A video showing apparent employees of a dealership in California involved in an all-out brawl is making the rounds on the internet. And while I don’t have a ton of information to give you about what precipitated the melee, I can show you the video itself, which is rather absurd.
Update (April 17, 2023 6:15 P.M. ET): I discussed the situation with the Milpitas Police Department. Its representative didn’t have a whole lot to tell me other than that on April 8 “there was a call about a fight. It was between some employees that work [at the dealership].” By the time police had arrived, some parties had already left, so officers are now “contacting people and conducting their investigation.” No medical aid was needed.Â
This all went down at Envision Toyota of Milpitas near San Jose (I confirmed this by finding images of the dealership’s showroom, which contains the beautiful vintage car wall-graphics you see in the clip), apparently sometime earlier this month. The clearest video of the altercation comes from Twitter user “ange,” whom I reached out to for more information. Until I hear back, this tweet (which contains tags implying that the fight involved a sales manager or sales managers) are all we have. Have a look at the brawl:
I went to Toyota and the employees started brawling. This was actually the SECOND fight. Don't mind my commentary.. @fighthaven @30secfights #SalesManager vs. #GeneralSalesManager #FightHaven #Crown #ToyotaCrown #Fight #Brawl #Envision #Milpitas #Toyota #EnvisionToyota pic.twitter.com/erhnYSEMCr
— ange (@l0veleahh) April 13, 2023
Here are some quotes from the video based on what I can hear (some of the words are difficult to decipher amongst all the hoopla):
“Cut this shit out, cut this shit out right now.” — This seems to come from an unknown person in the room.
These words appear to perhaps come from the white-shirted big guy involved in the fight, though again, it’s not clear:
“You saw what I did to that punk-ass.”
“Mother f*ckers (trying to jump me?)”
“[indecipherable]…drop you, motherf*cker”
And these terms seem be coming from someone in a position of leadership:
“I’m telling you guys [indecipherable]… you guys all gonna go in jail right now.”
“I just called the cops, you wanna be here [indecipherable]…go in jail you can go or leave the lot right now.”
Someone named Ebereto Chan posted to Facebook a video showing a different angle and a little more of the tail end of the fight. Here it is (open it in full-screen):
What started the fight? Who are the parties involved? To these, we don’t have answers. All we have are tweets from ange, the apparent shooter of that top video in the tweet. Here’s what she — someone who “just wanted [her] car serviced” writes in her Twitter thread:
Yes!! They all work there. I understand that one was a sales manager and another the general sales manager? Everyone in The video works there..
— ange (@l0veleahh) April 16, 2023
I was shocked. But knew I had to record when I saw people running
— ange (@l0veleahh) April 16, 2023
This one’s actually quite funny:
Yes, the one they fought on is the new Crown model! Check it out lol
— ange (@l0veleahh) April 15, 2023
Again, nobody has details on this; even ange isn’t sure what caused the fight, with her Twitter thread being full of only rumors and jokes:
I’ve reached out to the dealership and to the local police. The former has not responded to my inquiries, and the latter told me it doesn’t yet have a press release to show regarding such an incident, and that police records are not available at this time. (It’s unclear if police records exist. I’ll find out when the office opens tomorrow). If anyone has details on this situation, please email tips@autopian.com.
Top Image: Screengrab from ange (Twitter)
“i told you for the last time, the m-f-ing floormats are NOT included!”
I know Kia has been doing a ton of stuff worth emulating lately but I didn’t think the dealership experience was one of them
Pink Shirt Guy got grounded to the ground.
Toyotathon is fuckin brutal! \m/…(>.<)…\m/
This should be the theme music for Toyotathon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkiAGrAL0qs
While largely forgotten in the sanitized modern era, the violent roots of celebrations like Toyotathon and Trucktober are still observed on occasion. And the less said about the solstice “fertility festival” that begat Happy Honda-days, the better.
Solstice was another Toyota. Now the Prelude to the “fertility festival”… 😀
Your are of course referring to the legendary Happy Ending Honda Days.
Rage happens… Its a sales thing
Cocaine is a hell of a drug
Bill thinks it is real funny to take customers on a test drive, lock the windows and fart
He got told to put the coffee down. Coffee is for closers!
They’re fighting over who gets to sell the 4Runner TRD Pro with a $40,000 markup
98% chance that this was the result of credit for a deal being doled out in an unexpected manner by the sales manager. (A split deal!?!? MOTHERFSCKER!!!)
Auto salespeople tend to be desperate people perpetually on the brink of insolvency. Fuck with the money they are expecting and bad things happen.
Toyota is trying to be less boring.
The work environment depicted reminds me of this scene from Metalocalypse:
https://youtu.be/HkHGrSBzh9g?t=928
Man, I miss that show.
Rumored to be returning.
Yup, there’s a new movie and a tour! https://www.revolvermag.com/culture/metalocalypse-announce-new-movie-soundtrack-and-dethklok-album
Oh, what a feeling.
With a few exceptions, the attitude of the sales side of my local dealerships is bad; maybe not this bad, but still a bit toxic.
someone didn’t want the TruCoat!
Or a customer said they wouldn’t pay a markup
Toyota USA has dispatched Perky Jan to sort this shit out.
Don’t mess with Jan. Someone that perky always has a dark side they’re suppressing. 😉
I’ll tell you this much, the big guys in the white shirts will be facing some (likely felony) battery charges because they kept coming. Doesn’t matter how it started, when you keep attacking, you’re going to face charges (as it should be).
I agree. Quite possible that there are a couple broken bones and need for stitches which would make this a potential felony. Hopefully these idiots will stop acting on emotions and start thinking about their actions, but I’ve been trying to get parolees to do that for more than a decade with no luck so far so my hopes aren’t high.
It can be very tough to control emotions, but giving into the desire to beat on someone is selfish on so many levels, among other things
Based on my experiences with car salespeople I figured this was just the morning routine at most dealerships to be honest
so lame that a routine staff meeting is considered news these days …
Three suggestions:
Somebody ate all the donuts? A Seinfeld episode come-to-life?
The Jerry Springer Show live on location?
A new reality series, Real Finance Managers of Milpitas?
FYI, Milpitas is essentially north San Jose and is about 120 road miles south of Sacramento. Milpitas is also where Ford had a major assembly plant from 1955 to 1983 which built both Mustangs used in Bullitt and over 2.5 million other vehicles.
Good point. Changed!
And just behind this dealership is the Elmwood Correctional Facility. Very convenient for day release work at the dealership.
I had the misfortune of working at a Hyundai dealership in South Carolina during the early ’90s. Our store was right next to a Dodge store that was staffed almost entirely by non-violent offenders who resided at a nearby halfway house. Every day at 5:30PM a van would show up on the service drive and a half-dozen salespeople would fill it like a clown car.
well over a 2 hour drive. I used to live in Sacramento and went to a friends wedding in Milpitas 😀
It’s also due south along 880 and 680 from Fremont where NUMMI/Tesla’s plant is
And that Ford Plant is now a shopping Mall- in other news the original Tesla factory is 3 more exits up Highway 880.
Little guy must’ve been a Warriors fan.
Warriors! Come out and play-ay! Warriors!
In the 70’s-90’s the western burbs of Chicago had a huge Chevy dealership where the salespersons regularly went to fisticuffs over customers. As a medic in the town it was a regular call for us to deal with a person injured from a fight.
The one with the ads featuring a catchy jingle and owners with large wads of cash?
Quick California geography point: Milpitas is in Santa Clara County near San Jose, southeast of San Francisco; it’s nowhere near Sacramento.
Pretty cavalier with the term “brawl” here. That appeared to be a fist fight with some nearby minor scuffle over a thrown piece of furniture. This is directly contrary to Boondock’s claim that a thrown chair will instigate a brawl.
I can’t tell if white shirt/blue pants is big or lavender shirt guy he pummeled is that little. Either way, smaller guy chose wrong in fight/flight/freeze.
Had the same thing at our local high school. Three kids got into a fight after a basketball game. Sixty kid stood around and captured video of it on their phones. Local media spent the next three days showing video of the “brawl” outside the school.
Looks like somebody asked for it, and somebody got it. Toyota!
Whoever is in charge at that dealership needs to get their people in check. Fisticuffs on the sales floor is indicative of a deeply flawed work environment.
“deeply flawed work environment” Almost the definition of automotive retail sales…
Someone stepped on someone else’s shoe and scuffed it, what’s to figure out? That’s why you need to stick with black AF1s, nothing to worry about