<p>I think it is always wise to know the risks of doing anything, whatever it is and people should know them. As Irish doctor said, Tatoos if done wrong or body piercings can cause problems; tongue studs can lead to broken teeth, and if there is some sort of allergic reaction, the tongue could theoretically swell up and block the back of the throat or cause the throat itself to close up (I always thought that one was a hypothetical, buddy of mine who is an EMT on a first aid squad had a case like that, got a call a girl was choking, had gotten a tongue piercing and had a major reaction for some reason, might have been poor quality jewelry, not sure).</p>
<p>I think it is great to talk to kids about the risks of tatoos and the need to be safe as well as with piercings, and like things like drinking and drugs they need to understand the risks. Likewise, the consequences of going out there, being themselves, whatever, that a visible tatoo or a gauge piercing or a facial piercing could have consequences (the guy who runs NY INK, interestingly enough, will not do work that cannot be covered, what he calls deal breakers). </p>
<p>As far as the consequences, it really depends on the job you are talking about and to a certain extent what the person is doing. Sales is generally pretty conservative for the very real reason that you don’t know who you will be attempting to sell to, one company might actually love having a sales person with a neat tatoo, but if it is someone with strong opinions about tatoos being for drunken sailors and women of loose morals could be turned off. A high end restaurant might object to a waiter with a tatoo or nose ring, a ‘hipster’ place might actually find it a plus. </p>
<p>Likewise, with investment bankers or lawyers, especially in the so callled White Shoe firms, it tends to be conservative and you won’t see too many bankers with tatoos showing or facial piercings or other things ‘over the top’, you might see some sign of that in the tech areas or such, where there isn’t client exposure. </p>
<p>Work at a hedge fund, and you might be surprised, especially among the younger guys and gals it is a lot more free wheeling, and with tech positions in places like that a tatoo or piercing probably wouldn’t cause much of a stir, it is a lot more common (again, depends on what firm and such). </p>
<p>I am obviously not anti tatoo or piercing, but I would tell someone if they asked me that if they are going to get things like tats and piercings, it would make it easier on them to have things that could be hidden, simply because you never know who is interviewing you. Among other things, if you have to go through HR before hitting hiring managers, I would be extra careful and come in really presenting well, HR people in my 25+ years of experience will often reject people who they simply don’t like before allowing them to see the hiring managers and based on personal experience, I suspect tatoos and piercings would tick more then a few of them off. I don’t think women with multiple earrings is any big deal, that is very, very common these days, though obviously those are easy, just take them out if you think you are interviewing in a place where someone would care.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, people do judge you by the way you look, there is no doubt. Several years ago Mensa’s magazine had a profile of a young woman who was the head of one of the regional groups, who was a drummer in a rock band, had tatoos and piercings, and all these idiots wrote in all these negative remarks about her. I know the young woman in question, she is an incredible person, but all these people were condemning her to hell because she simply expressed herself different. Meanwhile, one of the people condemning the girl for the way she looked went on about his daughter, how she worked hard, got into a great school, went to work for an investment banking house, was rising in her profession, and how she was so conservative and ‘respectable’…someone I know from the same Mensa group where the dad resides said both father and daughter were the kind of people where if you invite them over to your house, you better check on the valuables, that both of them were greedy, nasty people whose whole life was about money and prestige…point being that sadly more then a few do judge a book by its cover.</p>
<p>As far as the admonitions about regretting getting a tattoo or piercing or whatever they do, that would be the last thing I would say to discourage someone. Besides the fact that it won’t work (believe me, the old 'you’ll regret it" didn’t work in my fathers time, let alone this one), it also rubs me the wrong way because it to me speaks of this idea that we should go through life, never ng ktachances, never doing anything ‘abnormal’, always playing it ‘cautious’, and to me that is not what life is supposed to be. It belies an attitude to me of always playing it safe, never reaching, and while I suppose that may get you to your destination without much chance of being harmed by something, how much fun could that be? I kind of like a statement someone said, where they said the goal in life isn’t to reach the end safe and secure and protected, but to reach the end used up and ready to go, and saying "man, that was one hell of a ride:). Rather then having regrets about having done something, maybe it is better to live life, and yeah, make some mistakes or wrong turns, and look at them, not with regret, but as a sign of a life really lived:). When I got my tatoo about 10 years ago, something that still has special meaning to myself even though what it symbolized didn’t quite work out, I was told the same thing, what about when you are old and the skin sags, etc, and all I could do was smile and say "I’ll look at it and remember a lot of good things that it symbolizes, and realize like myself, it has gotten older, doesn’t look the same as it once did, probably nowhere near as good, but hey, it is great growing old together;)</p>