A man who was turned down for a job in a restaurant has criticized their policy of no visible tattoos, saying that minor ones shouldn't have stopped him from getting the position.
Colin Kenrick, 32, of Los Angeles, was applying for the role of a server in a "premium casual restaurant," which entailed a three-step hiring process. Following a group interview via Zoom and then an in-person interview, he was feeling confident about his chances—until they asked about his tattoos.
Kenrick has a small tattoo on each of his forearms, and as soon as he told the interviewer about them, she thanked him for coming but said they wouldn't be offering him the job. Kenrick was incredibly confused by this and told Newsweek that "never in a million years" did he think his minor tattoos would stop him from getting a job.
"At the end of the interview, they effectively told me they wanted to hire me, and she asked if I had visible tattoos," Kenrick said. "I was wearing a short-sleeve shirt, so I thought she was being sarcastic. When I answered yes, she told me they have a strict no-tattoo policy.
"I offered to cover them with a slightly longer sleeve shirt or makeup because they are very small, but they told me no. The policy is not referenced anywhere on their application nor mentioned in the group interview."
The experience came as quite a surprise to Kenrick, who feels that tattoos shouldn't stop someone from being hired, especially not in 2024. He shared his thoughts in a TikTok video (@colin_thescarletopera), and the post went viral with almost 700,000 views and more than 25,800 likes so far.
During the clip, Kenrick said companies "are welcome to say no," but that it seems "so ridiculous" to have a policy like that in the service industry. He also showed the two tattoos that led to his rejection; one forearm has a tattoo of the word "everything," and the other is a lyric from his band that reads: "keep the party alive."
After going viral, Kenrick said that having tattoos certainly doesn't impact a person's ability, and he used the examples of his friends with much larger tattoos who are lawyers and doctors.
Kenrick continued: "I do think businesses that judge on such things are potentially missing out on great candidates. If you are good at your job and good with people, tattoos shouldn't keep you from a job.
"My frustration is geared toward the restaurant's inability to communicate that information with me earlier in the process, therefore wasting both my and their time, as well as the hypocrisy of having female servers with tattoos. The only reason I can imagine is that they had different rules for male and female servers."
Thankfully for Kenrick, he has since been accepted for a job role at another restaurant. He is working there part-time while also traveling and pursuing a career in music.
Since posting his experience online, he has been amazed by the reaction, adding that he was frankly shocked by how many people wanted to share their experiences.
"I'm a musician and spend plenty of time on social media promoting music, and I see how tough that can be, so I was very surprised to see how many people wanted to engage with this post," Kenrick said.
At the time of writing, the viral TikTok video has gained more than 4,200 comments. While many social-media users backed the restaurant for upholding their policy, others wrote that it is an unnecessary rule in modern society.
One comment reads: "I think the societal stigma of tattoos being unprofessional and unsightly is weird and nonsensical to begin with."
Another TikTok user wrote: "In this day and age, tattoos should never be an issue."
A third commented: "Their business, their rules."
"That is their choice. That is a red flag, and it isn't weird that they have their rules," added another TikTok user.
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