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Home Depot Employee Expects To Be Fired For Her "America Was Never Great" Hat
By
Jen Chung
Published May 20, 2016
Modified Apr 4, 2018
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By
Jen Chung
Published May 20, 2016
Modified Apr 4, 2018
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The Staten Island Home Depot employee/folk hero who wore an "America Was Never Great" hat probably won't be working there for much longer. Krystal Lake, 22, told the NY Times that "she expected to be fired from her job, which she has held for nearly two years."
On Sunday, Lake wore the hat at the home improvement store's Forest Avenue location where a customer took her photograph and put it on social media. The image went viral, and Lake has received numerous death threats while Home Depot is getting threats of customer boycotts.
Home Depot has said employees are prohibited from wearing items that "reflect political statements" and added that if a manager had seen the hat, Lake would have been told to take it off. But Lake suggested that management turned a blind eye, "For the past two months, there have been a few people I work with wearing 'Vote for Trump' pins on their uniforms... But no one ever says anything to them."
A Home Depot spokesperson told the Advance, "I'm not going to be specific about a single individual, but I can tell you that if someone refuses to follow any of our policies -- not just dress code—it can lead to termination... While we respect the personal opinions and beliefs held by associates and customers, the store (or wearing these things while working) isn't an appropriate place to promote or display personal opinions, beliefs, political and religious affiliations or any type of proselytizing."
The Times reports, "Ms. Lake said that she called in sick on Thursday and that a manager had contacted her to ask about her well-being... She said she was set to graduate in two weeks with a degree in media studies from the College of Staten Island and wanted to pursue a career in music, radio, social media or journalism. She has already started looking for jobs in those fields."
Lake also plans to buy more hats.
As for her opinion of America, she said earlier in the week, "The point of the hat was to say America needs changing and improvement. I don't think it's a positive message to say, 'Let's look to the past.' ... I don't hate America. I know there are a lot of opportunities here. I just wish we would worry about making America better— not 'great again."
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america was never great
donald trump
krystal lake
staten island
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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