‘There’s a lot of people who feel like me’: New York woman says she was fired from a salon after confronting a customer’s racist remarks

A New York woman says she lost her job at a salon after she told a customer to stop making racist comments about immigrants, according to a TikTok video she posted. The woman, who posts under the username _dominiquesymone, said being fired was a new experience for her, but added that she would not stay quiet when she sees someone being treated unfairly.

In the video, she said the workday started out as a normal one before the conversation allegedly took an unexpected turn. She claimed a customer at the salon began making negative comments about immigrants and Palestinians, and said the word “disgusting” was used multiple times during the exchange.

According to the woman, the stylist working on the customer’s hair, along with other staff members at the salon, are not originally from the United States. She said that after listening to the remarks for some time, she asked the customer to talk about something else.

Customer reportedly pushed back before stylist intervened directly

The customer allegedly refused the request, responding, “I don’t care! I can talk to my stylist about whatever I want!” The woman said she then told the customer, “You’re disgusting, because you should care about how your words affect other people.”

Following that exchange, the woman claimed the customer changed the subject to making negative remarks about her instead. She said the customer later warned her, “There’s a lot of people [who] feel like me, and they come here, so you better watch your back.”

The woman said that once the customer left, she informed her that she planned to speak with the salon’s owners about what had happened. She claimed this conversation led the owners to call her by the end of the day. According to her account, one of the owners told her, “I’m so sorry to do this, but I can’t have this in my salon.”

The woman said that despite losing her job, she would respond the same way again if placed in a similar situation. She added that it would not matter which racial or religious group was being targeted, stating that she would speak up regardless. 

Many commenters on the video praised the woman for speaking up during the encounter. One commenter described her actions as “standing up for humanity.” Another wrote, “May your pockets NEVER BE EMPTY!! Thank you Queen.”

A different commenter urged the woman to take formal action, writing, “Go to department of labor and file a claim for harassment. You have a limited time to do so. Also, EEOC, and apply for unemployment benefits asap. Just get them at all ends, make them go through the process that can hold them accountable, and yes this is third party harassment which an employer is responsible for. Good luck.” Job losses tied to racist remarks have made headlines elsewhere too, including a moving company worker fired for hurling slurs at a customer’s children, and a Virginia waiter let go after a slur turned up on a customer’s receipt.