MT. JULIET, Tenn. (WKRN) – A local waitress is getting community support after a customer rejected her service because of how she looks.
Ashley Chiarizzio, 24, works at the Mt. Juliet Red Robin and has blue hair and tattoos.
“This is me,” Chiarizzio told News 2. “I like the wow factor from family and friends.”
She says last Saturday night, while in the middle of a busy dinner shift, her manager said one of her customers asked for a new server.
“He told me, ‘She doesn’t like the way you look,'” Chiarizzio explained. “He said, ‘She doesn’t like the way you represent – the tattoos, the piercings, hair – she wants a new server.'”
A Red Robin spokesman said they’re aware of the situation and that Chiarizzio’s hair and tattoos fit into the dress policy.
“I’ve never had someone look at me and decide I wasn’t good enough to serve them,” she said.
After a good bit of crying, Chiazrizzio wrote about the incident on Facebook and the story took off.
Her post has garnered thousands of views and hundreds of comments.
“People were saying, ‘You’re awesome,'” she said. “It’s 100 percent overwhelming happiness and positivity from the community.”
Friday night, her Red Robin co-workers sprayed blue paint in their hair and some sported temporary tattoos to show solidarity with Chiazrizzio.
“It’s basically to say, ‘If you didn’t like it, you can’t sit with any of us because now we all have blue hair and tattoos,’” she explained.
Chiazrizzio hopes her story will help someone think differently about a person who doesn’t look like they do.
Red Robin says they have a non-discrimination policy. If a customer asks for a new server solely based on a discriminatory reason, they will not accommodate that person.
