Supermarket bans male cashier from wearing green nail polish; Says town is "not ready"

Former Jumbo cashier Lars ten Caat was told by his supermarket manager to remove any trace of his green nail polish, RTV Oost reported. Ten Caat has since left his job at the store in Glanerbrug, Overijssel.

Ten Caat said manager Radjen Lochan stated, “Glanerbrug is not ready for this,” in reference to Ten Caat’s painted nails.

He had his nails and hair colored green for a month to outwardly show he is a proud member of the LGBTQI+ community.  “One and a half months ago, he went to the manager of Jumbo to ask if he could color his hair. That was not a problem, as long it remained presentable", his mother said. 

Ten Caat wanted the same rights as his female colleagues who are allowed to wear nail polish during work. A second talk followed, in which the store owner was also involved. “They wanted to mirror the status quo of the environment”, Ten Caat said.

“As a boy with painted nails, you don’t fit in that image.” Ten Caat quit his job after it became clear that he would not be allowed to continue working at the Jumbo with painted nails.

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He has since received multiple job offers from stores that disapproved of Jumbo’s reaction to the 18-year-old’s green nails. “We don’t live in the stone ages”, Coop store mananger Thijs van Oosterwijk said to Tubantia. Later, the Jumbo store offered Ten Caat his job back but the cashier refused, stating, “I just don’t feel fully welcome there anymore.”

“This is not the national policy of Jumbo”, the supermarket chain said in reaction to the incident to NOS. “At Jumbo, we believe that we are by and for everyone and our policy is aimed at the equal treatment of everyone.”

Jumbo said the store in Glanerbrug is an independent franchise with its own management.