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<p>Very definitely, and not in a good way.</p>
<p>I don’t care for multiple, large tattoos and, fortunately, I don’t come across that particular look too much in my social/athletic/professional interactions. I guess when I talk about tattoos and the workplace, I’m thinking more of the smaller, personal tattoos rather than sleeves or huge things covering someone’s whole back.</p>
<p>OK, I had a woman who worked for me who had a tattoo of a small sun - maybe a few inches wide - on her chest. But it showed if she wore anything other than a very high-necked shirt. Just a regular scoop-neck t-shirt or a v-neck shirt and you could see it. It looked ugly and distracting in front of my clients, IMO. I never said anything, but I could tell she always made an effort to cover it up when we went to clients, which begs the question - if it’s so darn attractive, why are you covering it up?</p>
<p>S’s tattoos are covered by clothing because that’s what his employer requires.</p>
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<p>Like many have said, there are those who, right or wrong, believe that tattoos are unprofessional - or worse. I love my eyebrow piercing, but I sure as heck wouldn’t wear it to an interview. As has been made abundantly clear in this thread, no matter how smart, skilled, or courteous a person is, some will assume she is good-for-nothing based on a simple aesthetic choice.</p>
<p>There are lots of things I do differently for an interview or when I’m new at a job, which I am currently. I don’t display my tattoos. I don’t wear my Vibram 5 Finger shoes to work- even on jeans Friday. I don’t wear religious jewelry outside my shirt. I don’t talk politics.</p>
<p>Wow, some parents here are pretty shallow.</p>
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<p>My H got his tat before we started dating. It’s small, you don’t even see it in a polo shirt and it’s not hideously large but the first time we went to the beach while dating was the first time I found out about it and I had a serious oh no moment. I don’t even see it now, but I know with certainty that I have a negative visceral reaction to them. I think it’s interesting that while many friends of my older boys have tats and some have a serious addiction to them and the “she” of the group will be spending a fortune sometime in her future getting rid of most of them neither of mine have pierced or tatted anything so perhaps it is because of what a 35 year old tat looks like on a 56 year old person. I have only told my sons they had better not spend money on tats while I’m paying a fortune for their college education and I would prefer they never get a tat or pierce body parts. Good tats aren’t cheap I hear. S3 who is 17 texted me Friday night that he was with two friends who were getting their ears pierced. I texted back with “please don’t you do this.” Saturday morning he woke up and wandered over to me and said “look mom no holes.” Good boy.</p>
<p>^Don’t know about your state but here the parent must sign for kids under 18. I wouldn’t allow my youngest son to get his ear pierced and kept telling him to wait 'til he was 18. Instead, he went with his best friend when he was 16 and the other mom signed for both of them! As you can imagine, I was not pleased. Coincidentally, the other boy’s mom has several piercings and tattoos.</p>
<p>Not exactly, writer. Some parents are shallow, some young people are, but most young people are less experienced in the world than parents. Remember- parents have the advantage of having seen life as a child, and also as an adult. An advantage children don’t yet have. Parents using that advantage, understand in today’s world, having visible tatts can affect potential employment for example. </p>
<p>Imagine a new tv show coming out about college age vampires. Is it likely they’d hire Dana Delaney to play one the vampires? Obviously, no, though she is a skilled, Emmy winning actress and is still quite a beauty. She wouldn’t have “the look” the producers were going for to hit their target audience. Are the producers shallow? No, they are business savvy. </p>
<p>Mowc can tell you far better than I about atty tricks such as unlit cig, wearing skirt, or dangling shoe or many others. Shallow? No just learning what can help in one’s business.</p>
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<p>Exactly! And that fact makes a huge, huge difference.</p>
<p>If someone gets smitten with the fad or style of the moment and does something very unfortunate with their hair, in a few weeks or months their mistake will be gone. If they do something similarly unfortunate with their skin, even if they don’t realize how unfortunate it is at the time, they are STUCK.</p>
<p>Styles come and go. Fifteen or twenty years ago pretty much the only people who got tattoos were carneys and drunken sailors. Today the tattoo fad is all over the place. But fifteen years from now tats could very easily have gone completely back out of fashion, and all those who gave in to the fad today will be looking like old carneys and old drunken sailors.</p>
<p>Funny way to word it, coureur!!
Will remind coureur the “trampstamp” tattoo was a red-hot fad 15 yrs or so ago, what might that makes those females look like in a few years?
There is an ancient tradition about sailors and tattoos, not just drunken sailors.</p>
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<p>Well, that’s not exactly true either. We parents are very aware of what our world is like. We know what people our age are looking for. An advantage young people have is they know what their world is like, and who is hiring their peers. </p>
<p>I used to hire new college grads. Note the words “used to hire”. I’m retired now, haven’t hired anyone in quite awhile. I was amazed at the resume my daughter used to get a job. Nothing at all like what I used. And I didn’t even know how to scan the bar code on the resume to get to the web page. As she pointed out, the weight of the paper for the resume didn’t matter, as only HR gets the resume, everyone else gets copies. And often HR gets it through email.</p>
<p>This is just an example to show that younger people are hiring new college grads. And many of those young people are of the age where tattoos are not considered odd. </p>
<p>One thing I do remember about hiring people is, when sitting in a meeting discussing the interviewees, people have all sorts of pre-conceived notions about people from how they look or 15 minutes of talk. Some people were rejected on looks; some because they looked unkempt, but also some because they looked too polished. When it came down to two people, often the one who was playing it safe was the one that was cut.</p>
<p>So my advice to young people is to be who you want to be in the future. If that tattoo means a lot to you, and will mean a lot to you in 10 years, go ahead. You are going to be rejected in some interviews. At least be rejected for who you are, not who you think they want.</p>
<p>Personally I will always question the taste and judgment of a person who allows his/her skin to be a canvas with permanent tattoos. Just can’t see what would make it worth doing/having and the larger & more visible, the more questions it raises in my mind. Piercings other than one unobtrusive one on each earlobe also raises questions in my mind.</p>
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<p>Hmmm, it seems that tattoos are very common among people who live in or are from Hawaii.</p>
<p>Well, so what if they’re common? What does that have to do with anything? I find tattoos less “shocking” than they were 30 years ago since tons of people have them, but they’re not any more attractive as a result of being more common.</p>
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<p>The skit-show Portlandia recently gave their take on when a bad tattoo is a dealbreaker ;):</p>
<p>[Eddie</a> Vedder on Portlandia on Vimeo](<a href=“http://vimeo.com/34642821]Eddie”>http://vimeo.com/34642821)</p>
<p>Thats what I was thinking of chuwo- although personally if Eddie Vedder was in my dating pool it probably wouldn’t be his tattoos that put me off.</p>
<p>Depends on what circles you run around in. Among the upper middle class & up folks I have met, NO visible tattoos or piercing (with the exception of earlobes for females–traditional pierced earlobe–one on each side). Among football players & some communities, there are more tattoos & piercings. Do NOT see any tattoos or piercings at country clubs or professional meetings or for the most part in business settings. None of my friends or extended family have any tattoos or piercings. Please don’t generalize by football players and some ethnic groups as to the popularity of tattoos for our state.</p>
<p>I agree common doesn’t mean attractive.</p>
<p>I saw an advertisement for a henna parlor tonight; I can’t say that I find henna any more attractive than tattoos. I just really don’t like the look of ink / color on skin. I think it ruins the look of the human body. That doesn’t mean people who get them are evil or anything; I just think it’s unattractive. But, then again, it’s not necessary that everyone conform to my particular aesthetic, is it?</p>