Coworkers Show Solidarity For Fellow Employee By Wearing Leggings After She Was Denied A Raise
Part of the ship, part of the crew.
TikTok Most folk working in the American labor force understand what it’s like to ask for a raise from the higher-ups and the things that come along with the request.
One woman had asked for a raise from her job at the New York Pizza Delicatessen (NYPD) but was denied the pay increase, causing her fellow coworkers to stand in solidarity with her.
She was denied the pay from her job increase because she wears leggings to work.
The original video was posted on TikTok by “@pyrofrenchfri” and received over 3.7 million views after just three days with the caption “f--k capitalism bro #nypdpizza.”
In the clip, she lays text over the video that reads “raise got denied cause I wear leggings, now everyone in the kitchen [is] wearing leggings.”
After showing off the pair that she was wearing, along with appropriate work boots, she then pans over to the rest of the workers toiling in the pizzeria’s kitchen.
Although, you might assume that “everyone” else was simply more women, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
The first man, who was using a ladle to pour some sauce into a cup, was wearing bright blue, brown, and white leggings that said “Let’s ski” on them and had Yin and Yang symbols on them.
The second man had just placed a pizza into the oven and was wearing leggings with a diamond pattern and various colors like pink, purple, green, and blue.
As he walks away to complete another task, you can spot another man behind him who is also wearing leggings — these being dark purple with lighter purple flowers laid throughout.
Two other men can be spotted in this frame, also going about their business, but didn’t seem to get the memo about the leggings.
Maybe they were part of the higher-ups that denied her raise, maybe they didn’t support her wearing leggings, or maybe they simply didn’t have a family member they could borrow leggings from.
Commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out that her raise was denied after the video.
Using the video as proof, some TikTok users were shocked that she wasn’t able to get her raise approved considering the amount of sway she had with the crew.
“As a manager, this means a bigger raise because you clearly have a positive influence on the entire staff and boost team collab and positivity,” someone wrote under the video.
“That’s how you know you deserved that raise tbh,” argued another.
One person joked how funny it must have been for the men to ask to borrow leggings from the women in their family which caused her to explain that “one of the pizza guys went to Walmart and bought a bunch last night for everyone in the store haha.”
Everyone applauded her coworkers for their show of solidarity, except one person that was skeptical about how her work attire ties into the conversation of a pay raise.
“I fail to see how wearing leggings ties into a raise unless it’s in the rules. If it’s not then it’s not a legit reason to deny you, but a petty one,” they wrote.
As many people pointed out, the decision was likely rooted in misogyny, making it even more wholesome that her male coworkers would stand with her against the choice made by her managers.
Isaac Serna-Diez is an Assistant Editor who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Keep up with his rants about current events on his Twitter.