A woman on TikTok has gone viral for quitting her job after she was told to “cover her stomach” by her boss.
This is despite the fact that her job at a smoke shop has no official dress code for employees and that other co-workers wore similar outfits.
As the only plus-size woman in the shop, she believes she’s been singled out.
The now-deleted viral video was shared by Abigayle Canterbury (@abigaylecanterbury) on TikTok.
She began by explaining that she was “under the impression” that she could wear a crop top with jeans since other colleagues dressed in similar outfits at the smoke shop in Mobile, Alabama.
But only three weeks after she started working there, she was “dress-coded” by her boss.
“I’m in rage,” Abigayle said in the video. “I got a text message from my manager, basically saying the business owner saw what I was wearing, and he wanted to tell me to ‘cover the stomach.”
“If they had a dress code in the first place, they should have told me that when I started,” she explained.
“But based on the things that my co-workers were wearing, it was very obvious that we did not,” she added.
She ended up sharing the texts between her and her boss.
“Hey the business owner talked to me yesterday about your clothes,” Abigayle read out the message. “He said please dress something nicer and cover the stomach. Thank you. Just cover all your body that’s what he means.”
When she asked for clarification on what this meant, she didn’t receive the answers she wanted.
“Just cover all your body, that’s what he means,” the manager responded . Feeling upset by the comments, she asked her co-workers who dressed in similar “inappropriate” clothes if they had ever been dress-coded, and they said no.
This led her to believe that she had been singled out as the only plus-size girl in the store.
Not wanting to work at a place with double standards, she had no choice but to quit.
“I really liked the job, but I had to quit,” she said.
“Not only did the text message caught [sic] me off guard but it hurt my feelings,” she continued.
“They acted so empathetic about it, they acted like, ‘Oh my god, we can’t believe that happened and we’re sorry.'” She also had another talk with her manager.
She was able to explain how she felt “singled out” due to the treatment she received.
Canterbury’s unfortunate experience sparked a huge conversation in the comments about fat-shaming.
“I had a coworker make news stories because a restaurant fired her for her weight not meeting dress code,” one commenter wrote.
“I’ve dealt with something like this,” another commenter wrote.
“As soon as they said, ‘well that’s all,’ I said, ‘yes I’m done here’ and walked out. Best feeling EVER.” Another shared that jeggings became a double standard at their workplace.
“Bigger girls shouldn’t wear them. But petite girls are ok, just not big girls,” they shared.
Many users also slammed the owner of the store, accusing him of “discrimination” or “fatphobia.” The manager wasn’t beloved, either, as Abigayle explained in another video that she was told by them to stop talking about being dress-coded.
They even accused of her seeking a raise.
At the end of the day, she’s happy that she quit that job and stood up for herself.
“I have too much respect for myself to stay in a predicament or a job situation where I’m made to feel bad for being myself,” she said.
