"He wants to work. That's his goal, and they've taken that away from him," Charles Craddock's mother said.
Twenty-year-old Charles Craddock had a nice job set up at a theme park — until suddenly he didn't. Craddock told our partner WEWS his dreadlocks resulted in a swift termination letter that came out-of-the-blue, even after a Skype interview and approval from a company higher-up.
Craddock's job was at the Cedar Point theme park in Sandusky, Ohio. He even moved into employee dorms at Cedar Point but was later sent home.
Craddock says after he got the job at Cedar Point and read the employee manual about acceptable hair, he asked if his hair would be an issue.
"So I asked her, 'Will it be a problem with my hair?' and she said, 'No, as long as you keep it pinned up when you're working,'" Craddock asked.
That turned out not to be the case as Craddock was later handed that termination letter.
According to Cedar Point's hair standards for men: "Hair must be natural, clean, and well-groomed. ... Hair should also not fall forward over the face below the eyebrow while performing normal job duties. ... Any braiding or twisting of hair must meet all other appearance guidelines."
Craddock says he doesn't want to cut his dreadlocks off because it'd be like "losing a part" of him.
Depending on a person's preference, quality dreadlocks can take anywhere from weeks to years to grow.
Craddock's mother says she's more frustrated that her son went through all this than she is with the termination.
This video includes images from felixtsao / CC BY 2.0 and Jeremy Thompson / CC BY 2.0.
