A Black contractor said he was booted from an apartment complex where he was assigned to work one day because a manager falsely accused him of smelling like marijuana smoke.
In a viral video posted on Feb. 21, TikTok creator James Bannister posted his encounter with a white female manager at an apartment complex in Braselton, Georgia.
Bannister began recording himself during the interaction after the manager requested him to leave the front office because he allegedly smelled like weed.
In the video caption, Bannister wrote that he doesn’t smoke, adding that he recently took a drug test to be hired by the company he was contracting for at the complex.
“I don’t even smoke,” Bannister says to the camera. “I literally just took a drug test. So I’m trying to figure out what exactly is her purpose of telling me to step outside.”
“I said, ‘Sir, you smell of smoke, can you please step outside?’” the manager tells him.
“I don’t smoke,” Bannister repeats, later adding, “I’m here for a company, mind you, a job that I’m working. So I’m trying to figure out what exactly is your basis…”
Bannister followed the manager outside the office to speak further about the allegation.
They continued to have a back-and-forth about the alleged marijuana odor.
The manager maintained that she detected the smell and asked him to step outside, but he refused. Bannister continued to reject the accusation and asked her why he was being told to step outside when he didn’t smoke.
The manager tries to end the interaction with, “Thank you sir, I appreciate it,” before trying to step back inside the office.
“I don’t smoke. So, is this some kind of underlying racism or something? I’m trying to figure out what’s going on,” Bannister asks.
When he tells the manager that the encounter is interfering with the work he’s been contracted to do at the complex, she states that she doesn’t have a record of that work order.
Bannister’s video received more than 4 million views and tens of thousands of comments from viewers who also questioned the manager’s accusation.
“All I smell is racism and a lawsuit,” one TikTok user wrote.
“This is discrimination,” someone else added.
“She’s saying the company didn’t alert them of someone coming to do work there? The professional way would be for her to verify the job/employee with the hiring company not to attack the worker…” another viewer wrote.
In follow-up videos, Bannister stated that when he first arrived at the office, he was speaking to another employee who never brought up a marijuana smell. The manager stepped in a few minutes later.
Bannister said he started recording once the manager threatened to call the police if he didn’t leave. He added that he plans to submit a claim to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and file a lawsuit.
