Comcast Store Punished Low Sales By Smashing Pies In Workers' Faces, Lawsuit Claims (arstechnica.com)
- Reference: 0184758772
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/07/30/0031205/comcast-store-punished-low-sales-by-smashing-pies-in-workers-faces-lawsuit-claims
- Source link: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/07/comcast-store-punished-low-sales-by-smashing-pies-in-workers-faces-lawsuit-claims/
> A Comcast store in Plainville, Connecticut, "had a policy that the highest-ranked Retail Sales Consultant for the prior month was instructed by his or her supervisor -- Ms. Peterson, the Comcast Store manager -- to tie the lowest-ranked sales consultant for the prior month to a chair in the back office and thereafter assault that person by violently smashing a cream pie in their face," the [2]complaint alleged (PDF).
>
> Plaintiff David Figueroa's lawsuit said he was hired as a retail sales consultant on February 2, 2026, and was supervised by store manager Sully Fuentes Peterson. Figueroa alleges that Peterson "designed and implemented" the pie-in-face ritual to meet goals related to sales and positive responses in customer surveys.
>
> "Defendant did not inform the Plaintiff prior to his acceptance of Defendant's offer of employment that the Comcast Store has a policy of subjecting Retail Sales Consultants to public assaults by co-workers -- at the direction of Ms. Peterson, the store manager -- for the purpose of increasing Defendant's sales and profitability," the lawsuit said.
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> Figueroa resigned on February 27, and he alleges it was a constructive discharge. The lawsuit says the defendant, Comcast, was negligent because it "reasonably should have known" about the store management's policies and that the policies could harm employees. Comcast "failed to properly supervise the Comcast Store's management team," allowing store management to humiliate employees "for the purpose of promoting the Defendant's revenues and profits," the lawsuit alleged.
Comcast said in a statement: "The Company has zero tolerance for harassment, humiliation, or any behavior that compromises a respectful and safe workplace. This matter is in litigation so we will not comment on the specific allegations, other than to say that we disagree with the claims in the complaint and its characterization of the alleged events, and intend to fully respond through the legal process."
[1] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/07/comcast-store-punished-low-sales-by-smashing-pies-in-workers-faces-lawsuit-claims/
[2] https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/comcast-store-manager-lawsuit.pdf
Sales managers are (Score:5, Insightful)
The scum of society. Sure lets be sadistic and have fun by humiliating people. It really builds the team and encourages people to do better. Except of course its assault. But hey what is a little crime good for but to give some low level manager a feeling of power over their world.
Re: (Score:1)
If someone in an entry level position had suggested a sad harmonica and slidewistle admonishment instead of a pie in the face they'd be a manager by now. No, no they would have likely been fired.
Re:Sales managers are (Score:5, Insightful)
It's public shaming, and you can go fuck yourself. This person was right to sue and they're gonna win.
Do you want to be publicly shamed about your performance in front of your entire cadre of coworkers? Neither does anyone else.
If there is a performance discussion to be had, it should be in a 1:1 setting, and it should be CONSTRUCTIVE. Literally nobody's performance will improve through humiliation.
Tell us you know nothing about managing people, without telling us you know nothing about managing people.
Re:Sales managers are (Score:5, Insightful)
> Making it a little 'good natured' internal competition is perfectly fine!
This is not good-natured. This is abusive. It's textbook abuse. This employee is going to win.
> Unless you're a FUCKING KAREN
That this is abuse is obvious unless YOU'RE A FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT.
If you have a poor performer, and you don't want to employ them, terminate their employment. Don't abuse them for your own sick sadistic pleasure. That costs extra.
Re:Sales managers are (Score:4, Insightful)
You're missing a key element: consent. At fundraisers, the participants know what's coming and opt-in; ground rules are established so it *is* fun and light-hearted. According to TFS, the plaintiff wasn't informed of this practice before joining the group, and clearly didn't consent. And it's not light-hearted: how hard are you getting whacked in the face? Did he get foreign material shoved up his sinuses? Did it cause physical harm, like a black eye? Are you wearing nice clothes, which will surely be ruined by pie filling?
Honestly, I don't know wtf is wrong with some slash dotters. You're not as smart as I'd expect.
Re: (Score:1, Troll)
Notice how it's all the Trump bootlickers who think this is totally fine.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm not crying. I'm saying this meets the legal definition of assault. It's also a business and supposedly staffed by adults not circus clowns.
Re: (Score:2)
So, in your world, "No" doesn't mean no?
Tell me: have you ever been accused of rape? Do women curiously shy away from you?
Re:Sales managers are (Score:4, Insightful)
How naïve are you?
Re: (Score:3)
Except you are ignoring the fact this is your boss telling you this. Sure, maybe you can say you aren't comfortable with it and nothing happens. Or maybe you say you are uncomfortable with it and the boss looks for a reason to fire you because you "aren't a good fit with the culture". If a group of friends do this, it is good fun. When your boss does it, it is assault and workplace coercion.
Re: (Score:1)
I hope not, I'm "only" 49.
Oh sh-t... I'm almost 50. Thanks a lot for reminding me of that.
Re: (Score:2)
Funny how it coincides with the ban of leaded gasoline.
Re: (Score:2)
Not sales managers, retail managers. Just basically the same floor employee given a modicum of power and responsibility and the power goes to their heads. Add to that the fact their employees are typically high school aged kids who don't know the law, whose parents are "tough it out" kind of people and the want of spending money means a captive audience for them to basically do every illegal thing in the book.
Re: (Score:2)
These guys are just one step away from a Lord of the Flies scenario.
One of the things I find funny about America (Score:2)
We get really up in arms about low-level crime committed by low level employees. So like this is a major point of outrage for the entire country. And God help you if you're a postal worker stealing birthday card money. Plus we will spend hundreds of billions of dollars going after people who steal a tiny amount of money. Like enormous resources go into tracking down people who steal cars worth a few thousand bucks. Although I get the frustration of having some numbnuts steal your beater. Somebody took my ol
Brutality of Banality (Score:5, Interesting)
> The plaintiff says he resigned after reporting the alleged assaults and is seeking damages for constructive discharge and emotional distress.
And I hope the plaintiff wins. When I used to work in retail and fast food, I ran into similar primitive managers, for whom humilitation was, apparently, a good management strategy.
But I never saw anything like this, going into the physical.
And that's the problem with many sales positions - no shade to the industry or its workers, but we tend to see the most uneducated savages climbing to management positions. Not just bad managers, but really horrible, abusive types.
Re: (Score:3)
If he wins this lawsuit, he will win twice: he will no longer have to work at Comcast. That's about the most toxic work environment you can find.
Re: (Score:2)
You keep bringing up this notion that somebody who WILLINGLY has pies thrown in their face at a fundraiser is somehow the same as somebody who UNWILLINGLY has pies thrown in their face. Do you really not understand the concepts of context and consent?
Re: (Score:2)
Assault doesn't have to cause physical harm or injury you know.
Re: (Score:1)
Rationally, there must at least be an intent to cause physical harm. combined with potentially injurious physical contact Any divergence with legal application must be our fault for letting lawyers and crybabies stretch the definition past any reasonable limit. I must reject such an assertion as insane.
There can be no intent to cause physical harm with a cream pie, it's a thin, flaky crust holding a pile of whipped cream. I defy you to hurt someone with whipped cream. Or a flaky crust. You don't need
Re: (Score:2)
at common law it was 'the putting in of fear'
So are you are precious snow flake afraid of backed goods? This is stupid, this Olympic level vitcimhood.
"designed and implemented" pie-in-face ritual (Score:4, Funny)
Sounds like more care was taken in developing this pie ritual than 80% of software development.
"Sales consultant"? (Score:2)
What the hell is that? Is that a salesman in PC-speak?
Re: (Score:2)
The bigger question is what exactly is a "Comcast retail store", anyhow?
Re: (Score:2)
I would think it obvious by the name. Comcast is a network operator in addition to owning NBC Universal - cable boxes, cable modems and a mobile phone MVNO.
They have retail stores where you can buy phones, and sign up for services - mobile, internet, cable TV, streaming, etc. You can get help with your shit. You can get replacement cable modems if yours dies.
This isn't hard.
Re: (Score:1)
I think you're missing the point. Retail sales is not consulting, it's retail. I've done retail sales and I've done consulting. They are entirely unalike. Calling the job "sales consultant" is like calling someone making fast food a "sandwich artist".
Re: (Score:3)
It's where you go to argue with someone exactly like this manager about why your bill is $300/month.
The one near me had an old lady go back in with a hammer and smash up the store. I completely understand why she did it.
Re: (Score:1)
Nah, it's salesman in marketing-gibberish. Like calling a receptionist "first impressions manager"
Must have been a film studies major (Score:2)
The sales manager must have been a film studies major and, when it became obvious he'd never actually become an actor, took on being a sales manager to eke a living. But film studies doesn't teach you much about that, so he thought back and tried to find a model for how to do the job. His solution: [1]Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross [youtube.com]. I can picture it now: "you gotta have brass balls to sell internet service."
[1] https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=glengarry+glen+ross+alec+baldwin+speech
Re: (Score:1)
The sales manager is a woman, and as I recall, Alec Baldwin was going to publicly fire the lowest performer, not make it a big, silly joke.
Clearly, the cinematic influence for this would come from The Three Stooges, not Mamet.
Re: (Score:2)
This reminds me of some of the things I've read about $cientology motivational practices, where the mid-level executives had to take turns standing in a garbage can and being screamed at by the other mid-level executives. (As told by the late Mike Rinder, who left the cult.)
hazing? (Score:2)
Sounds similar to the practice of "hazing" new pledges at college fraternities. Too many times the frat organizations kept saying "it's not our fault, we didn't know, they were acting independently!". Finally campuses basically said the buck stops with the org, it's such a common problem you can't turn a blind eye and say you didn't know it was going on. It's your responsibility to be actively LOOKING for it and making sure it doesn't happen. And if it still happens, you'll be held partly responsible.
Fu
Has to be better than actually being a customer. (Score:4, Funny)
When given two options.
1. Use comcast.
2. Get tied down and cream pied in the face.
Which is the better option?
Re: (Score:2)
That depends... are you into bondage an humiliation? Wait... didn't I see this one on PornHub?
Re: (Score:2)
If I had any choice but comcast, I'd take the pie to the face + a fiber connection from literally anyone else.
But alas, I live in a spot that has absolute shit cell service from all providers, no POTS line, and no fiber. Comcast is the only play if I don't want to give money to Elon, and I do not if I can help it.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
> I don't see how a sane adult with a semblance of a spine could look at this as physical abuse.
That's because you lack any semblance of morality.
> Hell, children know this isn't abuse!
Your lack of understanding of consent is why people cover drinks around you. Now you know.
Re: (Score:1)
You're verbally and emotionally abusing me and I'm going to sue.
That sound right to you? Or does that sound like I'm a little b-ch?
Note that this didn't even happen to the plaintiff. He saw someone get hit with a pie and ran away crying. It is pathetic.
Re: Thats no fun! (Score:1)
Since you ask, you always sound like a little bitch.
Re: (Score:1)
And now it's sexual harassment as well. Do you not see how stupid this is? A never-ending cycle of ever dumber claims.
Re: (Score:2)
You sounds like an obese bitch
Re: (Score:2)
Because you're a total fucking moron who doesn't understand the definition of assault.
I'm an adult at a place of business and collecting a paycheck. Treat me as such.
Re: (Score:1)
I can't help but notice that you're insulting me despite me never doing so to you. I've treated you like an adult despite your behavior. I criticize the complainant here for their far more childish behavior.
To me, you resorting to insults indicates that you know you're on the wrong side of the argument, so maybe I should just assume that and accept your concession. Sound good?
Re: (Score:2)
dude just hurl the abuse back at them. It is way more fun
hostile (Score:2)
> "we disagree with the claims in the complaint and its characterization of the alleged events, and intend to fully respond through the legal process.",
Comcast: hostile inside and outside of the work environment.
Re: (Score:1)
Pies in the face have been a source of hilarity, not hostility, going back to at least the early 20th century. For over a hundred years it has been a sign of good-natured silliness.
And this guy is suing because he saw it happen (he was there less than a month)? I shudder to think what would happen if someone let him see The Three Stooges.
Re: (Score:2)
Tell me you wouldn't get angry if I waited outside your door and hit you with a pie before you left for work.
Life Realignment (Score:2)
Man, this makes me feel just a bit better about spending the last 30 years in various types of tech support.
Fuck sales!
Positive and Negative Way (Score:3)
The sales manager could have taken this in a positive way, let the top sales lead smash a pie into the sales manager's face as a morale booster. The "humiliation" is born by the leader on their own orders, so it's all in good fun. Pushing that humiliation down onto one of your other employees is just bullying.
Re: (Score:2)
Everyone else being humiliated by stupidity like this is always a "whiny, spineless little baby" until it happens to you, right?
Unwanted physical contact is part of the common legal definition of assault. Your dismissive attitude won't change that.
Re: (Score:2)
That is certainly true. However I also don't think this lawsuit should be entertained. Nothing here rises to the level real harassment, except in the head of this former employer, if even there as it just as like they are suing some with deep pockets because they can.
Cases like this need to be tossed, quickly and loudly to cut the bullshit.
Wait, this never even happened to him? (Score:1, Informative)
"the lowest-ranked sales consultant for the prior month "
"he was hired as a retail sales consultant on February 2, 2026 "
"Figueroa resigned on February 27 "
So, what the hell is he complaining about? That he saw someone get hit with a pie? And he wants money for that?
It's bad enough that he has the gall to call a pie in the face, "assault" and "violent", but it didn't even affect him!
Every time I look further into this, he comes off as even more pathetic. And our legal system doesn't exist to pro
Re: (Score:2)
> Every time I look further into this, he comes off as even more pathetic.
Do you own a mirror? I suggest taking a good long look at it.
Re: (Score:1)
That you can't see how ridiculous and pathetic this is baffles me. This guy is suing because he saw someone get hit with a creme pie. Just think about that for a minute.
Re: (Score:2)
Thanks for doing the actual research. That is kinda crazy. Why didn't he get the person hit with the cream pie onboard to sue? I wonder if that guy is still employed.
Also it seems like this manager watched too much Nickelodeon as a kid.
Re: (Score:2)
He probably sees perfectly clearly unlike you, who can't see thru the constant tears.
What a sad sack
Who Paid for the Pie (Score:2)
Did the employee have to pay for the pie? That would be a bridge too far.
Re: (Score:2)
So, a [1]pie fee [wikipedia.org]?
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullet_fee
Re: (Score:2)
Did you put the lid on or did they put the lid on?
Seriously (Score:2)
It's a pie, don't get your panties in a knot over it. But it is comcast so I feel your pain, I would probably try and take this to court also. No reason not to stick it to the worlds most hated company.
The beatings will continue until morale improves (Score:2)
I guess the management there decided to go for the actual implementation of the catchphrase.
Sheesh.
The oppposite tack (Score:2)
Make it a reward, rather than a punishment.
I worked for a sales organization that offered that, if the teams' total sales for a month exceeded 120% of the previous month's total, the Sales VP volunteered to sit in a chair (outside) and let the top performers push pies into his face. (Disclaimer: they were just pie tins with whipped cream in them and he wore large sunglasses)
I still have pictures of the (very messy) results. A totally different kind of motivation that can work.
The floggings will continue until morale improves (Score:2)
Great, now "public assaults by co-workers" will be boilerplate in all new employment contracts. Thanks a lot!
Sadistic Sales Games (Score:5, Funny)
And the cream pie..? Is it a literal cream pie, or a modern slang cream pie?
Are you not the least bit aroused?
Re:Sadistic Sales Games (Score:5, Insightful)
Buddy, you've been spending WAY too much time on PornHub!
Re: (Score:2)
I mean I didn't make the connection, but the sales manager might have made that connection... It's extra humiliating, so, might have been on purpose.
You haven't been spending enough time! (Score:2)
> Buddy, you've been spending WAY too much time on PornHub!
Who is enjoying life more?..you or him? I think you got that backwards! Life is far more fun when your mind is in the gutter.