Kate Hackett
Abigayle Canterbury recently told TikTok that she quit her job after her manager revealed his true, fatphobic, nature.
Her videos have quickly gone viral and touched on a conversation about workplace discrimination.
Abigayle explained what happened:
So the job that I really liked, I quit last night. Let me tell you why. I’m not smiling because it’s funny. Oh, no. I’m smiling because I’m enraged.
I started this job on the 15th. Last night was my last night. So about maybe four days ago, maybe five days ago, I got dress coded at this job that does not have a dress code. Make that make sense. You can’t.
But something that is very important to note is the fact that I am also the only plus size female that they had working.
I’ve never been into one of their locations and seen a bigger girl working. It’s always been very small, petite girls, and they’ve always worn whatever they wanted, which, when I got this job, was part of the reason I was kind of excited.
I’m like, hell yeah, I can dress cute. I can dress however I want. Obviously not pushing the boundaries because I know that they’re going to be there, given it’s a job.
But I was under the impression I could wear a crop top with some jeans, and that’s not a big deal. It’s supposed to be like a really laid back environment, whatever.
And if they had had a dress code in place, they should have told me that when I started. But based on the things that my coworkers were wearing, it was very obvious that we did not.
The day that I was dress coded, I got a text message from my manager. And the text message said, basically, the business owner saw what I was wearing and he wanted to tell me to cover the stomach.
So basically, despite the job being loose with the clothing rules, and despite her coworkers wearing crop tops, Abigayle was told she needed to cover up.
Abigayle went on:
So initially, the way that he worded that did get under my skin, I’m like, cover my body? Have you seen your other f**king employees, bro?
Literally the very next day when I came in, my coworker was wearing a very cute outfit. I loved it. And I even told her, I was like, “I love your outfit. That’s so cute.”
We got to talking about clothes, and I asked her, “have you ever been dress coded here?” She had been there significantly longer than me.
And she was like, “I’ve had them say something to me maybe once before, but not really.” And I was like, “so you haven’t?” And she was like, “no.” I was like, “okay.”
Next time I worked with another female, same scenario. She was wearing stuff that, according to them, was just inappropriate. So I asked. I was like, “have you ever been dress coded?” And she was like, “No, I haven’t.” And I was like, “okay”.
I told them, manager texted me, and this is what he said, and they brought this up later. Yes, I did read them the message. Because that s**t really not only caught me off guard but kind of hurt my feelings.
And they acted so empathetic about it. They acted like, “Oh, my God. I cannot believe that that happened. I cannot believe that. I’m so sorry.” They were full of f–ing s**t.
She posted a pic of the outfit she wore the day in question and…
Wow, that’s not offensive whatsoever.
And if that’s the style everyone else wore, there is no reason she should’ve been told to “cover up” unless everyone got similar messages.
Abigayle spoke with Bored Panda about the incident and fatphobia in the workplace.
“[It is] definitely a very prominent thing in the workplace,” Abigayle says. “It happens so much, and until we start talking about it, nothing will change.” To anyone else who has dealt with similar discrimination, Abigayle says, “Don’t ever settle for a job that can’t give you basic respect. They need employees to run their business, and if they can’t give basic respect to them, why would they hire them in the first place?”
h/t: Bored Panda
