Tattoos and the workplace

[HaydenRose]

Over the summer, my coworkers and I attended a staff appreciation BBQ, so the cats out of the bag. No one seemed to mind though. I was surprised to find out one of my coworkers has a ton of sweet Japanese tattoos. Needless to say, we are best buds now haha

[sighthound]

I work in government (not federal), so as you would imagine I was a bit apprehensive about my tattoos showing when I first started. The boss-men around here are from the old south, too - good old boys. Needless to say, I didn't breathe a word about tattoos for a while. Luckily, I was hired in the winter where I could wear long sleeves without a problem. I read and re-read the company policies, and then read them again. Didn't see anything about tattoos. So, when the weather warmed up and my probational period ended - the short sleeves/polos came out to play. Everyone loves them. And even nudged a few of my co-workers into getting their own - in visible places too. My bosses and their bosses don't seem to mind, they haven't said anything negative about them so I can only assume that everything's good!

Now, I only have half sleeves (down to my elbows), so I think that if I had full sleeves it would be a different story haha.

[Genie of the West]

Now, I only have half sleeves (down to my elbows), so I think that if I had full sleeves it would be a different story haha.

Yeah... I would put money on that.

[GrayCatLove]

For now, they're mostly on my torso, one on my thigh, about to be more on the thighs. And no one wants to see that shit at work, so the tattoos aren't even in the equation.

[bulldog]

My industry is picking up so I'm going ask some of the managers\directors i do work for what they think about me getting my hands tattooed and how they feel about them personally and professional.

Wonder what there replies will be in this day and age?

[Ali Holloway]

I have no idea what the corporation I work for would say or do if they knew what I looked like. Since I work for an Ohio-based company yet live in Arkansas, I was interviewed entirely by phone and don't look anything like my years-old DL they have on file. I have several visible tattoos unless it's winter and I'm wearing long sleeves, as well as septum, nostril, lip, and many ear piercings, as well as hot pink hair. None of the store managers for the accounts that I service have minded, but I have been told I would be ineligible for employment by their companies. I can't work in an office type setting, I have tried several and was miserable, unconventional type jobs that don't involve sitting down all day suit me best anyway, luckily.

- - - Updated - - -

I do have to add though that I take great pains to dress appropriate for work, nice clothing, hair fixed, makeup on, and never any cleavage or booty hanging out, and never look unkempt either. I save the sweats, short shorts, and tshirts for home. I think that makes a huge difference as well.

[GrayCatLove]

In my old job, I had to write a lot of people up for visible tattoos. Rule of thumb: I'd warn you until I knew my supervisor was going to be around, then I had to. I have all mine so they can be hidden by a modest cocktail dress.

If I had visible tattoos, I'd be out.

[Mikey P]

I have an engineering background and work in marketing and commercialization for a chemical company that deals with the asphalt industry. Since my role requires me to meet and interact with customers, I generally keep all of my tattoos covered at any work event. I had a shoulder cap/half sleeve started in 2009, and if I wore short sleeved polo shirts, part of the tattoo would peek out. I went three ears without a comment from anyone on this, but eventually a customer mentioned it and while the leader of my business unit said that the company has nothing against employees having tattoos, he just said I should consider such a reaction. In other words, wear long sleeves.

Well, I went full bore, and got the arm tattooed all the way down to my wrist since I was pretty much wearing long sleeves after this "incident" all the time, I just won't be rolling them up at work anymore. In order to be successful at my job, I need to make my customers comfortable with me. If I had a relationship with a customer that I knew he/she had nothing against tattoos, I would wear short sleeves, but I am not at the point yet with any of my customers. As far as my coworkers go, they really don't care as long as I make the company money. That said, I treat interactions with coworkers as I would any customer of mine.

[Synesthesia]

I work in the social work field. Depending on your exact clientele and position, they can be pretty lenient in this field. I used to work with kids with mental illness, now I work with adults with mental illness. Both jobs were fine with visible tattoos. There's a woman at my current job with a neck tattoo, and a few of the workers have moderate coverage and it's fine if they're visible. If you're going to court or something, obviously you would have to cover up, but for everyday work, it's not an issue.

[Lotus]

Work in social care field, current employer is fine with tattoos, a non issue.

[Chelsea11coleman]

So to all the tattooed people out there....how are your experiences with being tattooed in the workplace? I work in the definition of corporate America and find tattoos to be far and wide (as much as I can see). I have ran into a few people with visible work but usually they "get away with it" due to insane skill at their job. I once met an administrator with a panther smack across his throat!

I understand from many conversations I've had with the people I work with that tattoos are considered "bad" or "poor decisions", and I usually defend the nameless tattooed people that are commented on while in such a conversation. This being said, I will not stop my dream of being covered, (to hell what they say!). I can do my job regardless with what my body looks like. I just am waiting for the day when someone makes a comment such as mentioned before and I can just lift a pant leg or roll a sleeve up and say..."so, am I a 'bad person' as well?"

Hi guys! I'm looking for some friendly advice about a white ink tattoo I got a few months ago. I wanted to go with white because of possible jobs in the future. It's on my wrist so I didn't want it to be very visible. In the last month the ink has turned a dirty looking color and I want to get it fixed. I talked to an artist and he said redoing the white may not make the dirty looking color go away. He told me I could go with a light blue or link to cover it up. Does anyone out there have a light blue or pink tattoo on their wrist? And is it very noticeable? I don't want it to be so noticeable that I can't get a job with it. Any ideas or advice would b much appreciated! :)

[Graeme]

Hi guys! I'm looking for some friendly advice about a white ink tattoo I got a few months ago. I wanted to go with white because of possible jobs in the future. It's on my wrist so I didn't want it to be very visible. In the last month the ink has turned a dirty looking color and I want to get it fixed. I talked to an artist and he said redoing the white may not make the dirty looking color go away. He told me I could go with a light blue or link to cover it up. Does anyone out there have a light blue or pink tattoo on their wrist? And is it very noticeable? I don't want it to be so noticeable that I can't get a job with it. Any ideas or advice would b much appreciated! :)

Wear long sleeves.

[Genie of the West]

Hi guys! I'm looking for some friendly advice about a white ink tattoo I got a few months ago. I wanted to go with white because of possible jobs in the future. It's on my wrist so I didn't want it to be very visible. In the last month the ink has turned a dirty looking color and I want to get it fixed. I talked to an artist and he said redoing the white may not make the dirty looking color go away. He told me I could go with a light blue or link to cover it up. Does anyone out there have a light blue or pink tattoo on their wrist? And is it very noticeable? I don't want it to be so noticeable that I can't get a job with it. Any ideas or advice would b much appreciated! :)

I've seen, heard and experienced nothing but bad things about white ink tattoos. They're just not practical and always fade quickly. I don't understand the point of getting a faint tattoo that not only is not visible from a distance, but will inevitably fade into crap at a fast rate. Get it covered in black ink in my opinion. A job really shouldn't be a factor in choosing ink color. If you're not willing to fully cover it I think it would be a huge mistake to try and get it in a color that just doesn't work out well, just so it's less noticeable.

Because now you have a bad looking tattoo and it might still be noticeable enough to have to cover anyways. Might as well get a good tattoo and just cover it without being told. Like the above poster said, wear a long sleeve shirt. No rocket science required here.

[Mikey P]

Hi guys! I'm looking for some friendly advice about a white ink tattoo I got a few months ago. I wanted to go with white because of possible jobs in the future. It's on my wrist so I didn't want it to be very visible. In the last month the ink has turned a dirty looking color and I want to get it fixed. I talked to an artist and he said redoing the white may not make the dirty looking color go away. He told me I could go with a light blue or link to cover it up. Does anyone out there have a light blue or pink tattoo on their wrist? And is it very noticeable? I don't want it to be so noticeable that I can't get a job with it. Any ideas or advice would b much appreciated! :)

*Stroking pretend expert e-peen*

I have had four tattoos with white ink, and with all four, my body seems to reject that pigment. I have gone back to get more pigment. I have lots of light blue and some degree of pink on me, and for some reason, they look great healing, and end up looking good. I have fair white to olive skin, I react to sunlight rather well. That said, pure white, my body rejects that pigment. And.. that said, do what makes you most comfy in life. If your career is paramount, don't fuck around and get tattooed if it will be a problem.

[Old Rose Tattoo]

Hi guys! I'm looking for some friendly advice about a white ink tattoo I got a few months ago. I wanted to go with white because of possible jobs in the future. It's on my wrist so I didn't want it to be very visible. In the last month the ink has turned a dirty looking color and I want to get it fixed. I talked to an artist and he said redoing the white may not make the dirty looking color go away. He told me I could go with a light blue or link to cover it up. Does anyone out there have a light blue or pink tattoo on their wrist? And is it very noticeable? I don't want it to be so noticeable that I can't get a job with it. Any ideas or advice would b much appreciated! :)

Pink would most likely become noticeable depending on your skin pigmentation. Light blue may work but still would be fairly noticeable. I have done a few tattoos for people that they want to be discreet and not too noticeable and what I have done with those are use flesh tone inks or bamboo colored. They are very faint and can match up pretty well with your skin so they dont stick out like a sore thumb which is what I think you are trying to avoid. Thats just a suggestion you can try!

[Chelsea11coleman]

Thanks I think I might talk to my artist about that. My skin isn't super pale but it's not super tan either, but in the summer I do soak up the sun quite well. To give you a better idea the tattoo is the two words "work ethic" about 1 inch tall and 2 inches wide, fairly small. Does the fleshy color seem to hold up well over time? Also I am aspiring to be a physical therapist or athletic trainer, so long sleeves all the time is pretty much out the window for me. Thanks again for the advice!

[Graeme]

Matching tattoo pigment to skin tone so the tattoo isn't noticeable? Some people shouldn't get tattooed. That shit is retarded.

[deadsp0t]

Matching tattoo pigment to skin tone so the tattoo isn't noticeable? Some people shouldn't get tattooed. That shit is retarded.

Agreed..

*coloring a zebra with a white crayon*

[HaydenRose]

Just get a tattoo and get it in black, it's probably not that big anyway. Wear bracelets. I don't know. So many girls nowadays have wrist tattoos I doubt you'll get fired over it...

[Graeme]

Just get a tattoo and get it in black, it's probably not that big anyway. Wear bracelets. I don't know. So many girls nowadays have wrist tattoos I doubt you'll get fired over it...

And if you want a tattoo that's easy to conceal you can get, oh I don't know, A BACK PIECE. You can get your thighs tattooed, your ribs, your torso, your shoulders, and you can easily cover those with clothing. Wanting or needing to keep your tattoos covered in a professional setting, when you're with your family who doesn't approve of tattoos, or whatever, doesn't mean that you can't get pretty much covered with great tattoos.

[CultExciter]

But it's for me!!!!!!

[Johannes]

But, I thought it was for me?

[Gregor]

Get an invisible tattoo , as long as the artist gets paid, so he can buy more resources to make proper tattoos with skulls n stuff for people who want tattoos .

[heathenist]

This isn't super related to the thread, but kinda. Anyways, a few days ago I noticed a pretty nice looking rose tattoo peaking out of the shirt sleeve of the professor who I'm a TA for, and I asked him about it, something like "Hey I saw you had a tattoo on your bicep earlier, I didn't realize you had any it looks pretty nice." And he tells me that he has that one and another one, a panther on his other arm. So I knew he lived in San Francisco for a while, so naturally being the tattoo nerd I am, I ask him where he got it. Apparently, in the late 90s he just happened to walk into Ed Hardy's Tattoo City and ended up getting a crawling panther from Tim Lehi when he was working there. He said at the time he had no idea who Ed Hardy was or anything. He was also pretty surprised when I started nerding out about how big of a deal Tim Lehi and all those dudes who were at Tattoo City at the time are now (Dan Higgs, Tim Lehi, Jef Whitehead, etc). Anyways, the tattoo is pretty rad and it blows my mind that there are so many people out there who just stumble into getting amazing tattoos with no idea that the artist might be one of the most well known and respected in the world, meanwhile, I (and probably lots of others on this forum) spend hours and hours and hours looking up artists in different cities, traveling 10+ hours in a single day (some of you are flying halfway across the world) just to get tattooed by these very same artists.

[tatB]

This isn't super related to the thread, but kinda. Anyways, a few days ago I noticed a pretty nice looking rose tattoo peaking out of the shirt sleeve of the professor who I'm a TA for, and I asked him about it, something like "Hey I saw you had a tattoo on your bicep earlier, I didn't realize you had any it looks pretty nice." And he tells me that he has that one and another one, a panther on his other arm. So I knew he lived in San Francisco for a while, so naturally being the tattoo nerd I am, I ask him where he got it. Apparently, in the late 90s he just happened to walk into Ed Hardy's Tattoo City and ended up getting a crawling panther from Tim Lehi when he was working there. He said at the time he had no idea who Ed Hardy was or anything. He was also pretty surprised when I started nerding out about how big of a deal Tim Lehi and all those dudes who were at Tattoo City at the time are now (Dan Higgs, Tim Lehi, Jef Whitehead, etc). Anyways, the tattoo is pretty rad and it blows my mind that there are so many people out there who just stumble into getting amazing tattoos with no idea that the artist might be one of the most well known and respected in the world, meanwhile, I (and probably lots of others on this forum) spend hours and hours and hours looking up artists in different cities, traveling 10+ hours in a single day (some of you are flying halfway across the world) just to get tattooed by these very same artists.

I think we need some pictures