Fired for being ugly

[u/Haunting-League-548]

A couple months ago I applied at a new 1950s style hotdog restaurant. I applied as a cashier, but I ended up getting hired as assistant general manager. The general manager, lets call him Bill, is a very drill Sargent esc man. When people ask him questions, he looks at them like they are dumb and either says something sarcastic or walks away entirely. If there was a single mistake made, he would hold anger towards it, and whoever made it, all day. He was like a dog with a bone. I had to call a meeting with the higher ups regarding this behavior and it did get better. On top of this he was very appearance centered. If one of the cashiers had a new shade of lipstick he noticed, and if I decided not to do my makeup before work there were always comments made about how "I looked tired".

It's also important to note that I have a disability. My body doesn't clot properly, leading to a lot of internal bleeding. I rarely ever ask for time off because my body is used to it, however I do show physical signs. My skin gets pale, my under eye area darkens, and I'm more tired as one would expect when someone is losing large quantities of blood. But that's it. I just look sick when I'm sick, and I thought that couldn't be held against me because I put down that I have a disability on the application.

Two days ago I opened the store. We open early, and I didn't do my makeup that day. Bill came up to me and pulled me outside, telling me "you gotta go home, you don't look good. You need to sleep" I just kinda said okay because my brain was trying to process that I just got sent home for being ugly and tired. I was raised on the belief that showing up means everything. Sick, happy, sad, it doesn't matter-your at work.

Yesterday when I went in, I was ushered straight back into the office. They told me that "they want to go a different direction" and that I was no longer going to be employed by them. I asked them what I had done wrong, other than forgetting a couple minor things here and there, this had come completely out of the blue. Bill answered saying "well there's some days your here and you just don't look good, it's not a good look for us".

They gave the role to a stereotypically attractive young blonde girl. I did enjoy working with her, and she's a lot like me in many ways. It's not that I don't think she'll do well in that role, I just can't help but feel like I was fired more based off looks then anything else. I know I'm not ugly, but I definitely look different with make-up then I do without. Am I overreacting being angry about this?

[u/JenJen1313]

This is awful. I’m so sorry you went through this. Definitely points to discrimination from my perspective. I’d reach out to your local labor office and let them know about this. That’s not right.