Tattoos and the workplace

[JeffK]

My unit doesn't care if my tattoos are exposed as long as they're not "offensive." I only cover them when they're new because exposing my giant open wound around patient's is a poor idea. Most patients love to talk about them, whether they approve or not.

[slayer9019]

My unit doesn't care if my tattoos are exposed as long as they're not "offensive." I only cover them when they're new because exposing my giant open wound around patient's is a poor idea. Most patients love to talk about them, whether they approve or not.

what do you do?

[Casper]

our handbook changed a few years back from having to cover tattoos and remove piercings to "at warehouse managers discretion" obviously i work in a retail warehouse, I have forearm tattoos and I get compliments on them all the time. personally I think it is only a matter of time before it is fully accepted wherever you go and nobody will be able to discriminate because of ink

[McCaul]

My dad has been a repossession agent since he was 18, so he has been in the business around 25 years. I started working into the business with him young, and I obviously had interest in tattoo/tattooing. I started to get tattooed, then wanted to tattoo, and did get heavily done on my arms and hands later. I still am a repossession agent, process server, and private investigator. I deal with bankers, lawyers, judges, etc. and have never been treated as differently which is relief. When I need to appear in a court room I wear a suit and tie, and yes I have my hands done. Now that I am in my apprenticeship, I work repoing to fund that and my family. My tattoos haven't hindered me in the workplace thus far.

[Colored Guy]

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.

As long as you keep 'em covered, who's gonna know? Nobody... I ran into someone I work with at the gym for the first time the other day. He had no idea I was inked, I'll have to see what a blabbermouth he is.

Rob

[Casper]

As long as you keep 'em covered, who's gonna know? Nobody... I ran into someone I work with at the gym for the first time the other day. He had no idea I was inked, I'll have to see what a blabbermouth he is.

Rob

yeah I had my arms done while I was on a 6 week vacation and I came back (my uniform makes me have long sleeves) nobody knew I had them for almost a year until I saw a co-worker at the mall and they gave me the WTF as well... now that the handbook has changed I actually roll my sleeves up on occasional warm days with no repercussion or fear of getting suspended

[Vinn]

As has been stated in this thread, many businesses ban visible tattoos. But several allow them. I recently was shopping for a TV and checked many stores. At a major national chain (not sure if allowed to state which one here) the employee who helped me had visible sleeves. He said the company allows it. I bought there based on that. I also shop at a large chain grocery store that allows their employees to have visible tattoos.

I do my best to patronize businesses that allow their employees to have visible tattoos. I encourage my friends and family to do the same.

[slayer9019]

As long as you keep 'em covered, who's gonna know? Nobody... I ran into someone I work with at the gym for the first time the other day. He had no idea I was inked, I'll have to see what a blabbermouth he is.

Rob

Yea those will always exist. Water cooler talk is usually peppered with gossip (probably since their life is too boring, so gossip excites them). A consultant I used to work with at a client met me after his contract expired there for lunch. Since we no longer work for the same client I showed up in my "normal" clothes (metal shirt, black dickies shorts). Looked like he saw a ghost for a second. After that he couldn't stop going back to talk about my tattoos. Since we had worked together for 2 years he did decide he still wanted to enter a joint-partnership on a project but he did mention he wanted to handle a lot of the "customer facing stuff". I was like really dude? You didn't even know I had tattoos for 2 years. Still a cool guy but I can say he does look at me differently because of it.

our handbook changed a few years back from having to cover tattoos and remove piercings to "at warehouse managers discretion" obviously i work in a retail warehouse, I have forearm tattoos and I get compliments on them all the time. personally I think it is only a matter of time before it is fully accepted wherever you go and nobody will be able to discriminate because of ink

I don't think it will ever be fully accept in the corporate world. Think about it we never strayed from the suit+tie for quite awhile and tattoos are not something exactly new. The point of a corporate dress code is so you don't stand out.

[JeffK]

what do you do?

Nursing assistant/student but no one on the unit needs to cover up. A few nurses have 1 or 2, same with an orderly we have. I have about 7 visable tattoos w/a short sleeve shirt/scrub top. I've been to hospitals that require them covered no matter what though. Every job's different.

I've only had 1 job where I HAD to cover up all the time. Wasn't a big deal, but I never dealt with anyone but staff so it was a bit annoying since no one would see them who wasn't a coworker I already got along with.

[Colored Guy]

Yea those will always exist. Water cooler talk is usually peppered with gossip (probably since their life is too boring, so gossip excites them). A consultant I used to work with at a client met me after his contract expired there for lunch. Since we no longer work for the same client I showed up in my "normal" clothes (metal shirt, black dickies shorts). Looked like he saw a ghost for a second. After that he couldn't stop going back to talk about my tattoos. Since we had worked together for 2 years he did decide he still wanted to enter a joint-partnership on a project but he did mention he wanted to handle a lot of the "customer facing stuff". I was like really dude? You didn't even know I had tattoos for 2 years. Still a cool guy but I can say he does look at me differently because of it.

I don't think it will ever be fully accept in the corporate world. Think about it we never strayed from the suit+tie for quite awhile and tattoos are not something exactly new. The point of a corporate dress code is so you don't stand out.

People who run into me at the beach treat me differently at work... they can't believe what a difference between me at work and out of work. One guy flat out told me years ago he was pissed that he knew me for years and had no idea.

Rob

[Reyeslv]

People who run into me at the beach treat me differently at work... they can't believe what a difference between me at work and out of work. One guy flat out told me years ago he was pissed that he knew me for years and had no idea.

Rob

What was he pissed about? It's not like we are obligated to disclose all things to our co-workers.

[JustBrowsin]

I'm an artist in an ad agency, nothing but positive feedback from co-workers. Half of us work creative & half of us work client side. I typically never have to deal w/client face to face unless I'm freelancing, but I think if you work in the field of art or something like a chef or a food truck persay, those types of personalities are more apt to have visible tattoos. But I had a chiropracter once after a car accident, he said "oh you have tattoos?" & then proceeded to show me his entire japanese traditional back piece. I was impressed by it. So to each it their own.

[Colored Guy]

What was he pissed about? It's not like we are obligated to disclose all things to our co-workers.

No idea, it was on him. Just that people THINK they know you after many years and when they get their minds blown.. oh well.

Rob

[VCarter]

When I started med school our entire class got the Judgey McJudgeypants talk about maintaining a professional appearance out of respect for both the field and for our patients. They even went so far as to out and out say that any non-traditional appearance may result in lower grades during our clinical evaluations based on how professional we appear to be and how serious we are taking our training. I don't have any major visible modifications (aside from a tiny stud in my nose piercing), but one of my classmates (who has an amazing Japanese themed sleeve) was sweating bullets throughout the entire talk.

While I do agree that we need to dress and act professionally, and that perhaps face, hand or neck tattoos may not be the best choice to make at this point in our careers I really dislike the idea that part of our grades is basically determined by our looks. This was also highly ironic as the person delivering this talk happens to have more than one or two tattoos of their own.

[else]

When I started med school our entire class got the Judgey McJudgeypants talk about maintaining a professional appearance out of respect for both the field and for our patients. They even went so far as to out and out say that any non-traditional appearance may result in lower grades during our clinical evaluations based on how professional we appear to be and how serious we are taking our training.

We got the same lecture in speech pathology school. A part of the grade in our clinicals was based on appearance and adherence to the dress code. My profession is actually very conservative in that respect... the PTs and OTs I have worked with have often joked about how they get to come to work in scrubs and the speech therapist shows up in heels and pearls. (Not me - I'm more of a scrubs kind of lady - or at least "business casual". I don't even own any pearls!) I've known many PTs and OTs with visible tattoos but I've only ever met one speech therapist with a potentially visible tattoo and she kept hers constantly covered at work.

[JeffK]

When I started med school our entire class got the Judgey McJudgeypants talk about maintaining a professional appearance out of respect for both the field and for our patients. They even went so far as to out and out say that any non-traditional appearance may result in lower grades during our clinical evaluations based on how professional we appear to be and how serious we are taking our training. I don't have any major visible modifications (aside from a tiny stud in my nose piercing), but one of my classmates (who has an amazing Japanese themed sleeve) was sweating bullets throughout the entire talk.

While I do agree that we need to dress and act professionally, and that perhaps face, hand or neck tattoos may not be the best choice to make at this point in our careers I really dislike the idea that part of our grades is basically determined by our looks. This was also highly ironic as the person delivering this talk happens to have more than one or two tattoos of their own.

Haha, well as the NA who has to clean up after residents and fellows leave a patients room here's a tip: The patient won't care about your tattoos (if they even see them while wearing a white coat) so much as you leaving a mess after leaving from doing a dressing change or in room check up. Not ragging on YOU, but we get so many students/residents/fellows/doctors who go in, rush a bunch of questions, leave a tornado of a mess and don't clean it up. The patients HATE that and I can't think of ANYTHING more unprofessional. They won't even notice the tattoos.

I think more then the type of profession, when it comes to health care, it depends on the city/facility. I work at a major hospital near the Loop in Chicago, a huge liberal city. No one cares. Even patients who come in from out of state.

I do clinicals at a suburban catholic owned hospital and have to cover it ALL up and I do think some patients WOULD mind.

They don't care if you're an NA, RN, MD, OT, PT, whatever. It's almost always the facility and town/city and their expectations of it.

[Tight-Lines]

Haha, well as the NA who has to clean up after residents and fellows leave a patients room here's a tip: The patient won't care about your tattoos (if they even see them while wearing a white coat) so much as you leaving a mess after leaving from doing a dressing change or in room check up. Not ragging on YOU, but we get so many students/residents/fellows/doctors who go in, rush a bunch of questions, leave a tornado of a mess and don't clean it up. The patients HATE that and I can't think of ANYTHING more unprofessional. They won't even notice the tattoos.

I think more then the type of profession, when it comes to health care, it depends on the city/facility. I work at a major hospital near the Loop in Chicago, a huge liberal city. No one cares. Even patients who come in from out of state.

I do clinicals at a suburban catholic owned hospital and have to cover it ALL up and I do think some patients WOULD mind.

They don't care if you're an NA, RN, MD, OT, PT, whatever. It's almost always the facility and town/city and their expectations of it.

Totally agree. All comes down to the location of the hospital and the people it serves. County hospitals, no one gives a shit.

[Gregor]

At work recently a dude with olde English up his forearm said to me "you tatt really well" lol I said to him " no the tatter tatted me really well!! " I fuckin hate the word tatt . Some else came up to me and pointed at my Vader tatto and said "fucks that , a stormtrooper???" I hate my work .

[rocketfish344]

i honestly think they're fine in the work place.

[else]

At the new place I'm working they don't have any rules about visible tattoos. There are two brothers, both CNAs, who look enough alike that I haven't yet learned to tell them apart except for by their tattoos (there are actually 3 brothers - but one has a scar on his head that is very helpful in identifying him!). They all have both arms fully sleeved, thank goodness that they wanted different tattoos from one another!!

[Graeme]

At the new place I'm working they don't have any rules about visible tattoos. There are two brothers, both CNAs, who look enough alike that I haven't yet learned to tell them apart except for by their tattoos (there are actually 3 brothers - but one has a scar on his head that is very helpful in identifying him!). They all have both arms fully sleeved, thank goodness that they wanted different tattoos from one another!!

Have you seen those identical twins with the same tattoos? Hooper did some of them, I think they have a bunch of Duncan X tattoos...all that kind of stuff. It's weird. I'm going to try to find a picture.

- - - Updated - - -

Here they are:

http://www.th-ink.co.uk/2012/07/15/thomas-hoopers-tattooed-twins-jordan-and-caleb/

[else]

Have you seen those identical twins with the same tattoos?

Wow! That's nuts!

I wonder if it was hard for them to agree on what to get?

[ColdBlue]

At my last office job no one really cared it. It was cool like we wore whatever, they did not care about tattoos or anything like that. I've had other jobs in the past that were much more strict, I have large tattoos but im young and havent started my forearms just yet. Debating on it right now lol. I'm cool with finishing up my sleeves, I just could never see myself with hand or throat tattoos, too much stigma in the work place.

[JTJTJT]

This is one thing I'm dreading when I get tatttoos, I work as the trainee accountant in a smallish firm (AKA the bottom bitch) and their very vocal about everything they don't like from black eyes I've had, scars on my hands, when I had to bandage my shin and even when my hair curls from being more than an inch long. But I suppose some sort of under armour type stuff would stop tattoos showing through a white shirt. otherwise I would have to always wear a jumper. Which is what I wear all the way through to May the 15th anyway

[Genie of the West]

Why don't you just wear different color shirts other than white? Doesn't seem like a big deal to me.

And I guess only white guys have to worry about that anyways. I'm black and you can't see my tattoos through my white shirt (I wear one at work as part of my uniform). You can barely see them in a dimly lit room if you're not fairly close lol.