Remember those hilarious Xtra Normal Evo 4G vs. iPhone videos I posted the other day? It turns out that the cat that made them, Brian Maupin, works at Best Buy selling mobile phones…or at least he did. His videos were viewed more than a million times, which is fantastic…to everyone except the powers that be at Best Buy. According to TechCrunch Maupin has been suspended indefinitely and is in the process of being fired:
The video in question was made by Brian Maupin, a 25-year-old based in Kansas City, Missouri. For the past three and a half years he’s been working at Best Buy selling mobile phones. He’s probably not going to be doing that anymore as Best Buy has suspended him indefinitely and is currently taking the steps to terminate him, Maupin tells us. The reason? The video.
The video became so popular (it currently has nearly 1.3 million views on YouTube) that someone at Best Buy corporate saw it. They then put two-and-two together that it was an employee at one of their stores that made it, and the hammer came down. “They felt it disparaged a brand they carried (iPhone/Apple) as well as the store itself and were fearful of stockholders & customers being turned off to Best Buy Mobile,” Maupin says.
That’s pretty crappy of Best Buy. Hopefully Maupin gets a high-paying gig that pays him for making Xtra Normal videos full time. It would be really sweet if his future benefactors hired me too. Ha!
Maupin, Bryan Danielson, and me…. There is no justice.
Note to self, don't do anything creative and post it to the internet if Best Buy hires me.
Thats lame!!!!! How the hell did they find out it was him?? I can see it happening in two instances. One he actually had a conversation similiar to the first one and two he uploaded or made that video at work.
@ Tokz;
He probably put his name up on his YouTube page, profile or whatever (I've never uploaded anything to YouTube, so I wouldn't know), but it had to be something relatively easy to connect him to this because I seriously doubt that someone from Best Buy is going to do due diligence on a random funny (and truthful) video.
-M
@tokz_21 The small production company he's a part of has his name listed. It wasn't too hard to find out who he was. Considering how many people saw the video, it was only a matter of time before Best Buy found out.
@rpad/iceman
that's uber lame either way. Sometimes the truth hurts but it has to be done. No one else but the creator and best buy knows that he works for them.
Those are pretty funny, but let's be serious, this is in the realm of making fun of your boss on Facebook. It doesn't help to bite the hand that feeds you, especially not publicly.
I agree. Don't rock the boat or make damn sure your name is redacted. However, if he had perhaps not used the word geek, he might have been saved.