Well, I'm not talking abotu customers specifically, because we definitely have our bouts of blowing off steam when those nightmares come in - and we are like any other shop. 30% of our clients rule, 20% don't say enough to have any idea what they're about anyway, and then the last 50% are trying. And yeah, you're totally right, forums like these are the way to bounce those shitty feelings off of other friends that are in the same position and it can make you feel normal and well-adjusted.
But there's the dudes that are more in the game to talk about tattooing then they are at being focused on getting GOOD. I feel like anytime I meet someone who's been tattooing 5 years and just bombards me with bitching about this and that and "tattooing ain't what it should be" and this and that... it's pointless yammering about ideas that have been regurgitated a million times and mean nothing. It's always those guys too, that you look at their portfolio and can't help but think that if they'd just listen to someone ELSE about what tattooing is, they might have learned more in those short 5 years and have a better attitude.
But just to throw a wrench in my argument, if those guys did ALL have great mentors, and ALL ended up well-adjusted, this community wouldn't be as cool as it is. We wouldn't have people that stood out as goal-setters for the rest of us, and we woudln't have examples of what kinds of tattooers we don't want to be. We'd all just be the same sticker-applicators and we sure as hell wouldn't be able to make a living from it the same way.
So all in all, sure it annoys me, but in some ways, it's a necessary evil that has its benefits.