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Here’s the trending team‘s Main Character of the Week:
It’s the 19-year-old who bought a Tesla and got instant buyer’s remorse.
A teenager in Utah called the dealership and complained about his purchase. The dealer posted this recording and it went viral on TikTok.
And while his complaints about Tesla’s limitations are completely valid, viewers had a difficult time mustering sympathy for someone who did not do their homework before purchase.
The buyer discovered that his Tesla could not be charged at his apartment complex. The teen also realized that charging his vehicle takes longer than filling up at the gas station.
These are easy concerns to Google before investing.
During the call, which played out like a father-son conversation more than a customer-business interaction, the teen’s dealer held firm. As the dealer, Alex, said:
“You’re going to ask me to lose thousands of dollars because you didn’t do your homework. That’s not fair to us. You need to take some responsibility here. You don’t just get to return a car after driving an hour, many miles and days and changing your mind, getting cold feet. That’s not how it works. That’s not how the law works. That’s not how business works, and that’s not fair to us.”
‘How did he not think about this beforehand?’
I turned 40 on Sunday. I accept that conventional wisdom around everything from sock length to the Latino vote has dramatically shifted since I was that young man’s age. What helps me not be rigid is remembering what it’s like to be 19.
Your friends are undergoing a personal, existential crisis. No one works a job for more than six months. You live with 15 other people. You knock on doors for money.
I worked security at the Austin Convention Center as a 19-year-old. I would show up after a long night of drinking for my midnight security shift, fall asleep in the events hall while I was supposed to be keeping an eye on speed boats for the boat show, wake up at 7am, call it a shift.
Nineteen-year-olds are awful. We are embryonic thinkers who exist only as the center of our own myopic universe. We kick the PlayStation 2 when we lose a game of Madden. We don’t realize that the gravy on our frozen Salisbury steak requires a saucepan, so we microwave the powder. Young men in particular cope with rejection as well as Bob Knight did.
One day, you realize that you can cut class and not face detention. So, you skip class. You are callous and short-sighted.
The Tesla teen
If you do it right, 19-year-olds drive cars that are unreliable, old, and unsightly. We must reckon with the consequences of our dumb, preventable fender benders. I.e., we can’t afford to get our cars fixed at 19, so we drive around in dented cans.
So I have a little love for any teenager who is afforded the luxury of driving a Tesla. New ones start at $44,000.
Even under the most charitable circumstances—say, a teenager comes from a philanthropic family who teaches him good moral values and rewards him with the means to buy a Tesla because of his overseas work for Habitat for Humanity—it is wrong for teenagers to drive nice cars.
Please email me an exception, and tell me where I’m wrong. Seriously, I’m not a parent and don’t pretend to be an expert on raising empathetic people.
For the moment, however, I maintain that the neuroplasticity of a teen brain is far too tender for them to be trusted with anything important. Moreover, driving a bad car—or being asked to take the bus—builds resilience, foundational maintenance knowledge that will serve them forever, gratitude, and empathy.
Think about the friend of yours who rebuilt a 1967 Camaro in the garage with his dad for years in anticipation of his driver’s license. Think of the friend of yours who drove a Chevy Lumina from the police auction. Think about the $500 Dodge Neons paid in full after multiple Baskin-Robbins shifts.
And this kid gets to drive a Tesla and complain about it?
He comes off as so naïve and entitled that it’s very difficult for viewers to do anything but point and laugh.
The “epic fail” is a tried, true formula for internet virality. Americans coalesce around one universal idea. In the main character columns that I’ve written over the past two years, I try to find understanding and empathy for the subject. Be it 48 oysters girl or the teens who stole the Ziosk at Olive Garden.
So I’ll remind myself that a 19-year-old is not a person quite yet. And I hope the next time he’s in a position to buy a car, he internalizes this moment and makes a responsible purchase.
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