Tattoos and the workplace

[Brock Varty]

@David Flores I just didn't connect the dots right away. Makes sense though. I would have to say I agree. Hand and neck isn't something that should be done because of some social coolness or to be part of a particular crowd.

You seem like a well putt together dude. Kudos.

[David Flores]

@David Flores I just didn't connect the dots right away. Makes sense though. I would have to say I agree. Hand and neck isn't something that should be done because of some social coolness or to be part of a particular crowd.

You seem like a well putt together dude. Kudos.

As do you Brock. BTW I know you aren't the douche I speak of in my first post, a little hyperbole goes a long way when trying to make a point though. Each person life is going to be their own to live and not everyone fits into a mold, but i think my viewpoint has been formed by the observations of the habits of young people today in regards to tattooing.

I had a weird moment last night. I hired a baby sitter so me and the wife could go see The Trailer Park Boys live show. My regular sitter was busy so hired a friend of a friend, young girl probably 23-25. Everything went fine, but at the end of the night I noticed she had her knuckles tattooed, I had notice a couple small tattoos on her arms, but this one kind of shocked me. Needless to say my other sitter has a neck tattoo although, it was hard to spot as well because well she is black and her complexion doesn't show tattoos well. I found myself judging her for a second, and I found that weird, but still everything I had said about neck tattoos and hand tattoos applied except we weren't talking about some douche at the mall, these are pretty well spoken young women who I trust to care for my son. Needless to say I still think the tattoo choices aren't smart, but maybe that is what the kids are doing now days and maybe there is some sort of generational gap working even just in my generation and the last, although I would say I probably molded my viewpoint from people about 10-15 years older than me.

[hogg]

Hand a neck tattoos should say "fuck the world" not "welcome to hot topic".

Post of the month.

[slayer9019]

Post of the month.

seconded!

Actually I might add this to my signature.

[Graeme]

I had a weird moment last night. I hired a baby sitter so me and the wife could go see The Trailer Park Boys live show. My regular sitter was busy so hired a friend of a friend, young girl probably 23-25. Everything went fine, but at the end of the night I noticed she had her knuckles tattooed, I had notice a couple small tattoos on her arms, but this one kind of shocked me. Needless to say my other sitter has a neck tattoo although, it was hard to spot as well because well she is black and her complexion doesn't show tattoos well. I found myself judging her for a second, and I found that weird, but still everything I had said about neck tattoos and hand tattoos applied except we weren't talking about some douche at the mall, these are pretty well spoken young women who I trust to care for my son. Needless to say I still think the tattoo choices aren't smart, but maybe that is what the kids are doing now days and maybe there is some sort of generational gap working even just in my generation and the last, although I would say I probably molded my viewpoint from people about 10-15 years older than me.

@Pugilist was saying the other day that she noticed that a student in one of her classes had a little anchor tattooed on her thumb but nothing else visible, and that she didn't seem like she had other tattoos. I've seen a fair number of hand tattoos on not otherwise visibly tattooed people on public transportation too, like just little things on fingers or script on the side of the hand or whatever. Always on young people. Maybe they've put more thought in it than I assume they have, but it seems like there are a lot of young people going on to spots that are very difficult to conceal pretty casually.

[SStu]

@Pugilist was saying the other day that she noticed that a student in one of her classes had a little anchor tattooed on her thumb but nothing else visible, and that she didn't seem like she had other tattoos. I've seen a fair number of hand tattoos on not otherwise visibly tattooed people on public transportation too, like just little things on fingers or script on the side of the hand or whatever. Always on young people. Maybe they've put more thought in it than I assume they have, but it seems like there are a lot of young people going on to spots that are very difficult to conceal pretty casually.

I think that (generally) this next generation is definately going to miss and/or not understand the "underworld" aspect of tattoos that most of us older folks do. We, in turn, will be shocked by their casualness to something we revere. Same goes true for many aspects of generational gaps.

[Dan S]

I tattooed the heart n ribbon on the back of my hand when I was like 15 or so...definitely the hoodlum trip.

I totally laff when I read about us "older generation" who are shocked by such things...think on it now, kids, someone my age-58-grew up in the 60's and 70's. We did shit you wouldn't even believe and didn't even think about it.

[Reyeslv]

seconded!

Actually I might add this to my signature.

You can call them Hoggisms!

[slayer9019]

I totally laff when I read about us "older generation" who are shocked by such things...think on it now, kids, someone my age-58-grew up in the 60's and 70's. We did shit you wouldn't even believe and didn't even think about it.

Yea I did some "fun" stuff as a kid but I heard some stories in the shop that made me shut up.

My father told me stuff he did as a kid that if kids did nowadays they would be locked up in a psychward. As he said "different times." I chaulk it up to being an Italian immigrant in "the ghetto", with "different rules"

[Graeme]

I think that (generally) this next generation is definately going to miss and/or not understand the "underworld" aspect of tattoos that most of us older folks do. We, in turn, will be shocked by their casualness to something we revere. Same goes true for many aspects of generational gaps.

I'm not so old that I'm now "older folks" am I?

Though I found going on to the forearms (which I did a whole month and a bit ago) was a pretty heavy decision.

[Colored Guy]

yea it does have its ups and downs. My particular job ended up being something I do very well but don't really like the subject so I sold out as fast as possible. If you can bury your head in your work like I do, you can easily skip most of the BS.

On a social note I would never be friends with anyone I work with anyway. Not my crowd!

That sums up what I do for a living. Most of it is flat-out boring as hell with office politics mixed in. Did I mention working for someone that makes a lot of wrong decisions? I make damn sure I don't associate with anyone I work with and I skip 99% of the off-hours functions.

Rob

[PhilB]

I had a weird moment last night. I hired a baby sitter so me and the wife could go see The Trailer Park Boys live show.

Wait, wait, wait...There's a TPB live show?

[Graeme]

I spotted this on the front of a copy of one of the local papers that was laying around the break room at work today:

So there are always job options with visible tattoos. Probably helps if you're a local celebrity though.

[Dan S]

Gonna be interesting to see that boy when he's 50 or 60.

[TrixieFaux]

Found a video of it--the peaceful zombie, love it.

[Pugilist]

Hahaha I love that he's holding that piece of chalk like a smoke.

I guess it is kind of brilliant to bring in someone like him for a school talk in that he's a local celebrity and captures kids' attention. But oof, the whole thing is still pretty awkward.

[David Flores]

Wait, wait, wait...There's a TPB live show?

Yeah this is the second time in Portland. It doesn't have the greatest production value , but there was some laughs for sure. I like to think they are trying to put on a show that resembles what the show would be like if the characters in the show had to organize a tour.

[PhilB]

Yeah this is the second time in Portland. It doesn't have the greatest production value , but there was some laughs for sure. I like to think they are trying to put on a show that resembles what the show would be like if the characters in the show had to organize a tour.

What's worse is that, after I posted that, I realized that they were in town last night and I already had plans.

[slayer9019]

That sums up what I do for a living. Most of it is flat-out boring as hell with office politics mixed in. Did I mention working for someone that makes a lot of wrong decisions? I make damn sure I don't associate with anyone I work with and I skip 99% of the off-hours functions.

Rob

Yea those off-hours functions suck, especially now that they are mandatory sometimes. Fuckin Christmas parties...oh wait I forgot "Holiday Parties".

[Colored Guy]

Yea those off-hours functions suck, especially now that they are mandatory sometimes. Fuckin Christmas parties...oh wait I forgot "Holiday Parties".

I think if I do go to the holiday party this year, I'll get shtifaced with the people that bring us our mail.

Rob

[cptrixie]

This has been a really interesting thread. I've had tattoos since I was in my 20's - I was careful to get them in places they generally didn't show or wouldn't if I didn't want them to. When I was 30 I pierced my eyebrow - wore a ring for a long time although I've since gone to a barbell. Recently I got chest tattoos and, although they are still in places I can cover them if needed, I wear a decent number of shirts that show peaks of them although I don't when I don't know my audience.

I am currently a Director in IT at a telecommunications company. One of the other Directors is working on a full sleeve but generally goes for the "long sleeve button down man's corporate uniform" look. Our boss - SVP - isn't into tattoos, something I found out after my co-worker gleefully pointed mine out to him (they go way back, so he knows it's a safe button to push).

My coworkers viewpoint is that for people like Bossman knowing people like me and coworker are good for them and that someday people will look for not only employees but leaders who are tattooed as it shows a certain sort of creativity and personal expression that you don't find in other places. His thought is that tattoos are on a path to be an asset vs a possible detriment.

I know that I personally have made the choice to put my tattoos where I can hide them if I need to. Luckily, I work in an industry (IT) that accepts some more personal freedoms than some others might allow. Still, I recognize that the world doesn't conform to me and I made my choices based on that. I applaud those of you who fight a different fight than I have chosen and thank you for it!

[jayessebee]

I work in IT Admin at a college and I had forearm tattoos when I got hired 13 years ago... Ive since done hands and neck to no comment so far except my boss thought my ewok hand looked cool...So far so good but I'm under no illusion that they will be used against me if they want to but knock on wood I do a good job and try not to fuck up

[NorthernBrother]

The workplace I am in right now seems absolutely fine with tattoos, and I have seen the odd person with quite a few. No one seems to baulk or complain at all, heck, usually people get compliments. I guess it really depends on what the work situation is like. I have one friend who works in retail and she has to wear clothing to fully cover her tattoos, and even then, her boss was unsure about hiring her just because of her tattoos, not the design / what they were.

[Rhapsody831]

Working as a nurse and having any visible tattoos or piercing a is kinda sucking for me at the moment, but I could relate with the patients on this one.

[slayer9019]

Funny this question came up last night with some guy that was at the bar I was drinking at last night. He didn't believe that I work a corporate job with my tattoos. I then pointed out that if I put on my hoodie and even rolled up my sleeves you couldn't see them. I got a "yea I guess your right". Dude was a mid-50s guy that had a nice company rap sheet going back pretty far. He said that he never met anyone in the workplace that had tattoos, I told him yea because most people don't show em. I've even met a Wall St. guy who had a big backpiece, and sleeves.