Greg Hardy has had an interesting journey as an athlete, and now he is experiencing the unconventional as he attempts to transition into a marketing entrepreneur. Hardy took to Instagram to show the world what he thought was an opportunity to learn the marketing business that devolved into being a greeter and sales associate at a local Walmart in Garland, Texas.
“Gotta keep it real with y’all. I don’t know how the f**k yall do this 9-to-5 sh*t, bro,” Hardy said on May 4 on his Instagram Live. “I thought like I had it hard being a celebrity and sh-t; this is not what’s up, boy. Heckle me because y’all job is hard. Every athlete, every basketball player, every football player, f**k them, go to a real job. That sh*t real.”
From Marketing Company Hopes To Walmart Realities
“So what happened was, I signed up at a marketing company because I’m trying to start a couple of companies of my own,” Hardy continued. “Homie called me into the office, thought I was in Wolf on Wall Street. Bro, turned out I’m wolf in the back alley. Tell me why they tell me on my first day you’re about to get big money, all you got to do is go sign some customers. I’m like, ‘Sign some customers? I thought we was marketing?’
“We’re doing signs,” he continued. “We’re doing market analysis using that graphic design degree I got. Lo and behold, these turned me into one of the Walmart Spectrum greeters. If you’re in Texas, if you’re in Garland, come see your boy; I’ll sell you some Spectrum, because I’m quitting today.”
Hardy, wearing a tie, hoodie, and eyeglasses, then shows his IG Live viewers his station in Walmart while talking to random customers and tapping in his friends to share his normalcy as an employee. It is a different look for a man once a Carolina Panthers and Dallas Cowboys member who is now tricked into a retail gig while searching for real-world marketing experience.
The Hardy Way
The former Ole Miss defensive end was drafted in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL draft by the Carolina Panthers, who he played with until 2014. His final stint in the NFL was with the Dallas Cowboys in 2015, where he spent only one season. After domestic abuse allegations that left Hardy on the wrong side of public opinion, he went deeper down the rabbit hole, becoming one of the first NFL players to leap into combat sports.
Hardy debuted on a UFC-affiliated reality competition called Dana White’s Contender Series, where he won two fights consecutively by first-round knockout. He quickly got into the UFC, fighting ten times and amassing a record of 4-5-1. After three consecutive losses by knockout, Hardy began to box, going 2-0 before losing his bare-knuckle boxing debut at Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships KnuckleMania 3 by second-round knockout.
Now Hardy has popped up in Garland, Texas, at a Walmart, searching for a career change. The life of Greg Hardy is full of twists and turns, and his IG Live 9-to-5 revelatory experience is just another chapter.