East Bay man offended by an employee's black painted face as a Halloween "costume" at a Staples store

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PLEASANT HILL, Calif. (KGO) --
An East Bay man says he was offended by an employee's black painted face as a Halloween "costume" at a Staples store.

Harrold Leffall stopped by the Staples in Pleasant Hill Friday to purchase a cash register. When he questioned an employee about the registers, he was shocked to see her face which was covered in black paint.

"I said, 'ma'am, where are the cash registers?' Then she turned around and I saw this white lady in blackface and I kind of froze," Harrold Leffall said.

He then questioned another store employee about it. "I said the lady over there is in blackface, and as a black man I am very offended and I think that's very inappropriate." He says the other employee replied, "she said it was a sharpie costume, and I said, 'sharpie or no sharpie as a black man to see a white person in black face is very offensive.'"

Blackface is a form of theatrical make up used by white performers to portray black people in the 1800's up until the Civil Rights Movement.

"The nervous giggle in the store I felt like it was making fun of African-Americans," said Leffall.