Following a job offer, a 29-year-old woman faced a huge dilemma. She was given an ultimatum: conceal her pink hair or seek employment elsewhere. Embracing the challenge, she devised a clever solution to the restriction, sparking widespread attention online.
Emily Benschoter turned to TikTok to share her journey at her new workplace, but with the twist that she can never show her pink hair while she’s on duty. She only found out the fact after she had already been interviewed and offered the position, a front-of-house role in the hospitality industry, because there was no prior contact with her employers in person or over video chat during the hiring process.
Her manager then suggested she wear a wig and that’s when she decided to pick the funniest ones she could find. Her first TikTok video with the first wig went up on July 19, 2023, and it read: «When you have pink hair, but corporate does not approve, so you wear terrible wigs.»
Since then, people have become invested in her wig choices and her clips have been viewed millions of times. «The worse the wig, the better,» she admitted in an interview. «It is a way to open up the conversation with the customers who think it is insane that I have to cover my pink hair.»
In the same interview, Benschoter also took time to explain why she didn’t just simply dye her hair instead. «Dying my hair for a job I work at for 40 hours per week wasn’t an option,» she revealed. «I am a self-expressive person and I feel very confident with pink hair, so I came up with a solution to keep the job and my hair.»
Despite her having fun with the situation, she doesn’t approve of it. «It’s dehumanizing that I can’t be accepted at face value because my hair is a non-traditional color,» she said. «It’s so superficial that my hair color is an obstacle.»
Not surprisingly, this isn’t the first time someone goes viral on social media because of hair trouble. A different woman also went viral on TikTok after a visit to the hairdresser went wrong. She ended up leaving the salon with a disastrous blowout and the before-and-after photos prompted a massive reaction from folks online. See the photos here.
Preview photo credit emuhleeebee / TikTok, emuhleeebee / TikTok
Mom Leaves Note on “Disrespectful” Son’s Door – What She Wrote is Taking the Internet by Storm
Most adults know that being a grown-up isn’t as simple as it seems to a child.
Kids might see things like food in the fridge, a comfy home, and unlimited internet, but they often don’t understand the work it takes to have those things. One mom decided to teach her disrespectful son a funny, “real world” lesson to show him that “nothing comes for free.”
In 2015, Heidi Johnson was struggling with her defiant 13-year-old son, Aaron. She explained that Aaron “wanted the benefits of growing up without the responsibility that comes with it.”
Aaron had started making a little bit of money as a YouTuber and thought he didn’t have to follow his mom’s rules about doing his homework. He even stormed out of her room, saying he was a “free person” because he was “making money.”
In response to his behavior, the single mother wrote a “tough love” letter to Aaron and shared it on Facebook. Almost ten years later, her post has gone viral again.
Johnson’s note begins, “Since you seem to have forgotten that you’re only 13, and I’m the parent, and that you don’t want to be controlled, I guess you need a lesson in independence.” In what she called a “roommate contract,” she laid out the rules Aaron would need to follow if he wanted to act like an adult.
She continued, “Since you’re earning money now, it should be easier for you to pay back for everything I’ve bought for you.” Johnson added that if he wanted things like his lamp, lightbulbs, or access to the internet, he’d have to pay his part of the costs.
In her letter, Johnson listed the conditions Aaron would need to follow, including paying for rent and utilities. She also expected him to cook his own meals and help with regular cleaning around the house.
Johnson signed the letter, “Love, Mom.”
Taking Action
Living in Venice, Italy, Johnson shared that when Aaron saw the letter taped to his door, he crumpled it up, threw it on the floor, and stormed out of their apartment.
Johnson felt he just needed some time to think—and she used that time to start taking back some of the things from his room.
Once Aaron had time to think, he asked his mom what he could do to start re-earning his privileges. He even gathered more items from his room and handed them to her, asking how he could earn them back.
Johnson explained that this was never about making him pay her back; it was about teaching him to understand the cost of things. Aaron quickly realized he couldn’t afford rent, utilities, or food on his own.
Online commenters supported her approach, praising her for her creative discipline style. One person wrote, “Great job! Nothing in the agreement is harsh, but it will teach him a lesson he’ll remember.” Another said, “You’re an amazing mom for giving your son a chance to learn and grow.” A third comment added, “Bravo for being a parent and not just a maid.”
Some people accused her of publicly shaming her son. In response, Johnson wrote another post saying she was “not ashamed” of what she did.
“A teenager will push their limits,” she explained. “They’re in a stage where they’re stepping into adulthood but still rooted in childhood… I can’t send this child into college or the workforce with an attitude of ‘I’ll get to it when I feel like it’ when a boss asks him to get a job done. That’s how the real world works.”
Johnson ended by saying, “Nothing in life is free. Somewhere, someone is making a sacrifice.”
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