Abbie Foote, 25, claims she was dismissed from her job at Carnoustie Golf Links, a prestigious and iconic course in the golfing world, just 15 minutes into her first day over her visible tattoos
A woman was dismissed just 15 minutes into her first day at a prestigious Scottish golf club because of her tattoos – despite having attended a face-to-face interview.
Abbie Foote, 25, claims she openly displayed her tattoos on her arms and neck throughout her final interview. The retail worker says she was sent home almost straight away, having had no idea her body art would cause such problems on her first day.
After sharing her frustration online, the eye-catching clip amassed over 866,000 views and a staggering 56,800 likes. Abbie, from Carnoustie, Scotland, said: “I had no idea that the addition to my neck would be an issue considering I previously worked with them and re-interviewed showcasing my throat and arm tattoos.
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“It is an old school saying that face, neck, and hand tattoos are called ‘job stoppers’. “I began my first day and was quickly, 15 minutes into my shift, pulled aside by HR to get told I was getting dismissed and it’s due to my tattoos”, the Daily Record reported.
Abbie had been returning to her previous role at Carnoustie Golf Links, a prestigious and iconic course in the golfing world. In 2024, the artist had worked there for a summer season with tattoos – the only difference being her latest addition to her neck, which she had done on April 19.
After re-interviewing on 17 April, with her ink on display, she received a contract of employment on April 21 ahead of her first day a week later on 28 April.
The shift started as normal, greeting her old colleagues before going to collect her new uniform – until she was stopped by HR. The HR leader asked for a quick ‘catch up’ which turned out to be Abbie’s dismissal.
She said: “I follow her to the meeting room and she says ‘I hate to be the one to tell you this, it isn’t something I want to have to address, but it’s about uniform’. I told her ‘oh, I just haven’t picked up my shirt from the office yet’ and she said ‘no it’s’ and gestured to my body.
“I replied ‘Wait. The tattoos?’ in shock, ‘but I have worked here before with my throat and other visible tattoos. And I re-interviewed under two weeks ago’. She proceeds to tell me that the new buyer doesn’t agree with visible tattoos.”
In absolute disbelief, Abbie tried to argue her case by pointing out her other workmates have visible body art. She also begged the HR leader that she would wear a zip-up uniform to keep them hidden during working hours.
The revelation devastated her after she had just resigned from her previous position to return to the course – which she was now being dismissed from.
Abbie said: “I got upset and told her I just left my other job for this, have signed my new contracts and there was nothing about this in the contract or handbook mentioning anything about tattoos – only piercings.
“She said that she is sorry for the inconvenience but it was their fault and that I shouldn’t have even gotten past the interview process. “I took five minutes in the room as I was upset about being newly unemployed. I ignored her request to gather my stuff and leave as soon as possible and went to tell my colleagues what had happened.
“Every one of them was shocked and couldn’t believe it was happening. My colleagues even went further and came with me to go speak to others in the office to make any sense of it. None of them agreed with this happening and told me to gather all evidence and reasoning for my dismissal.”
Shortly afterwards, Abbie’s team leader turned up at work and documented everything that had been discussed in the dismissal meeting. She claims that he even admitted to being ‘unaware’ of this ‘unwritten’ policy change made by the new buyer.
After her dismissal, Abbie requested it in writing to fully understand why she was now unemployed. She said: “I got the email the following night at 9:28pm with the reasoning that there ‘was an internal error in progressing your application for a customer-facing role without fully considering our uniform policy.
“As discussed, our policy does not permit visible full skin coverage tattoos that cannot be fully covered in customer-facing positions’, again this does not exist in any written policy and every other staff member was unaware of this.
“I was stunned and truly couldn’t believe it was real. I have never been treated unfairly due to my tattoos by an employer and my mind was racing thinking about how I now have no income in this economy.”
Following her dismissal, Abbie was offered a week’s wages which, under her part-time contract, amounted to just three days’ pay. Despite accepting the offer, she firmly believes it was nothing more than ‘hush money’.
She said: “Of course I accepted as it was their error and I have no future income – but best believe I won’t be accepting it on the terms of ‘hush money’.”
Carnoustie Golf Links was approached for a comment.
