PLEASANT HILL — An East Bay office supply store employee’s blackface Halloween costume has prompted one customer to say that he would not return to the business as video of the woman has gone viral.

Last Thursday, Harold Leffall said he was shocked and offended when he went to Staples on Contra Costa Boulevard to buy a cash register.

“I’d gotten one there before but I couldn’t remember what section,” Leffall said Monday. “I saw what looked like an employee, but her back was facing me. I said, ‘ma’am,’ and when she turned to me, I saw a white lady in blackface.”

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At first, Leffall thought he’d wandered into a prank.

“I was startled, but I went ahead and asked her where the registers were. She said she wasn’t sure, so she asked one of the employees what aisle to find it, and I went there to go get it.”

About 15 other customers and seven or eight employees were around, but no one was reacting to the costume. Leffall said he told the cashier that the costume was offensive. The cashier told him the employee had said she was dressed as a Sharpie pen, which still didn’t sit right with Leffall.

“I just couldn’t get the image out of my mind, her talking to customers like it was normal,” said Leffall, who dropped off his purchase at his car and waited for a brief while before heading back in to speak with a manager.

“She’s representing your company, interfacing with customers, answering questions. This is inappropriate, it just doesn’t make any sense to me,” he said.

Lefall said the manager responded by asking him if the employee was celebrating Halloween. “Halloween or not, blackface is never an appropriate costume,” he said.

Lefall said the manager told him he would have the employee take off the blackface. The manager was not available for comment Monday.

Lefall said he filed a complaint through Staples’ website Friday, but hadn’t received a personal response.

Staples released a statement Monday, saying that a store employee “wore a costume for Halloween that they intended to have represent an office product, but didn’t realize it could be considered offensive to some of our customers.”

“While it was unintentional, it was still inappropriate and once this was raised to the representative, they immediately removed the costume. Staples apologizes to any customers that may have viewed a photo of the associate on social media. We respect diversity and try to foster a sense of diversity and inclusion in our stores, as well as provide an atmosphere in which all customers feel comfortable.”

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Blackface was used by white minstrel actors in the 19th and early 20th centuries to mockingly stereotype black people.

On Monday, ABC7 aired a video captured by another customer, showing the employee telling the customer she was dressed as a beauty shop customer and that the black paint on her face was actually a charcoal mask.

As an executive director for a Martinez nonprofit, Leffall works to raise funds for scholarships and foster work training opportunities for teens sent to juvenile hall.

“What if I didn’t say anything? Kids, young people are coming in. It could communicate to them that it’s OK. I had to speak up, my conscience wouldn’t allow me not to,” Leffall said.

Contact George Kelly at 408-859-5180.