An employee at a Canadian party store received a horrible surprise this Valentine’s Day.
Degas Sikorski is twenty years old and openly gay. He’s been working at a Party City in Edmonton for the last three years.
He’s now speaking out about a homophobic prank that took place at the store over the weekend.
During his day shift on Saturday, a supervisor had put out Valentine’s cards for every employee in the break room.
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The card for Mr. Sikorski, who hadn’t been assigned a shift for six weeks, had been scrawled over with the words “Faggot – you are not getting shifts for a reason.”
Sikorski told Global News that he’s never had a single issue with staff or management due to his sexual orientation, and he’s totally perplexed by the cruel sentiment on the card.
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“My jaw hit the floor,” he said. “Oh my God, I’m not safe here. Suddenly I can’t be myself. Suddenly I can’t accept myself and be who I am at Party City for fear of retaliation from somebody in the staff. This was the first time where I felt threatened. I wasn’t able to defend myself and I felt really vulnerable. It was a shock to my whole world.”
“It’s very upsetting,” said his mother, Shelley Sikorski. “I think that’s where my outrage came from. There’s no reason for it. This is somebody that doesn’t know Degas.”
Following the incident, the company issued this statement:
“Party City does not condone this behavior and is committed to creating a fair and inclusive working environment.
“We are currently looking into this matter and will provide more information as it becomes available.”
“What I want is a confession,” says Mr. Sikorski. “And I want a reason and an apology. If Party City wants to terminate them, then Party City terminates them. I’m not looking for blood. I just want a heart-to-heart, why? Why did you do this?”
Watch the Global News report below:
h/t: Pink News
