[relix]

But that's just not true - according to the OP's own retelling the sales person was in obvious distress due to his actions.

So no, this apparently was not "expected" because otherwise they would also just have had a chuckle and wouldn't have reacted like that. And regardless of whether that means the sales person was in the wrong job or not, the fact that that person was in trouble, and OP did nothing to help, means that OP was being a jerk.

[nitrogen]

People used to be better at dealing with "obvious distress." Seriously why is this argument worth 80+ comments? I agree with jacquesm -- HN (in this thread) has lost its way.

[relix]

Because the what amounts to victim blaming in this thread has lots of similarities to other problems in the tech industry.

Maybe HN is finally maturing.

[futharkshill]

Because of the people continuing to defend this kind of behavior, and blaming the poor sales guy for not being "technical" enough.