So i was working in a bakery part time during my studies. I have facial piercings and this bakery updated their hygiene standards a few months before to allow facial piercings. So i worked there for about 2 months and worked really well. My mom also worked there part time so we worked toghether sometimes which was never an issue. If i do a job i do it right so i was super friendly to customers and did way less mistakes than beginners usually do (i was told that as well). Then the company received two complaints by elerdy women that didnt complain about my work ethics, but “Since when is someone like HER working for this bakery”. So they just complained about my looks. The oldest coworker i had was over 60 years old and she also complained to the bakery and lied that i would constantly touch and play with my piercings which i never do. my piercer was even surprised in the beginning since most people play with their piercings and i didnt.
I was called by the managment and told i need to take them out or switch them to transparent ones (i had black ones). I refused since its not against their regulations and i got fired.
About 2 weeks later the same mangement dude calls me and apologizes, tells me they shouldnt have let me go and that i was more than welcome to come back and that my piercings are no issue at all. That they never should have acted on complaints about my looks or claims of a coworker without any proof, but i said no. I dont want to work somewhere that discriminates.
Turns out they are severely understaffed and are still to this day. Maybe they should stop discriminating against hard workers for having jewelry they dont like (this happened around 6 years ago).
PS: i know not going back after they apologized might have been petty and I probably would have acted differently now, but my mom left them about 2 wears later as well since they made a lot of changes that werent good for their workers and she was unhappy so i guess i dodged a bullet.