Was my co-worker being offensive, or did he hit the nail on the head?

My co-worker is African-American. He is a service advisor at the luxury car dealership where I work. He had a customer who is also African-American. The customer's car needed extensive service/repair work. After the customer declined the work, Dennis said to him, ';Why is it our people are so quick to buy a luxury car, but never pay money to keep them maintained!'; The customer went straight to our General Manager.Was my co-worker being offensive, or did he hit the nail on the head?
many people buy beyond their means and can not afford to maintainWas my co-worker being offensive, or did he hit the nail on the head?
That's kind of offensive. He was offending the customer personally, not just the entire black race.


You have to feel out a person before you make a joke like that. Not everyone finds everything funny.
Being right has nothing to do with being diplomatic.
Being offensive.
He would know about his 'own people' better than a white person would, I suppose. He may be right, but he isn't really helping anything by saying it.
What your co-worker said was actually against federal laws and he should be fired. Good job by your customer of speaking up and stopping this harassement.
It's not okay to be racist just because you belong to the race you're insulting. It may be true that the customer is making a poor decision, but that's his right, and is not necessarily related to his race. Dennis could have politely recommended that he reconsider and given reasons, but he basically told the dude that he's irresponsible like all black people. What kind of reaction did he expect?
nope, he is being offensive. it's not his job to comment on people's decisions to get their car fixed/not fixed at his dealership. just because he's black and he made that comment to another black customer doesn't make it ok. in that regard, he should keep his big yap shut from now on before he gets himself in trouble again.
He's being offensive and stereotyping. I worked in a dealership for years and have seen white people do the same. They end up with the biggest payment they can afford so when the car needs a $500 dollar service they can't afford it. I think that African Americans come across enough hard times. Anyone who is looking to fulfill those stereotypes is a jerk.
He never should speak like that to any customer...big mistake.