Absolutely not. Regardless of how you feel about it, that employee had no right to post that information. That information isn't even necessarily accurate (it doesn't cover other retailers, etc) and has the potential to cause material harm to his/her employer. That is absolutely grounds for dismissal, again, regardless of your own opinions on the subject. Plain and simple, no matter what company this employee worked for, they did wrong.
@sykosoft Now that I think about it, I see your point, and I think you're right. That information was confidential internal Sprint information, and he had no authorization to post it, therefore it was a breach of corporate policy. In that case, he should be fired after all...
ALL companies take their PR very seriously. It is the public face of their company. Unless this person worked in the PR department and has authorization to post these numbers to whatever site/publication he chooses, he is in the wrong. My brother works for Microsoft and he CAN'T tell me about some things because it isn't his place to do so. And I can respect that and I don't push him for knowledge. Same principle.
@sykosoft Absolutely right. We should all put company as priority before truth. Let's be understanding to the company that is supposed to post sales figures for investors without lying about them anyway.
@JW It's SPRINT's choice on how/when they release their sales figures, not some random employee that clearly wasn't responsible enough to have that kind of access to begin with. Whether or not they tried to deceive people about said sales figures is a different matter.
That is just the way Sprint works. I used to work for Sprint, and hate the company, but you couldn't pay me enough money to switch to another carrier. I've tried the others and found them wanting. So every month I mumble F you Sprint, and pay my bill so I can enjoy the best coverage.
One thing that needs to be taken into account in regards to those reported numbers from the ex-employee though is that they are only for corporate stores. There are about three times as many franchise stores, and god knows how many mall kiosk stores out there that sold on average 50 or more phones the first day. So you can take the reported corporate numbers, and tripple them, and then add in all the Best Buy, RS, and Wal-Mart sales and you will be getting close to the actual sales for day one.
@thenutty1 It's also SPRINT'S responsibility to disclose accurate sales figures, and as a representative of Sprint as an employee I think he did what is morally just. I applaud him.
@sykosoft Actually your quite wrong in several points. Releasing fake sales numbers could be looked as an attempt to mislead investors and would be considered a federal crime. I am not sure of the specifics but a decent lawyer could get him a nice settlement since the company conspired to deceive and one could argue that he wad left with no options.
Not necessarily. PR is controlled. It absolutely doesn't mean Sprint was "lying". For instance, (understand, I am NOT arguing for Sprint here) that the inventory system is not real time, and perhaps only updated once per week, etc. There is NO way to know for certain that any numbers (even the ones released by PR) are true. And, without those highly relevant disclaimers in place, this employee could cause material harm. Again, assume that the inventory system wasn't real time, and the "actual" sold amount was 10 times. This could cause real harm to Sprint by investors who take this number to heart.
I just wanted to say.....I really appreciate your candidness. While we did initially disagree, and could potentially have continued to do so, the understanding that it's not an attack on you personally, and the willingness to consider the other side's argument is very rare. You sir, are full of win. May you be an example to the rest of the human race.
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That's harsh. The person who fired him deserves to be fired. Seriously, this is just irresponsible of Sprint.
@aliendude5300
Absolutely not. Regardless of how you feel about it, that employee had no right to post that information. That information isn't even necessarily accurate (it doesn't cover other retailers, etc) and has the potential to cause material harm to his/her employer. That is absolutely grounds for dismissal, again, regardless of your own opinions on the subject. Plain and simple, no matter what company this employee worked for, they did wrong.
@sykosoft Now that I think about it, I see your point, and I think you're right. That information was confidential internal Sprint information, and he had no authorization to post it, therefore it was a breach of corporate policy. In that case, he should be fired after all...
@aliendude5300
I applaud you. You took on board someone else's argument and openly changed your mind. That's so rare to see on here.
I agree for the reasons above. They should have been fired.
@aliendude5300
ALL companies take their PR very seriously. It is the public face of their company. Unless this person worked in the PR department and has authorization to post these numbers to whatever site/publication he chooses, he is in the wrong. My brother works for Microsoft and he CAN'T tell me about some things because it isn't his place to do so. And I can respect that and I don't push him for knowledge. Same principle.
@sykosoft
Absolutely right.
We should all put company as priority before truth.
Let's be understanding to the company that is supposed to post sales figures for investors without lying about them anyway.
@JW It's SPRINT's choice on how/when they release their sales figures, not some random employee that clearly wasn't responsible enough to have that kind of access to begin with. Whether or not they tried to deceive people about said sales figures is a different matter.
@aliendude5300
That is just the way Sprint works. I used to work for Sprint, and hate the company, but you couldn't pay me enough money to switch to another carrier. I've tried the others and found them wanting. So every month I mumble F you Sprint, and pay my bill so I can enjoy the best coverage.
One thing that needs to be taken into account in regards to those reported numbers from the ex-employee though is that they are only for corporate stores. There are about three times as many franchise stores, and god knows how many mall kiosk stores out there that sold on average 50 or more phones the first day. So you can take the reported corporate numbers, and tripple them, and then add in all the Best Buy, RS, and Wal-Mart sales and you will be getting close to the actual sales for day one.
@sykosoft I agree with you, but, I admire him for leaking the truth. I hate when companies lie. I guess I should hate all companies then.
@thenutty1
It's also SPRINT'S responsibility to disclose accurate sales figures, and as a representative of Sprint as an employee I think he did what is morally just. I applaud him.
@sykosoft Actually your quite wrong in several points. Releasing fake sales numbers could be looked as an attempt to mislead investors and would be considered a federal crime. I am not sure of the specifics but a decent lawyer could get him a nice settlement since the company conspired to deceive and one could argue that he wad left with no options.
@dxdragon
Not necessarily. PR is controlled. It absolutely doesn't mean Sprint was "lying". For instance, (understand, I am NOT arguing for Sprint here) that the inventory system is not real time, and perhaps only updated once per week, etc. There is NO way to know for certain that any numbers (even the ones released by PR) are true. And, without those highly relevant disclaimers in place, this employee could cause material harm. Again, assume that the inventory system wasn't real time, and the "actual" sold amount was 10 times. This could cause real harm to Sprint by investors who take this number to heart.
@aliendude5300
I just wanted to say.....I really appreciate your candidness. While we did initially disagree, and could potentially have continued to do so, the understanding that it's not an attack on you personally, and the willingness to consider the other side's argument is very rare. You sir, are full of win. May you be an example to the rest of the human race.