I was looking at the posts on a Facebook group called Tattoo Acceptance in the Workplace. It got me wondering and so I thought I’d pose some questions to you, dear ModBlog readers. Are you tattooed? If so, are any of them visible? Are tattoos accepted in your workplace? What industry do you work in? Where in the world do you live?
I thought it might be interesting to see where visible tattoos are more accepted and where they are completely frowned upon.
I’m throwing in this sick (I hear that’s what kids these days call cool) and totally unrelated tattoo of Davy Jones, submitted by Gotter and inked by Jade Campos out of Arte Sagrado in Peru.
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175 responses to “Survey says…”
I work as a veterinary technician in Memphis, TN, USA while I’m home in the summers at both a day practice and veterinary emergency center and in a veterinary emergency center in Knoxville, TN, USA while in school. I don’t have any visible tattoos (yet), but I have multiple facial piercings and stretched lobes. In Memphis, you can’t find a clinic that doesn’t have at least one employee that is modified. It’s a lot more conservative in East TN, but I don’t have any problems really. Granted, I am very personable and have great references, but I think a big part of it how someone carries themselves. If you look/sound/act like an idiot, people will assume you are. But if you come off as intelligent and knowledgeable, 9 times out of 10, people will treat you that way, even if it does take a few minutes to warm up.
I work at a Chili’s here in the bay area, and I have my tattoo that is visible from my shirt sleeve down, and I get compliments on it all the time! My managers don’t mind it and my customers always have a question for me 🙂
I live in Philadelphia and I work for a small Real Estate office that specializes in bank foreclosures.
Since we don’t deal with the general public (mostly just contractors and some real estate investors) my boss doesn’t care. I have a half sleeve (elbow to wrist), some random ones on my other arm, my back heavily tattooed and my chest. I also have 2 nostril piercings and 1.5″ lobes.
Some people seem a little off put by them, but overall it’s been fine. My boss did say “no more tattoos” but I have no plans to stop.
I am a photographer and I also work at a restaurant part time as a cook.
I have one tattoo that is visible, the restaurant doesn’t like it but they deal, it is small and on my hand. To them the 20/23 piercings that are almost always visible are more of an issue.
As a photographer, I have a lot of questions asked by people about my mods, but unlike at the restaurant people are very rarely ever rude to me about how I like to look or what I enjoy doing to my body.
Hulllo- I be Zephyr Elf- I currently live in Adelaide, South Australia. And no, I can’t tell you HOW BADLY I want to get the hell out of here.
I currently have several visible tattoos- my fingers, chest, back of neck, half sleeves and forearms, thighs, ankles, lower back and shoulder etc, several facial piercings (two septums, medusa, snakebites, spiderbites, cheeks) my ears stretched to 20mm and have surgically pointed elf ears 😀 Not to mention a neon turquoise deathhawk >;D
I work as a body piercer and am hoping to undertake a scarification apprenticeship really soon, which means I have never really copped crap for my image. The day I recieved my first piercing- my septum- I realised that piercing people was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life, so I’m glad I ended up in that industry! I knew my image was never going to fit what society calls ‘normal’
What shits me the most though, especially about my city, is not the crap I cop in the workplace for the way I look- but most nightclubs and restuarants here have a NO VISIBLE TATTOO ban. I’m not even kidding- I have been thrown out of clubs because of the tiny UV reactive hearts I have tattooed on my pink finger knuckles. That being said, they’re not usually clubs I like to go to- but I feel bad for my non-tattooed friends not being able to go anywhere except goth/metal clubs with me v_v
I have not been let into places because of my tattoos, piercings and hair colour/cut. It’s actually fucking ridiculous- you’d think in a time like this, people would have more tolerance. I can’t wait to live in a city where I can party where I want! Haha :3
I’m 18 and a student in West Yorkshire (UK); my job is part time in a clothing chain at the moment. I have dyed hair, a 16ga septum and one quite large but not visible tattoo, planning to get more. Nobody at my work really minds about tattoos because we have supervisors and floor staff who have a lot of visible work, one guy i work with has two half sleeves and they’re gorgeous 🙂 We’ve recently got a whole new management team in so we’ll see if they change any rules, it’s got a bit draconian lately, but the only people i’ve had who complain about my septum piercing are older customers (who have said i’m not “feminine”) – most people like asking me about it. I’ve even been told that it’s good to see someone who can work with the public and have facial piercings 🙂
I want to be a teacher in the future, if all goes to plan, so I am trying to be realistic about what and where things will go as I get more work done. Most secondary schools won’t take on people who can’t cover up their mods, unless you teach in an independent college/sixth form with older students, so time will tell what the future’s got in store for me. I’m going to be sad to see my purple hair go 🙁
I live in Birmingham, UK.
I have a full sleeve, 1inch lobes and leg, back, feet and nape tattoos and ‘me ole medusa’ piercing.
I work for a large, national housing association which is fairly conservative. I work in a regional office at the moment but will be moving to the very posh head office soon. I have always had facial piercings and tattoos and was employed looking as such.
I get a mixed opinion on my mods. Most people are accepting and do not request I cover them up. I am not the only person with visible mods and I am generally not customer facing although I have been in the past.
I have been asked to wear long sleeves on very few occasions particularly when I was a ‘ visiting officer’ to a seniors housing complex and whilst we were being inspected by our governing body. I did so but I felt a little put out. Our customers do not abject or comment on my mods in any negative way and I do not believe our governing body would also be so unprofessional.
My company, being a charitable organisation which spends public funds, has to accept the needs and wants of all our customers and diversity and equal opps are major factors in our day to day work. I have even been touted as our ‘diverse’ team member by my most senior manager to the extant that he wanted me paraded for my ‘diversity’ to our external bodies. Something I dont mind but find a little odd, told to cover up in one day and paraded the next.
I have excelled in my time in the company and feel that if anything, my mods have allowed me to be noticed along with my excellent work and far too dedicated attitude.
I dont feel mods have to hold you back and luckily they are becoming more accepted however I do feel that people with visible tattoos shouldn’t complain about missed opportunities. We made our choices. I do think we should all try and try again to change opinion by being professional, covering up if required, and then slowing sliding up those long sleeves!
However being pissy about something with pretty piercings is just daft. No one moans about ugly faces do they?
I’m a doctor (female – I think that sometimes makes a difference as to what’s seen as acceptable). I have a full backpiece and one sleeve, will soon have second sleeve. Also have labret piercing, tongue piercing, ten ear piercings including one lobe stretched to 8mm.
I wear long sleeves to work, but sometimes have to roll them up in clinical areas and so far it’s been ok. And though I make an effort to keep the tats covered, inevitably corners of them show over bits of clothing here and there. No patient has ever commented. I cover up and take my piercings out for job interviews, but they are always in at work and no senior of mine has ever once passed negative comment. Actually, I find colleagues, particularly older ones, tend to be interested and fascinated and want to ask about the tats. It helps that I work in a branch of medicine that tends to attract more liberal-thinking types of people than some, and I know a number of my seniors who have tattoos and mods, though we all try to keep our appearance relatively neutral in the workplace.
I am respectful to everyone I work with, I have a good reputation, I work hard, and I find people see that first and foremost. Also, I am well-presented at work and whilst there might be unconventional things about me, I am always appropriate. Nobody could complain about the way I dress or behave at work, and these things are more important than my mods. I make an effort not to draw attention to any aspect of my appearance, not just my mods. I think these are reasons why I ‘get away with it’ in a traditionally pretty conservative environment.
I have multiple piercings (mostly in my ears) and some tattoos that show when I wear some clothing but not others. My company does not allow any visible tattoos, no facial piercings (including tounge) or visible body piercings, one earring per ear “of conservative size,” and “conservatively styled hair,” which means no hawks or any non-natural color. Crazy.
I work as a groomer for PetSmart, which is a lot like being a regular hairstylist (an artsy sort of position), and a lot of the girls that do it are modded and have to wear long sleeves or band-aids to cover their mods, along with retainers. It’s ridiculous.
I have one visible tattoo of a bird on the inside of my wrist. I’ve worked places where they asked me to cover it, I never held those jobs long. Now I am a receptionist for a state agency. The folks in my office like my tattoo, they think it’s cute. I hope they don’t mind the ones I plan to get in the future.
Forgot to say, I am in the UK.
I have four visible tattoos, three on my upper back/nape of my neck and one 3/4 sleeve in progress. I also have a vertical labret, pierced nose, and 00 guage lobes. I’m the only visibly modified person in my office, but no one seems to mind. I provide over-the-phone software support in advertising. It definitley helps that my clients never see me though.
forgot location: I’m in Chicago.
I have a chestpiece and the beginnings of a sleeve (which was started from the bottom up, so I have outline and shading from wrist to elbow), as well as 5/8″ lobes. I work for the Canadian government (in Ottawa), and I currently keep my tattoos covered. There isn’t an official dress code, and most people I work in the immediate vicinity of know I have tattoos, but because I only started a few months ago, it’s important to me that I build a reputation as a highly competent and professional individual before I end up labeled as a tattooed person. I’m planning on phasing them in slowly at the office, although I don’t plan on ever revealing them when meeting with clients.
That said, I haven’t had a single negative response from anyone at work, and most of my colleagues think I’m being way too paranoid about it. I have seen a few other people with sleeves in the building, but they were service guys.
I work in processing in a medical laboratory. When my lab coat sleeves are down and I’m in scrubs, all my tattoos are covered. My boss doesn’t care whether we’re tattooed or pierced.
I usually have one tattoo poking out of my coat sleeve, and when I wear capri’s/shorts I have quite a large tattoo up my calf. I imagine the expectations would be different if I were working directly with patients. I’m in Ontario Canada.
haha, easy for me…
working in a piercing and a tattoo shop. So, don’t have any problems for that. ( dozens of piercings on face, and the whole right arm tattooed + subdermal implants around the hand )… So it seems ok.
before tattoo and implants, i worked with my piercings in a supermarket, called Colruyt here in Belgium ( for them who knows )
never had a problem in three years.
I think, it’s not the way you look, but the way you act who’s making you acceptable for a job.
of course, better not use 3cm spikes on all your face and a gangbang scene’s tattoo on your arms :d hahahaha.
I work as an Addiction Counsellor in Ontario. My last job had no problems with my full sleeve, zero lobes & neck tattoo. When I went in for the job I made sure my sleeve was covered as I do with any interview & now have to cover my knuckles when going in. Once I am hired I ask them how they feel about tattoos.
Yes, I am tattooed and lightly pierced. I work in a distribution center for a high-end clothing company that I’m sure has a tighter policy in the actual stores. (we’re located in the US) But seeing as though we have no face-to-face contact with the customer, it would be silly to have such a policy in place for us. As long as we wear reasonable clothing (no cleavage or butt crack, etc) and shower regularly, they really don’t care how we look. In fact most of my superiors show interest in whatever I may have going on mod-wise. Generally I only have one small tattoo showing during the winter months, and a handful that are visible when I feel like wearing short-sleeves shirts and capris. No one minds. Hell, my good friend frequently shaves her head, has rather large lobes and a full sleeve and no one blinks an eye. It’s quite nice.
I’m in Jakarta, Indonesia currently and I’m a make-up artist and apprentice tattooist. I do all sorts of makeup for mainstream magazines as well as counter-culture art magazines, ranging from fashion spreads, beauty, creature, special fx and theatrical. I have a blue and purple star tattoos on my hand, side wrist, blue spirals on both my inner forearm and some more blue spirals and lotuses up my arms as an unfinished sleeve.
I also have a labret, side labret, and septum, 1-inch lobes and recently retired microdermals on my left arm and chest.
Nobody really cares about my mods here, if anything, it’s something that makes me more a character in this society, particularly the fact that i’m a female and the percentage of modded females in Jakarta are quite low. I thought before i moved here (from Sydney australia, where modifications are more common) i was going to be quite discriminated and frowned upon in this muslim country but after a year and a half, all the reactions are the contrary to what i expected. Especially since i work in the media/design industry, my modifications are quite praised upon as ‘different’ in a good way. Very happy indeed.
amazing.
I work at a small company in San Diego. I had my tattoos exposed (forearm pieces) until I was promoted to a new position. To get the promotion I needed to adjust my work attire, which included long sleeved shirts covering the pieces.
There’s no official stance on them, rather suggestions by an employees individual boss. There was another guy, who was let go for different reasons, who had complete sleeves on both arms. His wardrobe changed about the same time mine did, so it may have been made mention to him, but purely as a suggestion.
I work at Sears. Yes, Sears. The dress code is very strict: I am allowed to wear black, white, or khaki. Solid colors, no patterns, no off-white, no grey, but… I have a tattoo under my collarbone, a nostril piercing, 5 lobe piercings (two stretched), an inner conch piercing, and hot pink hair. For some reason, this is totally allowed! I was hired with all of it (except the hair color). Go figure.
I have seven tattoos including a large rib piece, my ears are stretched to 0 and nipple piercings along with a 5 piece navel project. Im a stripper so its no suprise that it wasn’t a problem to have my piercings and tattoos. Customer reaction varies from thats fuckin cool to holy shit are you crazy.
I’m quite heavily & visibly tattooed (sleeved, a few hand tattoos, my throat and the back of my head). I live in Illinois and am a member of the management team in the warranty office of THE top selling faucet company in the United States.
It’s funny that we have dress code that requires us to wear collared shirts or blouses and forbids jean or capris, but tattoos, piercings and “unusual hairstyles” (I swear the dress code actually says that!) are not a problem.
i have applied for a flight attendant position
i dont have a problem with taking my facial piercings out
but i do have pretty large gauges that even if i take them out then they will still look big
im wondering if anyone has seen or knows of any flight attendants with gauges?
i know airline policies are pretty strict and im wondering if its worth it to conform for the sake of making a little bit more money