I used to work at a car dealership as a title clerk. You are right about one thing: car salesmen are desperate. They're being conned just as much as the buyers are. Their ability to support their families is tied to their commission. At the dealership I worked at, the salesmen literally drew lots to see how much of their base salary they would have to pay to the company that month in "operating costs." The theory behind that one was to keep the salesmen keen to close sales.

That was my first job, but I've had dozens since and nowhere else have I seen such unambiguously shady and downright illegal behavior occur under one roof, almost entirely by the senior management and higher. The rank and file weren't too bad. Every one of them would tell me to learn all I could there, but go back to college so I wouldn't have to do what they did for a living.