A word to describe a person who doesn't use their own products or policies

Question

I am looking for a word or phrase to describe someone that didn't use their own tool, follow their own policy or use their own product, due to some ironic twist of fate. Almost the antithesis of the phrase "Eats their own dogfood."

For example, a UPS employee that chose to ship something via Fed-Ex because UPS didn't offer overnight shipping at the time. The employee made a logical and justifiable decision, so it is more of an ironic twist than anything intentional or malicious.

I considered hypocrite, but that seems to conflict with the justifiable aspect of the choice. Traitor is way too harsh and implies a malicious intent that isn't in the situation, either.

Answer 1

Some would call the person a pragmatist:

One who acts in a practical or straightforward manner; one who is pragmatic; one who values practicality or pragmatism.
One who acts in response to particular situations rather than upon abstract ideals; one who is willing to ignore their ideals to accomplish goals.

Others might term him or her a ditherer, or might apply previously-suggested terms turncoat or renegade, although I think related words apostate, one who has lost the faith, or defector, with its sense of disloyalty, are more appropriate. Also consider phrases like “strayed from the fold”.

Heretic also is relevant. From en.wiktionary, heretic means “Someone who, in the opinion of others, believes contrary to the fundamental tenets of a religion he claims to belong to”, so one may say, figuratively, that an employee who for some reason prefers the services of a competing company is guilty of heresy, or is a heretic.

Answer 2

From what I understand, the person has decided to abort the planned course of action in light of new information.

turncoat? overthrower? renegade?

Answer 3

It depends on the point of view. The company he works for can think that he is disloyal but most companies nowadays abandon that mindset. They might even encourage their employees to use competitor products mainly for competitor analysis or benchmarking.

disloyal: not loyal to someone who you have a close relationship with or to an organization that you belong to - Macmillan

From an outside perspective, you can say that he is a rational buyer.

However, there can be cases that using a competitor product is banned in some companies but it is rare:

Last year, Microsoft reportedly banned departments from purchasing Apple products, although employees weren't prohibited from buying Macs and iPads for their own personal use. Still, an article in The Wall Street Journal at the start of the current decade detailed how many Microsoft employees hid the use of their personal iPhones at work, especially in front of CEO Steve Ballmer.

retailwire.com

Answer 4

Maverick I like best. Freethinker can also fit the bill.