A college student says Spirit Halloween cut his hours from 20 to eight, then his manager threatened to blacklist him at other retailers when he quit

Seasonal retail jobs rarely come with much security, and one college student’s account of his time at Spirit Halloween has struck a nerve with other workers. TikTok creator @stolennamexd, who goes by J-Rod, says his manager told him he would not be hireable at four retail chains after he quit without giving two weeks’ notice, as reported by The Mary Sue.

In the four-and-a-half-minute video, which has drawn tens of thousands of views, J-Rod says the problems started almost as soon as Spirit Halloween hired him on the spot. He claims the store never handed him a set schedule, so he often woke up unsure whether he was working that day. Sometimes, he says, he was asked to come in with only two hours’ notice.

The student says he told management which hours he could not work because of his college classes, and the manager first assured him that was fine. However, he claims the store kept booking him during class times anyway. Using a 6 p.m. Wednesday class as an example, he said he would still be put on from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., and staff got upset when he declined.

The Spirit Halloween worker says his manager’s reaction to his resignation was the final straw

Per the creator’s account, Spirit Halloween also cut his hours from 20 to eight, which he said was next to nothing for a college student. He then found what he described as a better opportunity with a great company and called his manager to resign. J-Rod claims the manager picked up with “What do you want?” and grew angry once he explained that he was leaving.

According to the video, the manager said he was “just not hireable” for Spirit Halloween again, or at Spencer’s, BoxLunch, and Hot Topic, as he had not given two weeks’ notice. The TikToker pushed back, pointing out that the role was an at-will job and that he lives in California. He added that he went through the company documents and could not find any policy that said so.

The comments quickly filled up with current and former Spirit Halloween employees, and many of them blamed the specific store rather than the company. One user who said they were an assistant store manager in their second season told him it was “100% your store.” Another commenter, who said they managed a Spirit Halloween location, called the threat unprofessional and said it was not true.

Others focused on what they saw as a double standard. One viewer pointed out that the store expected two weeks’ notice even though it “couldn’t give you a schedule,” while another said notice is “a courtesy not a rule.” However, not everyone was sympathetic, and at least one commenter argued that keeping track of a schedule is the worker’s own responsibility.

Some former seasonal workers described similar scheduling problems at their own stores. One commenter from Washington said schedules at their location had to be posted three weeks in advance and called the student’s experience a case of poor management. Another said their own manager warned that anyone who called out or showed up late during the final week could never work for Spirit Halloween again.

Fights over notice periods are not unique to seasonal retail, as two weeks is generally a courtesy rather than a legal requirement in at-will jobs. In a similar dispute, a hotel pastry worker’s manager insisted on a two-week clock after she gave four days’ notice, and her reply to him cited New York law.

J-Rod closed the video by asking viewers to point him to the policy his manager cited, and whether anyone can find it remains to be seen as he settles into his new job.

Attack of the Fanboy was unable to independently verify the manager’s side of the story, as this account originates solely from J-Rod’s TikTok video.