Car Salesman Confidential: Race and Stereotypes in Car Sales

Some Dealerships’ Throwback Culture Lets Problems Continue
A few months ago my dealership hired a young man of Middle Eastern descent by the name of Kamel, which means “the perfect one” in Arabic. Kamel’s name is pronounced Ka-MELL … not “camel.” which is what many people think when they see it. Of course, even knowing the correct pronunciation didn’t stop a bunch of car salesmen from making fun of Kamel and his funny-sounding name. That didn’t surprise me much, because car salesmen will make fun of anything. What did surprise me was when Kamel attended his first sales meeting and a manager referred to him in front of the entire group as “Camel.” Not once, not twice, but three times.

from Motor Trend Blog http://ift.tt/1LCy5Qd