A 29-year-woman was faced with a dilemma shortly after she took on a job offer. She was told she either had to cover up her pink hair or look for work elsewhere. She accepted the challenge and her amusing way of overcoming the restriction has gone viral.
Emily Benschoter turned to TikTok to share her journey at her new workplace, but with the twist that she can never show her pink hair while she’s on duty. She only found out the fact after she had already been interviewed and offered the position, a front-of-house role in the hospitality industry, because there was no prior contact with her employers in-person or over video chat during the hiring process.
Her manager then suggested she wore a wig and that’s when she decided to pick the funniest ones she could find. Her first TikTok video with the first wig went up on July 19, 2023, and it read: “When you have pink hair, but corporate does not approve, so you wear terrible wigs.”
Since then, people have become invested in her wig choices and her clips have been viewed millions of times. “The worse the wig, the better,” she admitted in an interview. “It is a way to open up the conversation with the customers who think it is insane that I have to cover my pink hair.”
In the same interview, Benschoter also took time to explain why she didn’t just simply dye her hair instead. “Dying my hair for a job I work at for 40 hours per week wasn’t an option,” she revealed. “I am a self-expressive person and I feel very confident with pink hair, so I came up with a solution to keep the job and my hair.”
Despite her having fun with the situation, she doesn’t approve of it. “It’s dehumanizing that I can’t be accepted at face value because my hair is a non-traditional color,” she said. “It’s so superficial that my hair color is an obstacle.”
As we’ve seen, job requirements when it comes to our physical appearance can be an issue for some. For a woman known as the “Dragon Girl,” it’s actually been an impossible task to overcome. Amber Luke chose to get over 600 tattoos to change her appearance, but now people refuse to employ her.
Preview photo credit emuhleeebee / TikTok, emuhleeebee / TikTok
Heavily-Tattooed Woman Says It’s “Not Fair” That She Can’t Get A Job
Following a woman’s accusation that TJ Maxx was discriminating against her due to her appearance, a subsequent instance involving a job rejection at the store has generated controversy. 23-year-old Ash Putnam, who goes by @ashxobrien on TikTok, talked about how she was turned down for a part-time job at the store because of her body piercings and tattoos.
Putnam claims that after applying for the job, she got an email a few weeks later rejecting her application. Disappointed by the information, she vented her annoyance on TikTok and sparked a discussion on discrimination in employment.
Putnam’s initial grievance was with the impersonality of getting an email rejection instead of a call. Even though this is standard procedure for big businesses, she thought it was disrespectful considering how hard she worked to apply for the position.
When Putnam went to her neighborhood TJ Maxx to personally find out why she was rejected, a staff member informed her that she didn’t have enough experience for the role. Despite the employee’s insistence to the contrary, she suspected that her tattoos had a big influence on the choice.
Putnam stressed that, despite her unhappiness, she wasn’t necessarily in need of the work and was just looking for extra money to help her pay off debt faster. She thought it was unjust, though, that her tattoos appeared to be a deciding factor in her employability.
Putnam has obvious tattoos of images associated with Satanism, including a Leviathan Cross and a goat that symbolizes the god Baphomet. Thousands of TikTok users commented on her post, implying that her tattoos probably affected the decision, even though it’s unclear whether hiring supervisors noticed them when she applied.
Visible tattoos, according to some reviewers, may be viewed as unprofessional, particularly in jobs where employees interact with customers like those at TJ Maxx. Others brought out the difficulty of finding a job for young folks without any prior work experience if employers value experience over potential.
The event brought up more general concerns about how society views physical alterations and employment procedures. Putnam questioned why having a tattoo should prevent someone from getting a job, given that many tattoo bearers are quite skilled workers.
Putnam’s tattoos may not have had a direct impact on her rejection, but the event brings attention to the ongoing discussion over appearance-based discrimination in the workplace. It’s critical to think about how hiring procedures may be more inclusive and equal for all candidates, regardless of appearance, as the conversation continues.
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