I actually had someone come in for an interview last month dressed like that. The job posting stated must speak English properly and clearly. Less than 5 minutes into the interview it was over after having to ask “What did you just say?”. Ebonics, street slang & hip hop talk have no place in my department where we have to deal with multi million dollar customers.
I once worked for a large global corporation in NYC as a receptionist. One day a young black man showed up and asked for a job application. I gave him one and he sat near my desk, but seemed to have a problem filling out the application. He was neatly dressed and he shined his shoes to dazzle. Finally, I asked him if he any sort of a problem with the application and he told me he did not read well, nor write well. Something about this young man touched me and I told him I’d fill out the application for him. And I did. I asked him if he knew his way around NYC and he said “Yes”. I called the Personnel Dept. and asked for Kathy and she came over. Kathy was a delightful person and she spoke to him and found out he did not have a high school diploma and told him she might have a spot for him in our Communications Department where he would run around NYC delivering important papers to banks, etc. Kathy also told him he could go to school under our employee paid education plan. He was hired and took advantage of our employee paid education plan to the extent, after several years, he got his MBA To this day, I receive a Christmas card, as does Kathy, from a fine, young black man who was trying like all get out to get out of a bad situation. I think it was the shined shoes that got to me and the effort he was putting into his job searching.