[jeremybencken]

This isn't a story about Groupon except insofar as they hire unprofessional, immature sales reps.

The sales punk didn't like how he was treated, so he gets revenge by (threatening) to leverage his own personal network.

It's pretty unlikely this is some organized practice at Groupon.

[a3n]

It doesn't have to be organized. There just has to be a "results at any cost, don't tell me how you did it" atmosphere at Groupon.

[lancewiggs]

It is a story about Groupon. How can they let their staff get into this situation where they are so desperate as to make threats? How did they not know about and fix the poor experience with Groupon previously? How are the staff paid - is the commission component so high that they have to make sales no matter what? Is the training and are the SOPs so poor that the staff are free to operate on the edges of legality?

Is the culture such that anything goes?

Are the systems that review performance of sales reps not catching up with this sort of behaviour?

Groupon allowed this to happen, and it's for Groupon to fix.

Firing the guy would be a knee jerk reaction that would not to me be the right one. Not firing him and doing nothing would be worse. The best answer is a blame-free full review of how this occurred, and how they can design their organisation and process to make it never occur again.

[bdcravens]

I don't correct it's correct to blame practices like these on the employer's business model. That's like blaming road rage killings on the government for having congested roads.

Sounds to me like it's a kid barely out of college who can't control his emotions and is having a pouty hissy fit. His emotional age obviously is not advanced enough to prepare him for sales.

If you want to blame anything, blame the culture (Web 2.0? SF? VC funded world?) that believes that younger is always better.

[nemothekid]

I fail to see how this has anything to do with his age. There are assholes at all stages of life.

[bdcravens]

I chose the term "emotional age" carefully for that reason.

That said, if we were talking about hiring a node.js dev, and comparing a 22 year old vs. a 57 year old, would "I fail to see how this has anything to do with his age. There are great developers at all stages of life." be applicable as well? Or would it reasonable to make some generalizations while appreciating exceptions?

[guelo]

Except for the part where Groupon refuses to remove the guy from their harass list.

[fnordfnordfnord]

Title says "Groupon Sales Rep..." Was it changed?

[gregman]

Nope. Title is exactly the same as it was posted originally (except for "yelp" being capitalized to "Yelp").

[ulisesrmzroche]

That's true but what a huge PR blow, plus they hired the guy in the first place. This could get ugly if something isn't done right away.

[cabalamat]

> This could get ugly if something isn't done right away.

What might happen: front page of Reddit, followed by the guy being sacked shortly afterwards.

[ulisesrmzroche]

True. Isn't anyone from Groupon reading HN? I thought they'd pull a Nathan Bedford Forrest and get in here the fastest with the mostest mea culpa, but so far, I don't even think they know what's going on.