For TATTOOERS ONLY, what's your biggest pet peeve?

[MarvelAvengers]

@MarvelAvengers just an fyi the post you quoted/ are responding to is ~4.5 years old. and you are also questioning the practices of a tattooer with almost 20 years experience.

My response is not meant as any disrespect, but rather outside perspective.

[tatB]

My response is not meant as any disrespect, but rather outside perspective.

okay, i accidentally interpreted your first post as being more hostile than it really was.

[MarvelAvengers]

okay, i accidentally interpreted your first post as being more hostile than it really was.

And sorry if i came across that way. It's sometimes a challenge to express demeanor through a keyboard. I've dealt with artists, both musical and visual, as well as boutique shop owners, so I am well aware of the beat down that's associated with many customers. Unfortunately, the world has an endless supply of challenged individuals. At same time, someone like myself, who I consider resourceful, educated, but most importantly respectful of both the artistic abilities of many tattoo artists, but more so of their time, found it very challenging to approach the initial dialogue regarding getting work done. Trying to email ahead of time rarely gets responses from many artist, and the help that services the phones and answers general questions are also limited in many shops as they are exactly that, the help, not the artists. Ultimately, no 2 customers are alike nor are 2 artists alike. As a result, without communication, it's a roll of the dice. Being uneducated should not be dealt with the same as disrespect or inconsideration. Again, just my perspective.

[Micky Vansittart]

Thanks GOODNESS! I'M NORMAL!!!

I have read nearly all the posts in this thread, as I'm currently pondering ideas for a new piece and wanted to feed my own curiosity as to whether i was a good client or not.

Turns out I was!

I researched artists, emailed and consulted with my chosen artist months in advance with lots of visual references, paid a hefty deposit well ahead of time, I arrived on time, was polite, I washed, I brought my own entertainment (iPad, book, music), I kept my mouth shut, I didn't rubberneck, I lay still aside from the odd involuntary twitch (calf/side leg/ankle tattoo - apologised and was assured that it happens in that area) despite being twisted in all manner of awkward positions (necessary), and as a result i got a perfectly detailed and wonderful customised tattoo.

A customised thank-you gift is on order for her as well as my future cash-money-business.

EASY!

[purplelace]

The showing designs on phone thing must be really fucking annoying! I mean it's not hard to print it out or take original artwork with you.

Yesterday during a break, was chatting to my tattooist about future tattoos and showed him couple of pics on phone, but I'll be bringing the original artwork in when it comes to getting it tattooed. Surely that is just common sense?

[Guerillaneedles]

OK for me, I do a lot of walk in stuff and as we work in a student town we get a lot of requests for pinterest style stuff. It irks me when people ask for an exact copy of tattoo AND placement (aren't tattoos meant to be individual?), obviously we usually don't copy but if it's a crescent moon outline 2cm big there's only so much you can do with that. We also get huge gangs of girls especially who all try and pile in to watch, and there's usually a tattoo 'expert' among them who of course knows more about tattooing than you do. It also grinds me when someone has to ask all 8 of their friends whether the placement is alright. Before you even get them in the chair, I also hate it when people get shitty with you when you try and advise them on placement, size etc and look at you like you're being a dick. Honestly I could take your money but I'd rather give you a good solid tattoo.

I realise I'm on a roll here, and this is probably a UK thing but I pretty much get asked every single day,3/4x a day whether I watch tattoo fixers. I tell them I don't have a TV licence (which is true). Also fuck those guys.

[sprouler]

On 2/3/2016 at 3:18 PM, Guerillaneedles said:

I realise I'm on a roll here, and this is probably a UK thing but I pretty much get asked every single day,3/4x a day whether I watch tattoo fixers. I tell them I don't have a TV licence (which is true). Also fuck those guys.

It's not just a UK thing, it's a Washington and LA thing as well. It's a very peculiar concept to me that so many people treat tattoos as a fashion accessory; the "I like this tattoo where they have it, and I want it just like that on me" (ignoring that this person is very possibly built and proportioned very differently than they are. It's fine, not really offensive, and not really my problem; it just seems a bit like they're forgetting that this isn't the must-have phone that they can just trade in after a better one comes out.

[J.Stell]

New One:

Clients bringing in their "love interests", and all the sudden, the vibe changes, and I feel like I am being put in a position of feeling like I am being treated not as a professional just trying to do a job, but like "spank material", cause they got all "affectionate/oddly intimate" while I'm trying to just do a tattoo... No make up,  dirty hair, up in a bun, and not trying to be anything but a tattooer... I'm not a fluffer, nor do I appreciate my massage table being leaned on by someone and movements happening, that totally affect the work.... Luckily my co-worker picked up on my vibe, and interjected into the "situation", and I didn't just go off on someone for yet again, crossing a line that should be totally respected.

Next...

Clients thinking since they have been tattooed in the shop multiple times, quoting prices, as if they work here full time. Not cool... That's just fucked.

 

[Syntheticfish]

On 4/21/2013 at 3:50 AM, MattCrunk said:

For the past few years my biggest pet peeve is bargain hunters who's only concern is price, not quality. It's pretty sad that so many people today choose a tattoo shop based on the shop minimum without ever even cracking open a portfolio . . . a direct result of the over-saturation of tattoo shops in recent years, many of which are staffed by artists (and I use the term loosely) who shouldn't even be allowed in the business.

Bargain hunters definitely suck... what's worse is when they are friends and acquaintances who you aren't nessicarily trying to tattoo but you're trying to give honest advice to.

I think that has to be the most frustrating for me.  When you give real honest advice and people wrinkle their nose at it like they don't understand.

I have had quite a few people ask me for tattoos... then deals knowing full well I don't think they should be talking about tattoos at all if price is a factor for them.

Look at portfolios, pick the artist you want for a reason and pay them well if you're not willing to do this, you don't need a tattoo.

I guess the pricing issue has a lot to do with scratchers these days... posting basic pricing on instagram and facebook making people think that it's a realistic thing to expect from an artist.

What's worse though is when you get people asking for bad work on purpose...  some people can't tell the difference between a child's scrawl and Rembrandt.  I don't know how people's brains can function like this... but if the picture they are holding looks the same to them as the black scribble the scratcher did I guess it makes sense how they would be confused about pricing.