Crystal Harrington, a 22-year-old woman, was not hired for a waitressing job because of her weight. She wants to share the manager’s hurtful comments and inappropriate behavior during the interview. Crystal, a single mother, applied for the waitress position at Baytown Seafood Restaurant in West Columbia to earn extra money, but the manager turned her down in a straightforward manner, leaving her extremely sad.
Harrington admitted that she may not have the same level of thinness as before. However, she believed it should not hinder her from being considered for a server position at a seafood restaurant in West Columbia. Unfortunately, the restaurant manager rejected her application, preferring a candidate who fitted a specific appearance for serving food rather than someone who could efficiently deliver the food to customers.
“While you might have a skinny waitress do a really crappy job, she’s going to get the tips, whereas big girls like us, and she did say us, and I don’t know why because she’s not my size. She’s not big to me. Big girls like us won’t get the tip,” Harrington said.
Harrington was offered a job at a seafood restaurant, but she declined because they didn’t accept her for being a large woman.
She said: “It was over the line. ‘Did you feel discriminated against?’ In a sense, yes.”
It is possible that the manager did not violate any laws with their comments. However, the comments were insensitive and upset the single mother.
Mary Pruett, the manager of Baytown Seafood who Harrington was referring to, was confronted at a later time. However, she denied making any comments about Harrington’s weight.
“‘Is there a chance that you just said something that was maybe a little rude or unprofessional?’ No, not at all,” Mary Pruett said. She denied ever making any comments about the single mother’s size.
According to Pruett, Harrington was incorrect in sharing information about her.
“That is incorrect. What she has posted is incorrect. She was offered a job. Nothing was said about size because you have all sizes working here, and I can’t determine what the customer is going to give in tips,” Pruett said.
Nevertheless, Harrington is still maintaining her assertion about her size. She posted about it on social media.
“I turned it down because I did not want to work for somebody like that; if you’re going to be that discouraging and you are going to look at me like that just because of my size, I don’t want to work for you.”
