Drybar founder Alli Webb apologized in a statement after an employee at an NYC store used a racist remark to refer to a customer
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Emily Zauzmer is a former digital writer at PEOPLE. She left PEOPLE in 2018.
Published on December 20, 2018 02:45PM EST
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(999x0:1001x2)/drybar-3565c78e701d4a848e57b54689629e33.jpg "Drybar Chain Fires Employee for Racism Toward Customer (1)")
Drybar, a nationwide salon chain which specializes in blow outs, faced backlash after an employee at one of the brand’s Manhattan locations referred to a customer using a racist term written on a receipt, resulting in the stylist’s immediate termination.
The customer, NYU nursing student Bree Tae, posted about her experience on Drybar’s Facebook page and brought the incident to light.
“So I’m sitting in my chair, relaxing, excited to get my hair blown out for my nursing school pinning ceremony tomorrow,” she wrote on Monday about her experience at the Drybar in New York City’s Murray Hill.
“However, I look over and see this,” Tae said, attaching a picture of a slip of paper that used a disparaging slur to identify her under “Description.” The slip is intended to be used by employees, according to CBS New York.
“I have never in my life been so appalled. I’m sure I would not have been described as such if I was not Asian,” Tae said.
“Since when is it okay to describe your paying customers as something so racist?” Tae continued. “When I confronted the ‘bartender’ (girl who works at the front desk) regarding this, she could not understand why it was an issue and why it was highly inappropriate to write such a description.”
“I’m quite disgusted by this experience, especially the night before a day of celebration for all my accomplishments in nursing school,” she noted.
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Drybar founder Alli Webb apologized in a statement that was shared on her Instagram account and the official Drybar account, noting that the stylist was fired.
“There was recently an unacceptable issue in one of our shops where a stylist described a client in a completely inappropriate way,” the statement said. “We sincerely apologize for the hurt this has caused. We do not tolerate racism. The employee was immediately terminated, and we are committed to working harder on improving our training to ensure this does not happen again.”
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(561x0:563x2)/drybar-1-1-125d42d71e624ab787372260a04de797.jpg "Drybar Chain Fires Employee for Racism Toward Customer (2)")
“I wanted to take a moment to apologize and acknowledge the incident that took place this week,” Webb added in a statement on her Instagram Story. “We deeply regret the completely inappropriate note made by one of our employees. This employee was immediately terminated and this behavior does not in any way reflect Drybar’s values.”
