the newspaper.
"He said, 'You have two options,'" Stone said, according to the newspaper. "Remove the tie, or you're fired.
"When I didn't, he said, 'You can leave, you're fired.' Does that sound fair to you?"
Stone is a father of two who had worked at the dealership for a month and a half, according to the newspaper. 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 The Dan Patrick Show on Tuesday that he didn't know the dealership had a deal with the Bears. And looking back he said he wishes "I wouldn't have worn it all."
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 paper. 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, lives to fight another day. He told Patrick that he landed a new job at a Chevy dealership Tuesday morning.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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