Tony Stewart sponsor encourage lying to customers?

Rumor has it that some Office Depot sales managers have been encouraging their employees to lie to customers, Laptop's blog revealed in an investigative report Tuesday.

According to a number of the Web site's readers, who also claim to work for Office Depot, the practice of lying in regards to laptop availability is a common occurrence at the company due to strict corporate sales quotas. One reader named Rich, who Laptop confirmed to be an Office Depot employee, told the blog, "I have witnessed lying about the availability of a notebook, and have been told to do so myself."

Apparently, Office Depot corporate policy dictates that "attachments" (including warranties and other computer services) must comprise 30-percent of a store's sales. If that quota is not met, a manager faces retribution from his or her boss. Accordingly, if potential laptop buyers express no interest in those additional services, some managers are telling their employees to lie, claiming that available computers are no longer in stock.

It is important to note that this practice is by no means ubiquitous within the company's stores, and that Office Depot, itself, does not explicitly endorse lying. But, that being said, it seems to us that these managers' unethical decisions are reactions to the corporate office's unrealistic expectations. Let's just be glad that there are folks like Rich, and other ethical Office Depot employees, proving that "honest salesman" is not an oxymoron. We can only hope that the same is true of some folks at AT&T and Radio Shack. Laptop Mag