CLEVELAND – A young man from Cleveland won’t be working at his summer job after all.
He even moved locations for it – but was sent packing after he said he wouldn’t cut off his dreadlocks.
Charles Craddock was supposed to spend the summer working at cedar point, a job he’s been looking forward to for months.
But after a Skype interview, orientation, and moving into the dorms over the weekend, the 20-year-old was told at his training session that he had to cut his dreadlocks off, or go.
“I actually asked her about it because I read over the guidelines. So I asked her, ‘Will it be a problem with my hair’, and she said ‘No, as long as you keep it pinned up when you’re working.'”
Which actually turned out not to be the case.
Here are part of the park’s standards for male workers:
Hair can’t be longer than your collar. No ponytails or extreme hairstyles. And any twisted hair has to meet the other requirements.
So you might be thinking: why not just cut his hair?
“It’s like losing a part of me,” says Craddock.
Mom Melima says it’s not anger but more frustration at the fact that the process went so far in the first place.
“He wants to work. That’s his goal. And they’ve kind of taken that away from him.”
In an e-mail to WEWS, Cedar Point said they would “love to have the opportunity to talk with the employee” to see how they can continue to have him be a part of the team this summer.
The statement goes onto say: “The personal appearance of our associates is a very important part of Cedar Point’s overall image. People from all over the world come to cedar point and they expect our associates to be approachable, well-groomed and welcoming. With this in mind, we do have established appearance standards that all of our 5,000+ associates must adhere to.”
