UPDATE: Car Dealership Wants To Hire Fired Tuxedo-Wearing Wawa Gas Attendant

Is Wawa’s loss Lester Glenn’s gain?

John Perillo Jr. says the Toms River-based auto group hopes so.

“We didn’t do this just as a stunt,” Perillo Jr. said Tuesday afternoon, of the company’s Facebook campaign to locate Michael Cuzzo, the gas attendant fired by Wawa last week.

News of the firing of Cuzzo, 52, known for his tuxedo, pink breast cancer awareness socks and silly props, spread like wildfire on social media last Friday, as fans of the Brick Township man recounted story after story of kindness and positive interactions they had with him as customers.

Among those who heard about Cuzzo’s firing from the Howell store was Mara Kraushaar, wife of Lester Glenn president Adam Kraushaar, who saw the story on the Patch.

“He (Adam) called me from Florida and asked me if I had seen the story,” Perillo Jr., the company’s director of variable operations, said. Kraushaar proceeded to tell Perillo Jr. that his wife got her gas from the Howell station frequently and thought the world of Cuzzo. Kraushaar wanted Perillo Jr. to track him down.

“He felt if anyone could make car buying a positive experience, it would be Mike,” Perillo Jr. said.

These days, when people come in to buy a car, they’ve done their homework. They know what they want and what they’re willing to pay for it, he said. The key for car dealerships is cultivating relationships that translate into customer referrals, he said.

And sometimes, Perillo said, that means breaking out the purple cow.

The concept, which is based on a children’s book about a cow who stands out because it is different, has been picked up by the business world. Seth Godin, the author of several books on marketing, enourages businesses to stand out ”like a purple cow” and be remarkable, according to a synopsis on Amazon.com.

“We want our employees to use their imaginations,” he said, “to think differently and be different, like the purple cow.”

Cuzzo -- who has an interview with Lester Glenn on Friday -- seems to embody that spirit, Perillo Jr. said.

Cuzzo said he was fired after a customer lodged a sexual harassment complaint last Wednesday. Cuzzo said the customer -- a passenger in a van that was getting gas -- accused him of sexual harassement fafter he used a hibachi toy called the Wee Wee Man to squirt window cleaner on the van’s side view mirror.

Wawa posted a statement on its website saying Cuzzo wasn’t fired based on the single complaint, but that there had been others. That’s a claim Cuzzo, who had received numerous customer service awards, denies.

“We all have skeletons,” Perillo Jr. said. “It’s up to the next employer to figure out whether those skeletons are serious or not.

“A lot of times with these big corporations, everything is black and white,” he said. ”But that stops growth. It puts your employees on cruise control.

“If you’re on cruise control, the ride gets boring,” he said.

“You hire people because they’re a purple cow,” Perillo Jr. said. “And when you do, you can’t get upset because they’re the purple cow.”

Perillo Jr. said the Facebook campaign to find Cuzzo caught the attention of management at the Hyundai corporate offices in California, because of the social media response. “The numbers we saw were crazy,” Perillo Jr. said.

“It (social media) is scary,” he said. “In this case (for Lester Glenn) it’s been positive, but it can turn on you at any time, like it has with Wawa.” The response from Cuzzo’s fans has led to a boycott of the Howell Wawa as well as a protest there on Sunday.

Cuzzo’s creatiivity may help Lester Glenn -- which has eight dealerships -- make buying a car fun again, Perillo Jr. said.

“Right now people compare it to going to the dentist,” he said. “We want to take that dentist feel out of it.”

Lester Glenn already encourages its employees to have fun while remaining professional. For example, managers at the dealerships dressed up as the presidents for Presidents’ Day. “So you had Abe Lincoln and George Washington walking around the showrooms,” Perillo Jr. said.

During the Christmas season, they will wrap offers in gift wrap for customers to open. The bottom line, he said, is creating a positive experience so customers come back and send their friends to the dealership.

“We are who we are because 500 people are allowed to use their imaginations every day,” Perillo Jr. said.

>> Related stories:

• Tuxedo-Wearing Gas Attendant’s Firing Not Wawa’s First Controversial Employee Action
• Protesters Rally To Support Fired Wawa Worker From Brick
• Mike Cuzzo Interview After Wawa Firing: ‘I‘m Overwhelmed’ By Support
• UPDATE: Wawa: ‘We Understand’ Customers’ Fury Over Firing Of Beloved Gas Attendant