A woman was dismissed just 15 minutes into her first day at a prestigious Scottish golf club because of her tattoos, despite having attended a face-to-face interview. Abbie Foote, 25, claims she openly displayed her tattoos on her arms and neck throughout her final interview. The retail worker says she was sent home almost straight away, having had no idea her body art would cause such problems on her first day.
Abbie had been returning to her previous role at Carnoustie Golf Links, a prestigious course in the golfing world. In 2024, she had worked there for a summer season with tattoos, the only difference being a new addition to her neck done on April 19. After re-interviewing on April 17 with her ink on display, she received a contract of employment on April 21 ahead of her first day a week later on April 28.
The shift started as normal, greeting old colleagues before going to collect her new uniform, until she was stopped by HR. The HR leader asked for a quick 'catch up' which turned out to be Abbie's dismissal. Abbie said: 'I follow her to the meeting room and she says "I hate to be the one to tell you this... it's about uniform". I told her "oh, I just haven't picked up my shirt from the office yet" and she said "no it's" and gestured to my body.'
In disbelief, Abbie argued her case, pointing out other workmates have visible tattoos. She begged to wear a zip-up uniform to hide them during working hours. The revelation devastated her as she had just resigned from her previous job to return to the course. Abbie said: 'I got upset and told her I just left my other job for this, have signed my new contracts and there was nothing about this in the contract or handbook mentioning anything about tattoos – only piercings.'
After her dismissal, Abbie requested it in writing to understand why she was now unemployed. She received an email citing an internal error in progressing her application for a customer-
