A Georgia woman is facing a hair dilemma at her new job. After being hired for a front-of-the-house position in the hospitality industry, Emily Benschoter, 29, was informed about the company’s dress code. This came as a surprise to her, as she had already been hired after a phone interview. When she inquired about the acceptability of her pink hair, the employer suggested she wear wigs as an alternative.
In an act of rebellion, Emily now deliberately wears awful wigs to work as a form of
“malicious compliance,”
she wrote in a TikTok post.
“Dying my hair for a job I work at for 40 hours per week wasn’t an option,”
Benschoter, told Newsweek.
“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.”
The TikToker has showcased her creativity by choosing wigs that are embarrassing, alarming, and inexpensive. She has gone to great lengths to find the most outrageous options. Her followers have even joined in on the fun by purchasing wigs for her from her Amazon Wishlist.
“It’s dehumanizing that I can’t be accepted at face value because my hair is a non-traditional color. It’s so superficial that my hair color is an obstacle,”
she told Newsweek.
“I prefer my pink hair, it’s me to my core. So now I purposely pick wacky wigs which is quite funny,”
she continued.
“The worst the wig, the better.”
In a recent video, Benschoter is seen sporting a disheveled brown and blonde wig with bangs, and shoulder-length wavy hair that curls up and extends several inches from her head. Another wild choice includes a long, curly brown hairpiece with an impressively long beard reaching her chest.
“When you have pink hair, but corporate does not approve, so you wear terrible wigs,”
she wrote on TikTok.
“I serve malicious compliance by wearing terrible wigs.”
“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,”
she told Newsweek.
#Clique, what are your thoughts?
