A story from New Orleans involving Hertz Car Rental and a police officer reminds us of just how utterly stupid people can be. I guess it needs to be said, but Puerto Rico is part of the United States of America and Puerto Ricans do not need a passport to travel to the US mainland…
Hertz Calls Cops On Man From Puerto Rico, Claiming He Is A Foreigner And Cannot Rent Him A Car Without Passport
Humberto Marchand is an American who lives in Puerto Rico. He recently pre-reserved (and pre-paid) for a Hertz rental car at Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans (MSY). When he showed up to pick up his car, he was asked for his passport after presenting his driver’s license from Puerto Rico.
Why? The Hertz agent explained that those with a “foreign” driver’s license needed to present a passport and Puerto Rico was not part of the USA.
When Marchand explained that Puerto Rico was, in fact, part of the USA, she insisted that he was wrong. He eventually pulled out his phone to record the incident and she responded by calling the cops on him.
@Hertz I’ve been a Hertz Gold Member for more than a decade! I just got denied a Prepaid Reservation(3 weeks ago) because I only had my REAL 🆔 Driver License from PR 🇵🇷 – they required to physically show my passport-I only had a digital image!- they called @NOPDNews on me! …. pic.twitter.com/LSymCFPiqE
— Bert Marchand Paonessa (@Moonrican1) May 10, 2023
The cop would help, right?
Nope. The police officer was a condescending jerk, just as ignorant as the muttonhead Hertz agent. Police body cam footage reveals he failed to help Marchand nor did he neutrally advise Marchand that he must leave if Hertz refused to rent to him. Instead, he took the side of the Hertz agent and put his idiocy on full display by talking down to Marchand as if he was the stupid one (Marchand, for his part, remained remarkably composed and respectful).
Here’s the police body cam video showing what happened when a @Hertz worker at the New Orleans airport called police because a Puerto Rican man kept insisting that his drivers license was valid. The Hertz worker denied the man his pre paid rental car because he couldn’t present… pic.twitter.com/jG6FyDSSz9
— David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) May 19, 2023
This is why people hate cops. I work with a lot of cops and I have great respect, in general, for the profession and the willingness of most cops to put themselves in harm’s way in order to protect those they have sworn to serve. Far from being anti-fuzz, I laud police officers for their civic-minded duty. But I’ve seen it myself over and over–the power of carrying a gun or a stick (likely to compensate for their tiny other stick) goes to the head of some cops. The profession not only attracts the best and brightest but also some of the most narcissistic dullards that are actually a threat to public peace.
Of course, Hertz has clarified that Marchand is correct:
“Hertz accepts Puerto Rican driver’s licenses from our customers renting in the US without requiring a valid passport. We are reinforcing our policies with employees to ensure that they are understood and followed consistently across our locations.”
Thankfully, the Kenner Police Department is investigating the incident and has said, “We do not feel the officer represented the department well in this incident and commit to a full investigation into the officer’s conduct and take necessary corrective actions.” Good. That’ a start.
Now, @KennerPolice police say the cop did not represent them well & they’re investigating his conduct. They say they’ll take necessary corrective actions. Humberto Marchand, the Puerto Rican, man/customer in this video also filed a formal complaint with the dept. pic.twitter.com/Ek6NGuAuSz
— David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) May 20, 2023
Hertz owes Marchand more than an apology, though.
CONCLUSION
A Puerto Rican man was denied a car rental Hertz on the ground that he was a foreigner and did not have a passport. When he protested, the police were called and made the matter worse. Hertz has clarified that Marchand was correct and vowed to retrain the agent. Meanwhile, the police officer is also under investigation for his conduct.
How can people be so darn stupid? Can’t you pull up your phone and see that Puerto Rico is in the USA? I know the labor market is tight, but how sad that Hertz has to hire these imbeciles who are too stupid to even entertain the possibility that they may be wrong.
(H/T: View From The Wing)
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A) another day, another hertz f-up. Shocking… B) the fact the agent isn’t fired is a problem. This should be a teachable moment for all staff to verify they are correct before assuming the customer is wrong. Then again, hertz loves crappy staff. As evidenced by them hauling legal renters off to jail. This is why I use national.
Well does anyone else remember when president trump seemed confused about Puerto Rico? Referring to tweet April 2 2019.
Wow, you keep the dates of his tweets? That’s pretty obsessive.
Partisan dolt. Durrrrr…. “member when Obama thought there were 57 states”….. Hell, I don’t/didn’t like the man, but you people really had a mental breakdown over his win. Quite pathetic.
@ Brandon . Forget partisan dolt. Please refer to me as ” a Satan worshipping baby eating democrat” as this is what my MAGA friends call me. I only brought the tweet up as the post is about stupid people and Puerto Rico. In the Obama primary I supported Hilary, so no great celebration for me. And if we’re to discuss candidate quality ( which seems to be lacking everywhere) we’re going to need a different blog I fear
Yes, which is all the more reason to not bring it up at all. This isn’t a political blog, nor did the post have literally anything to do with politics. I don’t really care who you did or didn’t support. I don’t vote or get involved in this “go teams” silliness. It was just an unnecessary comment altogether.
Fine
Worse than their stupidity is their ignorance. This is a sad commentary on our educational system.
How did I know the hertz employee was going to be black.
How did I know the crooked cop was white?
Police don’t tend to get involved in matters between a business and its customers. Their purpose in a case like this is to intervene in an unlawful situation or trespass someone (whether they agree or not).
what is the Hertz idiot’s name. What country did she grow up in? puerto rico has American currency. I have american puerto rican pesetas minted by the usa treasury.
You cannot trespass someone from public property unless they commit a crime. Many cops don’t know this or they arrogantly do not care.
As for the Hertz employee definitely a product of yet another failed public school….
@Batchcaloupe …… and THAT statement we can agree on!!
“Puerto Rico is part of the United States of America”
Yes of course but….
I attended a week of “La semaine de la décolonisation” in Paris ten years ago.
One interesting communication was given by a Puerto Rican guy. His point was that Porto Rico (as we say in French) and the people living or originating Porto Rico have never been asked if they wanted to be part fo the United States of America. It is a colonisation of the US.
I am going far fron the day-to-day point of this issue.
And I am a citizen of a country who has colonised a lot of people and is still colonising people all over the world (New Caledonia; Tahiti, Martinique, Mayotte and so on).
But Matthew, you are a christian (I believe the words and the spirit of Jesus means something for you more than the Pope) and you are from Los Angeles, not Puerto Rico.
What are your ideas about Puerto Rico, not have ben able to choose their destiny?
Thats irrelvant to this topic, no?
Puerto Rico has had six popular referendums on its status. The last one was in 2020.
I’ve heard Puerto Ricans refer to PR as “my country” many times in person and on tv. Please stop or declare independence
Ok now do Texans
The colonization issue, and the citizens of Puerto Rico’s own interests is a complicated subject, and irrelevant to the driver’s license issue. Hertz messed up big time, and definitely owe this gentleman a lot more than an apology. As does the police department.
Couldn’t the retired federal government Puerto Rican employee have asked the kind Kenner police officer how the airline allowed him to board a flight without a Puerto Rican passport? If the officer is deputized,wasn’t he supposed to take the foreign national to an Immigration Department location for processing?
“… likely to compensate for their tiny other stick”
Totally not necessary, you should be above a comment like this.
Agreed. It serves zero purpose to the story and is juvenile.
Let’s go Brandon!
Besides this story, Hertz might accuse you of STEALING their car. Don’t rent from HERTZ or any other big name for that matter.
People are talking about Puerto Rico. Let’s talk about HERTZ, where it HURTS.
And how is Hertz making this right? With a simple apology. The clerk is too stupid to be assisting customers. Send her to the cleaning detail.
The clerk wasn’t trained, trained properly, or “forgot”. She calls the cops instead of her supervisor? The supervisor probably doesn’t know the answer, either.
Isn’t the solution to sue Hertz?
Nothing else will do anything.
It’s pretty simple… the cop and the agent get fired and find a new line of work more suited to their capabilities. In this case niether show even the slightest degree of competence for jobs that require human interaction.
One call to a supervisor or even a Google search could have ended the argument in 2 minutes.
I can guarantee if I ever treated a customer the way this man was treated I’d be fired. And yes, we the people are also the customer when interacting with any government officials. We the people. Serve and protect. Serve. He broke his oath, fire him. Fire her. Give Roberto free rentals for life. And Hertz should do an ad campaign educating all Americans that yes, PR is part of America.
On the plus side Hertz just keeps reminding me that even though I’m Presidents Circle it’s not worth renting from them. They seem far more comfortable putting customers in jail than in cars. They need to be sold, restructured, reorganized, something. Soon.
As for the Kenner police, I’m sure the officer turned off his camera prior to making the “immigration” comment. Therefore, the police chief can state there was no mention of the above “on the tape”. Legal loop hole!!
Doesn’t preclude he actually made the comment “off the record”.
Maryland MUST U BRING POLITICS into this??Since u did Joe does not even know PR is a country or where he is at any time!!! He does know he gets his chocolate chip ice cream every night