Career ending Halloween costume cost an employee their job

The Halloween costume that isn’t appropriate for work

Halloween costumes boggle my mind!

The topic for my last post was how inappropriate Halloween costumes can make or break a career.  Every year, I write on this topic to provide insight into what HR and managers think about Halloween costumes.  I also try to explain why these groups think this way.  Hint: Even if your manager DOESN’T tell you your costume may be inappropriate, this doesn’t mean they think your costume is OK.  Whether your manager says anything to you or not, if your manager doesn’t care for your choice of costume or dress, they are probably losing respect for you as an employee, and your career will reflect this loss of respect.

I worked in conservative corporate America for many years. There was always a dumbass who wore a costume that pushed the limits and left a black mark on their employee file.  You would be surprised how few times the employee was talked to. On the flip side, every Halloween, I would see some ingenious costumes where political correctness wasn’t an issue.  The employees dressed in these clever costumes received exposure they may not have otherwise had, and their careers were launched. 

Annual predictions

In my annual Halloween costume post, I try to predict which costumes will appear and mark their careers with an inappropriate costume.  This year was no different, and I thought a few themes that might turn up this year would include:

• Chris Brown and a bruised and battered Rihanna
• Chemical weapons victim

Both of the above are recent news topics. I could easily picture an employee failing to be cute or funny. There was one costume I considered listing, but even I couldn’t go this far: a Boston Marathon victim. 

With the Boston Red Sox just winning the World Series and the B Strong in the outfield, I thought there would be no need to put this on the list, and frankly, I thought it would be disrespectful. 

Sure enough

An employee not only showed up in a Boston Marathon victim costume but also tweeted a photo under the Twitter handle @someSKANKinMI. 

HOLY CRAP! This employee showed up in a disrespectful and disgusting costume. Then had the balls (or stupidity) to associate their company with their costume AND your NSFW Twitter ID?

I don’t make up these topics for these posts, and this stuff does happen. I couldn’t make this stuff up, so I posted the link here, and yes, apparently, the employee was fired. In typical HR fashion, I will say that I don’t know all the details. I am just reporting on the article. I have read subsequent articles in which the employee apologizes for her costume.  She and her family have received threats of violence, which is unfortunate. 

Do the right thing

I reached the following conclusions based on this situation and my experience with other corporate cultures. As much as the employer did the right thing in this case (in my opinion, based on the information presented), there are many managers and HR departments that:

• Wouldn’t have the courage to take any public action
• Not recognizing the costume was inappropriate (despite public outcry from the other employees)
• Do not say anything to the employee; whisper behind their back.   The employee would never go further in their career and would not realize what happened. 
• Watch for undisciplined behavior to continue in the future

This Halloween costume incident got me thinking

One employee came to work dressed as a Boston Marathon victim and tweeted a photo of themselves. I have to wonder whether other similarly offensive costumes are appearing. I applaud the HR department for letting this employee go. My battle-scarred HR mentality has no faith in humanity. I couldn’t help but wonder how many inappropriate costumes came and went without action.

For every action, there is a lack of action

I blog here to give some insight into what HR and Managers think. This way, you know the rules that the judges are playing by. As often as we see HR taking action, we also see a lack of action. Just because the HR department or the manager doesn’t take visible action doesn’t mean everything is in order. It is these passive-aggressive HR departments that are the most dangerous. No one is receiving any feedback. Employees are not learning how to act differently in the future. 

Here is the passive-aggressive life cycle

• Employee crosses the line with a potentially career-ending Halloween costume.
• HR huddles in their office and shares their disbelief at what just happened. 
• HR doesn’t take action or speak with an employee who crosses the line. 
• When it comes time for a raise, a new opportunity, or a promotion, the employee stagnates. 
• The behavior usually doesn’t change because no one has held a “serious talk” with the offending employee. 
• The employee doesn’t understand why they cannot advance in their career.
• HR waits for the employee to quit. 

Professional courage

There are many great HR departments. The employer witnessed this career-ending Halloween costume and let the employee go. (Again, I do not know all of the details.) There are also many behind-the-scenes discussions between employees and managers / HR departments. When done correctly, employees aren’t aware. Remember, having a serious conversation with an offending employee isn’t easy. Most people don’t want to have these conversations. No one wants to have this conversation with a repeat offender.  This is why these talks don’t always take place. Often, when they do, the message may be diluted.

With this in mind, remember that as employees, we are representatives of the company. We represent the company to existing and potential customers, new employees, vendors, and potential renewal/repeat business.  We need to keep our company’s best interests at heart. There are many HR departments, customers, managers, and vendors who won’t say they are offended. They will take their business somewhere else.

When in doubt, don’t.

See you at the after party,
HRNasty

nasty: an unreal maneuver of incredible technique, something that is ridiculously good, tricky, and manipulative but with a result that can’t help but be admired, a phrase used to describe someone good at something. “He has a nasty forkball”.

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