[Archived] Tattoo

[thenodrog]

Believe it or not, there are thousands and thousands of us who do not need a shirt and tie, a company car, phone and company pension to be happy. There is another side to life beyond your university education or pre programmed public sector job. Try chucking on some old trainers, some battered jeans and an old sweatshirt to do your day job. Its quite liberating. I`m not going to boast about incomes but I do own a 4 bed detached house in the cotswolds and never been to university. Well educated does not have to mean a degree. ( oh the shock! ). It can mean you are good at your trade, be it a sparky, footballer or musician and believe me a tattoo makes no difference there.

No doubt you'll be asking for a cash discount with no vodka and tonic from your tattooist then Alan?

[AlanK]

Check out Mike

He knows what he is doing

[thenodrog]

Check out Mike

He knows what he is doing

Like the body piercings up that blokes spine Al..... kinda blends in with his moles.

[AlanK]

Like the body piercings up that blokes spine Al..... kinda blends in with his moles.

:D

I can hardly criticise when I say each to his own.....however......have you seen " The Matrix "

[cletus]

if employers are turning people down for jobs because the applicants have tattoo/s...then that is discrimination in anybodys language, and if it where me, then i´d be going straight to my lawyer, seeking legal advice.

That`s where employers are clever though.....they don`t tell you 'why' you didn`t get the job. They just say thanks but no thanks (that goes for tats, colour of skin & even ginge`s!! )

Any employer who says "you didn`t get the job because i don`t like the look of you" is asking to be sued & is obviously stupid beyond belief. It`s like asking your boss for a job reference. They aren`t allowed to write you a bad reference....it`s what they don`t write in it that tells the tale. Employers read between the lines.

[Blueboy Downunder]

Actually you can't. You would have to give a very good reason for making them cut their hair and if that reason didn't wash with a tribunal then you'd be looking at a hefty payout. In fact if the only reason you didn't give the person the job was appearance than chances are your HR department wouldn't let it go to a tribunal, they'd be paying out quicker than you can say 'get your hair cut'.

Go to your HR dept and ask them. Sadly common sense doesn't come into many instances these days and you have to be squeaky clean when it comes to any form of discrimination.

exactly, manchester blue. wanting somebody to cover tattoos is something i totally agree on, if the employer so wishes ( although that is not what i actually said in my previous post)telling somebody to do something that is completely un-reasonable like getting a hair cut, if there is nothing overly wrong with it, is crazy and something that employers would look rather foolish with at a tribunal etc etc.

[American]

Ah, gotta love the US labor laws. We allow people to actually run their business the way they want to.

Then again, with what my company is going through in Ireland trying to get rid of an employee who is incompetent, it doesn't surprise me things are stricter over there.

We usually put it as a part of the dress code.

[Paul]

And AS, in all seriousness I do appreciate that there are some people in power like yourself who may hold views like that, and I do feel a responsibility to myself to work immenswly hard in everything I do in my career to ensure people respect me, and to make sure they want me to work for them. This perhaps is due to a subconcious awareness that certain people may view me as not hard working or reliable due to my supposed image.

For which you should be applauded.

I've discussed tattoos with young people, one strand of my arguement being what will it look like when you're 50+? The commonest repsonse being so many young people now have tattoos in 30 years time no one will care. I can see the rationale, and can't argue with it, as BOFs like me will be long past having any influence in the jobs market etc.

I like colin's advice of putting it on a wall for 12 months. Personally I can't understand why one would want to deface one's body in this way.

[Billy Castell]

http://www.thisisthenortheast.co.uk/displa..._to_stomach.php

This shows why you should never have a tattoo in a language you don't understand.

I have a tattoo of Marty Feldman's face on my back.

But seriously, tattoos don't mean you're an ill-educated tool who should be seen as an evil influence on kids. That mentality belongs in a repressive culture like the USA or the 1950's, where anything that is a bit different is seen as devient and wrong (e.g. women liking sex, not getting married, Marilyn Manson). In my experience those who are different, and have pierced niples or tattoos are better company than 'normal' people who talk about football and Eastenders, and think Nickelback is rock music.

[philipl]

A large proportion of society do think people with tatoos are ignorant tools who got drunk one night and ended up mutilated.

So given there is not a lot one can do about people's prejudices, anyone who is having a tatoo or unusual piercing is putting themselves at a clear disadvantage.

I think tatoos are ugly and utterly gross on otherwise pretty girls at the beach.

I don't have a problem about employing people with tatoos but they won't be allowed anywhere near a customer-facing job in my organisation unless the tatoos/piercing are completely invisible.

[adopted scouser]

I don't have a problem about employing people with tatoos but they won't be allowed anywhere near a customer-facing job in my organisation unless the tatoos/piercing are completely invisible.

Spot on. Want to borrow my copy of 'Mein Kampf' ?

[thenodrog]

I don't have a problem about employing people with tatoos but they won't be allowed anywhere near a customer-facing job in my organisation unless the tatoos/piercing are completely invisible.

In which case those that are able to 'be put on the front desk' will rightly demand more booty...... in which case those with their defaced bodies will claim discrimination.....

Nah that won't work Philip.

[adopted scouser]

In which case those that are able to 'be put on the front desk' will rightly demand more booty.

Bigger bums or more cash ?

[Paul]

I don't have a problem about employing people with tatoos but they won't be allowed anywhere near a customer-facing job in my organisation unless the tatoos/piercing are completely invisible.

Spot on and the problem is today's 20 year old doesn't have a clue what job he might want in 15 years time. I would never allow anyone with visible body-piercings or tatoos anywhere near a customer.

[philipl]

In which case those that are able to 'be put on the front desk' will rightly demand more booty...... in which case those with their defaced bodies will claim discrimination.....

Nah that won't work Philip.

I know where you are going but if a client has a phobia about a coloured face, a disabled person or a redhaired person, the client has a problem as these are something that the individual can do nothing about.

Deliberate disfigurement/ornamentation is however a matter of personal choice which "says" something about that person and by extension the organisation that is employing them.

If a customer-facing employee turns up scruffy or inappropriately dressed, the matter can be discussed and rectified but permanent body modification can only be permanently hidden to be acceptable.

On a lighter note, one of the best PA's I worked with was a passionate Canadian nationalist and once told me she had a maple leaf tattooed round her left nipple- and no I didn't find out if she was joking or not!

[American]

Actually, Philip, I don't think that's where Drog was going. He was saying the tattooed person would sue because of not making as much money.

[thenodrog]

On a lighter note, one of the best PA's I worked with was a passionate Canadian nationalist and once told me she had a maple leaf tattooed round her left nipple- and no I didn't find out if she was joking or not!

I'd have had to make that my mission in life.

[Blueboy Downunder]

nobody knows what the client is going to think at all, about the potential of visable tattoos, and anybody who thinks they can pre-empt what a client will think, is with all due respect talking out their bum. one thing i can totally gaurentee though (and this may sound contradictory)...is that if the product you are selling is of the highest quality and that the customer service given by your employees is as we would want...then i am certain the customer would not be overly bothered about appearances, as long as the person is presentable.

[AlanK]

But we are still on the lines of having a tattoo is bad for your office job. I will never work in an office in my life. Nothing against those who do, we are all different and its my worst nightmare. I would actually prefer being out and about on the bins.

Why do our appearances have to be pre defined and governed?

Have you not noticed how some of you are telling us how we should look like? I don`t tell you what to look like.

Should we all conform to a set of rules set in stone regareding our appearance?

No tattoos, no piercings, short back and sides, suited and booted, clean shaven, manicured, glossy white teeth, six pack?

If a guy turns up for an interview and he is overweight does that not show a weakness? Over indulgence? Not a pretty sight and all self inflicted.

If a guy turns up for an interview and smells of cigarettes, does that not show a weakness? Self inflicted.

Where do you draw the line?

[adopted scouser]

Where do you draw the line?

Where no one can see it

[AlanK]

But you can conceal most tattoos a lot easier that a great big fat belly or stinky fag breath.

Having a tattoo is a personnel choice and or a lack of respect for your body depending on your stance.

Is being overweight and a smoker not the same thing? Or worse due to health implications?

I bet a fat smoking chap is a lot less productive annually than a chap with a picture on him.

[ABBEY]

what about a tatted,fat ,smoking pisshead...........steveo57 doesnt smoke tho

[broadsword]

Do what you like with your body, but if a tattoo is noticeable then expect it to hold you back in certain careers. It's not sodding roket science, I don't get why it's generating so many posts. Rightly or wrongly, people draw conclusions about others with tattoos, if you want to get on in life you need to work around that where it happens.

Likewise with youyr comments that I have been sarcastic and unhelpful. What sort of help were you looking for, exactly? You've done all teh research, you've got it all planned out. So, what's the big deal?

It's just a tattoo - if you can't take a bit of banter and mickey-taking you're taking it just a bit too seriously.

[Tris]

nobody knows what the client is going to think at all, about the potential of visable tattoos, and anybody who thinks they can pre-empt what a client will think, is with all due respect talking out their bum.

Turn it around the other way. If 100 customers visit say ... a financial advisor ... or a jewellers ... or a branch of Currys to splash a few hundred quid on a plasma screen TV, at least some of those 100 folk are going to be somewhat taken aback if they are greeted by someone in those roles sporting tatoos.

Some will be so taken aback they will go to the bank / jeweller / electrical shop next door and spend their cash where they are greeted by someone with a more traditional appearance for those roles. That's a fact, so employers aren't going to take the risk are they - no matter how "good" the voluntarily painted person might actually be at what they do.

[AlanK]

I don't get why it's generating so many posts.

Says somenone who has posted 11 times on the topic!!!