<p>Very sorry to hear of your D’s friend, I can only imagine how devastating that would be to anyone. My son got his tattoo as a memorial to several close friends and role models who have passed, including my dad. There are small, personal symbols embedded within the design and it seems to bring him some peace. I hope your daughter is also able to find solace from the grief.</p>
<p>Aside from obvious health and employment issues, some overlook that tatts that were once a long-standing tradition for sailors, now are a fashion statement. The obvious problems with that are not so easily cured. As styles change, men and women can easily ditch shoulder pads or mullets, but tatts not so easy. A glaring example is the “trampstamp”. Wildly popular in the 90’s, relatively popular in 2000’s but now for the most part, they really date the wearer. If we see one, in our head we think: got a trampstamp in '95 while 21, that was about 16 yrs ago, wearer must be nearly 40.
I realize that isn’t 100% scientific, just as some people wear mullets that aren’t 50(21 in1986), but I present it as an angle to consider.</p>
<p>Body art? I have heard the phrase. We picture art and color with the skill of a KatVD. But often times we only see a name scripted on the neck or upper chest like prison property or a plain, dull, bluish grey tatt that looks more like a prison tatt than art.</p>
<p>I commend the OP for recognizing that the way things are and the way we’d like them to be are not necessarily the same. That’s how it is with tattoos and piercings–no matter how much you’d prefer it that you not be judged by such things, you will be. Some people will think they show character failings or lack of good judgment, and other people will simply think they are ugly. Some of these people are likely to be people that you will want to have a positive impression of you.
So, not on the neck, please.</p>
<p>Hunt is SO right. Some find employment easier if they are taller, or nicer looking, and for most jobs that shouldn’t count either, but often it does. Plenty of us can argue how things should be, and there might be validity in our argument. But despite these ideals, there are realities too. If we need a job, we need to consider realities.</p>
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<p>Well said. Personally, I make no value judgment but I just think they are aesthetically ugly. No matter how beautiful the story - like the ladybug in memory of a deceased daughter or whatever - they just are aesthetically unpleasing to me. Plenty of other things may be aesthetically unpleasing (a mullet, mom jeans, a hair cut) but at least those things can be changed and the wearer hasn’t chosen to make them permanent.</p>
<p>flowersofglass, as you have read from many of the comments here, there are many people who form judgments based on things that are often irrational. There have been many discussions here on CC on this issue and the responses are almost always the same, and from the same people!, with little variation. The one difference I’ve noticed here is that many of those who are not judgmental about tattoos haven’t posted in this thread, so here’s one vote for that side of the discussion. I know many people in every walk of life who have tattoos, including a CEO of a large financial institution, many biglaw partners, doctors, nurses, teachers, college professors, professional hockey players, police officers, armed services personnel, pilots, actors, social workers, retail employees, salespersons, bank tellers, real estate brokers, an architect, politicians, two dentists, the landscaper who looks after our yard, my mailman and my dogs’ vet. I also have 3 Ds with tattoos, one who is a teacher, one is an actor, and one who is a recent law school grad who is clerking with a Federal Court judge, who coincidentally also has a tattoo. None of these individuals that I know, to my knowledge, has ever had an issue getting a job. Are there some people who will unreasonably look down on you if you have a tattoo? Probably but it’s not the dire situation that many would have you think. Chances are you wouldn’t want to work for those people anyway. </p>
<p>Assuming you have something that is done professionally and done tastefully, and you aren’t covered from head to toe in ink, it’s unlikely to be a huge problem. As for those who think that your tattoos will look awful on a 60 or 80 year old body, well, most 60 or 80 year old bodies have more pressing issues than how the tattoo looks! Before you make your decision, be sure to give it lots of thought, do your research, and if you still choose to, find a reputable shop to do it.</p>
<p>I’m not going to comment on the pros and cons, others have covered that. I just want to share an entertaining (in a watching-a-train-wreck sort of way) place to spend an hour:</p>
<p>[Ugliest</a> Tattoos - Funny Tattoos](<a href=“Ugliest Tattoos - Bad tattoos of horrible fail situations that are permanent and on your body. - funny tattoos | bad tattoos | horrible tattoos | tattoo fail - Cheezburger”>http://ugliesttattoos.failblog.org/)</p>
<p>If you look at a bunch of those, several themes emerge:</p>
<p>1) check the artist’s previous work to make sure they actually have some artistic ability</p>
<p>2) get the artist to sketch it out on paper, ask 10 or 20 people for their honest opinion, sleep on it for a while. Don’t walk into a place drunk and get some ink.</p>
<p>3) if you get words, spell-check it 10 times. Get 10 other people to check the spelling. Make the artist spell it out loud. Make them spell each word again before he starts it.</p>
<p>alwaysamom- I haven’t posted here because I’ve said it all before. I am a lawyer with two tattoos and I think they look good. Both can be hidden by pants/long sleeves. In my professional and athletic circle, more and more adults are getting tattoos. That’s just my experience, but I certainly don’t see a problem with it except that you might change your mind about it later. One young woman I know is going through an expensive and painful process of having a number of small, tasteful tattoos removed because her city’s police academy will not allow them and this is what she has chosen as a profession.</p>
<p>There are many tattoos I don’t find attractive, such as sleeves, but there are many other attritubes of peoples’ appearance that I also don’t find attractive. My daughter has two small tattoos and is a priest. My son hates tattoos. To each his or her own, I guess.</p>
<p>Yep. I don’t “hate” them - I don’t find them attractive, that’s all. Oh well. I’m sure there are things that I do / wear / whatever that others don’t find attractive, either, and wouldn’t it be boring if we were all alike.</p>
<p>I absolutely despise tatooes and piercings that are located other than the lobe of a female ear. My sons never desired either and my daughter got a belly button ring on her 18th birthday. I hated it then and I can’t believe she still has it. My personal view is that they do not belong in any professional setting (of course hidden ink and piercings are not a problem).</p>
<p>When a woman gets a tatoo on her shoulder, upper back or neck I really question her judgement and ability to look at her future. How will she ever dress appropriately for black tie events or even her wedding without looking like she lived a rather indecent past?</p>
<p>I think the thing about them is that they’ll always portray the same image. And I think it’s important / desirable to be able to portray different images as the situation desires. After all, I can choose to dress in a sporty fashion, a sexy fashion, a classic fashion, a buttoned-up-business fashion, a funky / bohemian creative fashion – and I have circumstances where I’ll want to “pull out” each of these depending on the audience and what I intend or want to convey about myself. Having a (large, visible) tattoo sort of condemns you to only that one particular image.</p>
<p>If you want to get rich, invent programmable tattoos.</p>
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<p>If they are not a problem in your profession then why did you say in other posts that you were covering up your tattoos for your job interviews? Anything that must be hidden lest it wreck your chances of getting a job or promotion is definitely a problem in that profession.</p>
<p>I said I don’t see a problem with getting a tattoo. Many in my profession have them. There are a lot of things I do for job interviews to optimize my chances, including not wearing business casual clothes, even though that attire will be fine once I’m hired.</p>
<p>MOWC–do you see many attorneys that have visible tattoos? Or are they covering them for work? I’m a CPA and work with many local attorneys. I’ve never seen a visible tattoo on a CPA nor an attorney.</p>
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<p>I didn’t realize that formal events required my shoulders and back to be exposed. I’ve been in debutante balls and many other highly formal events and I have never had exposed shoulders or back. I don’t like that look and highly doubt I’ll ever wear clothes that expose my shoulders/back to anything formal. I think I can safely get a tattoo on my shoulder without worry. If I’m young and have no desire to expose a lot of skin then I highly doubt that’s going to change dramatically in the future.</p>
<p>I can certainly see that if a person chooses to cover a tatt for an interview, or on the job, or if a job restricts a tatt, then that can be called a potential problem; otherwise he/she would leave it exposed.
We all know a swastika on the forehead does not interfere with the skill of a dentist, but it has potential to interefere with his business by reducing his patients. An extreme example of course to show a point to the OP, or to anyone considering a visible tattoo- it has potential to cause a problem, and as Mowc indicates, prospective employees want to optimize their hiring potential. As far as employment goes, each person has to judge for themself if showing a tatt helps or hurts chances of employment/promotion- and, how much they care.</p>
<p>" I don’t like that look and highly doubt I’ll ever wear clothes that expose my shoulders/back to anything formal. I think I can safely get a tattoo on my shoulder without worry. If I’m young and have no desire to expose a lot of skin then I highly doubt that’s going to change dramatically in the future."</p>
<p>Never say never. :)</p>
<p>Even if I do expose my shoulder, it’s not a tattoo that I am ashamed of. The tattoo I’m getting is a tribute to my grandmother (not the one who will take me to get it obviously). It is a deeply personal story to me that greatly shaped my life and the vast majority of my friends and family know how much the tattoo means to me. If they don’t like it, then frankly I don’t care :). If it were just a random design because it “looked cool” then that might be a different story.</p>
<p>Wow, Portland really is different. More than half our employees have tattoos (we counted). I don’t even think twice about piercings any more. Our baristo, who is the first person to greet customers as they come in the door, has eyebrow piercings and a lip piercing. He makes absolutely amazing espresso drinks, though, which is why we hired him, not to mention that he had connections to all the best suppliers of coffee, tea, chai, and chocolate. (Not many baristos can draw a bicycle with foam, either–that certainly didn’t hurt.)</p>