<p>We have two baristas in our store. One is heavily pierced, generously tattooed, and greets every single customer with a smile, as well as knowing everyone’s drink, even those that change their drink from morning to afternoon, and gets many tips and generous ones. The other is very pretty, has no tattoos or piercings, and gets very few tips. Guess which employee is getting promoted.</p>
<p>“But, it’s pretty hard for me to make any conclusion that people with tattoos are “flawed” in any way the way that sewhappy is,”</p>
<p>"I wouldn’t hire a heavily tattooed person to be a front-line with clients, however. I do have employees with heavy tattoos and gauges in back-line positions. "</p>
<p>But by not hiring them for the front-office position are you not deeming them unfit or aka flawed for the position?</p>
<p>I haven’t read through this entire thread, so I don’t know what the general consensus is, but I’ve met many kind, generous, smart, talented, lovely heavily tattooed and pierced persons. Your personal style and the way you express it has little to do with how you are on the inside. It also gives me a wonderful feeling when some of these same people can look through my middle-aged-lady shell to see how much I can offer to them, too.</p>
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<p>Ain’t it the truth! A lot of the folks who think that they are doing the judging don’t have a clue as to the the snap judgments being made about them. Too old, too frail, too in a rut!</p>
<p>Well, FinanceGrad, I consult to Fortune 30 companies and regularly go before directors, vice presidents and sometimes CEO’s. Part of my business is coming across a certain way in front of clients - which is youthful, stylish, current, creative, up to date, and can encompass a lot of different personal styles and aesthetics (my business partner and I have different personal styles), but heavy tattoos / piercings are not among them. Neither is Goth, for that matter.</p>
<p>I want to be clear I’m talking about heavy tattoos / piercings, not the tiny-flower-at-the-ankle type of thing.</p>
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<p>So, you wouldn’t hire you in 10 years?</p>
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<p>I don’t think this speaks to someone’s ability to perform the job, but as it is clear on this thread, many people will negatively perceive an individual who does not fit certain standards, and that may be projected onto the company. I have no idea what Pizzagirl’s company does, but I think it’s reasonable to say that there is reason to consider that clients may prefer to work with those who have a more clean-cut look. I don’t think this is particularly fair and I certainly hope that times are a-changin’, but it would be bad business to not take this into consideration. In that way, physical appearance could almost be considered another prerequisite for the position, much like certain training or education. Given that I generally don’t fit that image of sleek and sophisticated WITHOUT my piercings, I’ll stick to academia where I can be excused as an absentminded intellectual. :P</p>
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First, there is a difference between “unfit for the position” and “unfit as a person”. </p>
<p>Second, the decision is a factor of both the employee AND the customer, and the decision may be an indictment of the customers more than of the employee.</p>
<p>My only observation is it seems in the last 10-15 years that the number of tattoo businesses and tattooed people have exploded. Fifteen years ago I would not have known where to go to get a tattoo, perhaps venturing down to South St in Philly. Now there are tattoo places in just about every strip mall around.</p>
<p>Did the regulations ease up on this business, allowing more tattoo artists to open shops?</p>
<p>Or was there a big change in social customs, creating a huge market for tattoos?</p>
<p>I clearly remember when I used to go to the beach, only older military men and younger, hipster people had tattoos. Now at the beach, non-tattooed people seem to be in the minority. Just curious as to whether it is chicken or egg.</p>
<p>dmd77, It’s just fine if the kid giving me morning coffee has millions of pierces or tattoos. I just want my morning caffeine.</p>
<p>I really don’t think being well qualified to serve coffee means it’s just great to pursue excessive tattooing/piercing and expect it won’t have ramifications for your professional life.</p>
<p>Duh.</p>
<p>And absolutely, I like some kids I encounter with that stuff going on. The Viking Pest Control team who came the other day to spray our house for pests were pretty dolled up with the pierces and the tattoos. And they were just fine guys. We chatted. I wondered at the pain and time and money they invested into their “sleeved” arms and the huge big earrings and the stuff going on with the tongues. But they were just fine! Really. I’m sure they sprayed my house for spiders really, really well.</p>
<p>Wow. My daughter just showed me a nutcracker with tattooed arms. I’m getting it! I should say that we have a huge nutcracker collection. My daughter danced in it many times.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t have bought this nutcracker before this friend.</p>
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<p>Don’t be ridiculous. There’s no one as scorned, derided, and worthless in the eyes of popular media and society as a post-menopausal woman. And you think we don’t know it?</p>
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<p>Ha! To some extent, possibly not. And we’re sensitive to the fact that we’re now older than a lot of our clients. Indeed, I try not to mention in front of them that I have college-age children. They don’t need to guess that, when most of them are still at the little-kid stage.</p>
<p>My H is an ob-gyn and trust me, he sees tattoos of all sorts on all kinds of women, from those who appear unconventional to those who appear VERY conventional / buttoned up (with their clothes on). Like me, we both dislike the actual physical appearance and think that it “ruins” the human body, but again that’s aesthetic and not moral in nature.</p>
<p>“My H is an ob-gyn and trust me, he sees tattoos of all sorts on all kinds of women, from those who appear unconventional to those who appear VERY conventional / buttoned up (with their clothes on). Like me, we both dislike the actual physical appearance and think that it “ruins” the human body, but again that’s aesthetic and not moral in nature.”</p>
<p>Slightly off-topic, but I have a friend who is a nurse anesthetist and she said women with a “tramp stamp” often cannot get an epidural because they can’t put the needle thru the tattoo on the lower back. Most of them get the tattoo before getting pregnant and don’t think about that potential consequence.</p>
<p>I always wondered if that was true or just a myth?</p>
<p>When I was 13/14, I wanted 2 lip, 2 lobes, 1 industrial (bar through the cartilage that requires 2 separate holes), 1 navel, and a few helix (cartilage rim) piercings on either ear. </p>
<p>At the moment, I’m 16, and I have my industrial and lobes done (my parents aren’t keen on piercings, and I’m not much of a rebel). I no longer have any desire to get my lips done, but the rest of my body is fair game. </p>
<p>I’m your typical CC’er when it comes to academics, college and whatnot (although perhaps a bit less extreme than many of the other kids on here).</p>
<p>One of my friends has had ~30 piercings, but she also has her own job, pays her own bills, and is graduating early. </p>
<p>Another friend of mine is going to ink himself up completely. He spends his time trying to inspire people with his constant optimism, positivity, and kindness; his first tattoo said, “Attitude determines altitude.”</p>
<p>As for reasons, my friends & I get/want piercings because we think they’re attractive. I’d never get a tattoo (so permanent…), but, again, they’re attractive, and often symbolize an important event, person, value, et cetera, in the owner’s life.</p>
<p>I saw a lady with a lot of tattoos today. The one that stood out was the one of a club sandwich. With a fork and knife underneath. Yuck.</p>
<p>Maybe she works in the food industry. Lots of food people have food-related tattoos. Half the roster on Food Network, for example-they have all kinds of food and cooking equipment tattooed all over the place. My D works in a restaurant and says most of the cooks have similar tats.</p>
<p>^^my hairdresser has tiny scissors on her upper arm.:)</p>
<p>Like absweetmarie and garland, I tend to think language is really important. I think often how we say it influences how we think it… rather than always vice versa. </p>
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<p>deface has a negative connotation. decorate a positive one, and mark may be neutral. maybe not. How does one describe a tattoo in neutral terms?</p>
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<p>My general sense is that the “pro-tat crowd” don’t sit around discussing how *lame<a href=“or%20insert%20more%20neutral%20word%20choice”>/i</a> it is to have an untatted body. Is that correct? Maybe I’m wrong. I don’t think I’ve read a post here urging those who don’t care for tattoos to go right out and get one so they can fit in. The “anti-tat” individuals on this thread are pointing out the negatives of tattoos. Some of those posts could be seen as constructive advice to young people. Certainly not all the posts are that sort of posts. At a certain point, it seems to me, it devalues someone not to respect their thoughtful and informed decisions regarding personal presentation, even if their idea of what looks “right” is different than yours.</p>
<p>I don’t think heavily tattooed people look lame particularly. I think their thinking in seeking out a lot of tattoos is lame.</p>
<p>And, indeed, language is most important.</p>