Woman Refuses To Work For Company After Being Rudely Ordered To Dye Her Hair

The modern job interview process can be so long and tortuous that after the nth round of interviews, the applicant is often too exhausted to quit when red flags start to appear. But some company's behavior is so terrible that people need to steer clear.

TikToker AdminAndEve shared her experience with an absolutely horrible job interview, riddled with rude interviewers and outrageous demands, like the condition that she dye her hair for the position. We also got in touch with Eve Pena, the woman in the video, to learn more.
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Bored Panda got in touch with Eve Pena, who made the video, and she was kind enough to answer some of our questions. Firstly, we wanted to hear her thoughts on why companies have such terrible interview processes. "There could be a number of reasons why a company might have a horrible interview process. From what I’ve seen, here are the most common:
- The company has been burned by bad employment experiences in the past and now unabashedly puts candidates through the wringer to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
- The company is in the early stages, perhaps without HR, and is potentially “winging it.” I’ve worked for very early startups that either
a) didn’t have a process, and were okay with letting candidates flail
b) pretended that they had a process, and didn’t, which resulted in a chaotic, overkill process of 4-way meetings with top executives, and 7-page-long assessments for an office manager job, or
c) had a process AND HR, but had such an inflated ego that they would put a candidate through 8 rounds + 2 assessments for an administrative role (my case)
- Finally, and this is the one we don’t want to admit happens really often: The company might not care about you or your interview experience, at all. If a company treats their employees poorly and there is an existing culture rooted in abuse and poor treatment, it’s like they’re just prepping you for the inevitable," she shared with Bored Panda.

We also wanted if she had any other, similar experiences. Here’s a shortlist, being forced to dye my hair just to have the privilege of interviewing. Interviewers muting themselves, then talking to each other while you’re answering a question they asked. Huge panels of over 4 people + multiple interviews (too many cooks in the kitchen directly correlate to a culture that reflects the same.) More than 4 rounds for a non-management position. Assessments that last over 1 hour, WITHOUT PAY. Expecting people to work for free? That entitlement towards people who are spending their time looking for work is a red flag. Interview processes that last over 1 month (non-executive level.) It speaks to poor time management, indecisiveness, and a lack of respect for your time as a candidate."

"I think the worst, most devastating process I’ve ever been part of was for a tech startup located in SF. It was my dream job and after multiple grueling rounds, plus an assessment that took me about 4-5 hours to complete, I made it to the final round… Only to be told that I lost out to a referral candidate which was “the ONLY reason that I did not get an offer.” The referral system is broken, and exploitative companies will waste multiple candidate’s time when they already knew who they were going to hire from the beginning. This needs to change."

As horrible as it sounds, sometimes companies can get away with making outrageous demands about their employee's appearance. In the USA, only certain states actually prohibit employers from discriminating based on hairstyle or the appearance of one’s hair. While it’s not clear where AdminAndEve interviewed, she is probably best served to stay away from an organization that feels so strongly about her hair.

Indeed, the number of locations in the US where people can keep their hair just the way they want it is few and far between. California has some protections, under the CROWN Act. This particular law was designed to protect women of color, who often faced discrimination based on their hairstyle. However, the CROWN Act does cover everyone, regardless of skin color.

But it’s worth noting that just because you are protected, doesn’t mean that this workplace is a good fit. While they can’t exactly fire you without risking legal action, let’s face it, who wants to work for people who make these sorts of demands? A hostile employer can find ways to make a regular job torture without ending up in court.

Certain jobs can make demands on employees' bodies for hygienic reasons. After all, a person with a lot of long hair needs to keep it in check when working with food. There can be safety issues as well, longer hair can get caught in machinery. However, while we don’t know the precise details, it doesn’t look like AdminAndEve was applying for a job where either would be a real issue.

Indeed, she was asked to dye her hair, which has nothing to do with hygiene or safety. While it’s possible to construct some scenario where a person has something offensive “painted” into their hair, this is clearly not the case. Instead, it’s likely that this company truly believes that someone’s hair color actually can and will affect their job productivity.

This logic is truly bizarre if they are willing to hire her. If they really practiced what they preached, they wouldn’t have even asked her to interview. Instead, they seem to see her current hair as some temporary aberration that will be impeding her productivity until she deals with it, never mind that dyed hair is often more work than natural hair.

As horrible as this request sounds (and it truly is unacceptable) at least AdminAndEve got wind of it before actually starting the job and turning down other offers. It would be a pretty nasty surprise to learn that your first, on-the-job task involves going to the pharmacy. Better to name-and-shame without actually going through the mess of working with these people.