“One of George Zimmerman’s former colleagues at CarMax, where he worked in 2008, complained formally about the man who killed Florida teen Trayvon Martin, alleging serial hazing that lasted for months and included pranks and ethnic jokes,” ABC News reports. “When the salesman complained to management, Zimmerman denied the harassment.” And that’s about it really. Oh, you want context? Well, we are talking about a car salesman complaining about another car salesman—which is a bit like Bernie Madoff kvetching that a real estate broker ripped him off. A “sales associate” who says he rose above hazing to become a “top salesman.” Corroboration? Like any good salesman, the anonymous colleague has got that credibility thing covered . . .
“The guy was so convincing when he was confronted by management to the point where I doubted my own self. I would not be surprised if he got away with it [Martin murder accusation].”
“He’s got, like you say, a good poker face. Great poker face,” said the colleague. “That pretty much summarizes this guy’s personality. Great poker face.”
So even if Zimmerman says the anonymous Arab-American is lying through his teeth, Zimmerman’s lying through his teeth. And you can tell because you can’t tell. In fact (or a loose approximation thereof), Zimmerman “mastered the art of emerging as the nice guy to others in order to make me look like the unsocial type and out of place.”
Are you buying this? At least the inconsistencies are completely consistent. ABC manages to cram the main one in a single paragraph.
The former car salesman insists that Zimmerman, who was 24 at the time, was not a racist, but would do anything to gain the approval of his colleagues, chiefly harassing their new colleague with Middle Eastern jokes. He said the racist remarks hurt more than anything else.
A person who isn’t a racist who makes racist remarks. Riiight. Anyway, I’m intrigued. Who IS this guy?
Zimmerman’s former colleague asked that his identity not be revealed because he feared any association with the Zimmerman trial could jeopardize his family’s security.
Oh please.
And what, you may ask, does the dealership or the dealership’s mothership have to say about this on-racist racism? “CarMax does not provide information on internal human resources matters.”
Is this really the best that the prosecution can do in the form of a smear campaign? Or is this merely a car salesman who wants to have something to talk about with his customers before he goes for the jugular, so to speak?