He called it cheating, not me.

I'd call it more taking advantage of the situation (he did too), which I like in my sales colleagues, and less in my engineering colleagues.

I'd hire him for sales.

Talk about not wanting to hire someone: this person used the word playfully, not in the literal negative doing-something-wrong sense: but you're actually saying you ::like:: cheating in some of your staff as long as it makes you money

I wouldn't want that comment associated with my name.

Not to mention the endless amount of false expectations and customer complaints that causes, wasting engineers or devs & post-sales support staff endless hours dealing with the fallout. And nothing good happens to a company's culture when cheating in one area is fully embraced.