# Shop assistants with tattoos **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 24, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772 "2006-03-24T19:53:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![xbuckeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9e8a1a/32.png) [@xbuckeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xbuckeye)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/21 "2006-03-25T02:14:35Z")
> [@Antigen](#): > > See, I find that so strange. How is the band-aid any _less_ distracting or gross or whatever? > > A few fast-food places around here have a policy requiring the staff to cover up their eyebrow or nose rings, and even their extra earrings, with band-aids. See, I’m not worried about the eyebrow ring falling off into my sandwich. But having extra band-aids taped all over everyone… that grosses me out because I keep imagining them falling into the food. Plus, I find that it makes the kids look like they’re diseased or something. I see band-aid, I think nasty oozing sore, not sparkly nose stud. My humble opinion: these places got it wrong. Its Federal Law, if you don’t like it, write your congressman. We have to enforce it or else loose our lisences to produce/sell food. The rationale is that biting into a Band-aid is gross, but biting into or swallowing a piercing stud can be downright dangerous. I find most tattoos and piercings fine, but if I see someone with big jewelry, big or odd tattoos or other distracting things…it bothers me. Tattoos clear up the arms…weird. Any facial tattoo…creepy. Big hoops, bars, doorknobs, etc., anywhere I can see them…I wonder about your sanity. Is it fair? Maybe not, but I agree with **Omegaman** that if you have a right to wear whatever tattoos and piercings you want, I have the right to not like it. I would rather see that than the current trend towards lowrise jeans with shirts that don’t come down to the waist. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/22 "2006-03-25T02:38:04Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > The only thing that makes me cringe about facial piercings is imagining how much they may have hurt. That’s about it. As for tattoos, I like seeing different tattoos. Except for the guy who used to come into Kmart with a swastika tattooed on his face. That was creepy. **Guin,** I can tell you from experience that eyebrow piercings don’t hurt. I was kind of disappointed that my first piercing didn’t hurt. 😃 Ear cartilege (I can never spell that word), on the other hand… holy crap. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/23 "2006-03-25T03:02:13Z")
> [@](#): > > But having extra band-aids taped all over everyone… that grosses me out because I keep imagining them falling into the food. Some fast food places provide bright blue band-aids that can’t be missed if they fall into anything. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/24 "2006-03-25T03:14:20Z")
Better a shop clerk with tattoos and an eyebrow ring than someone with weeping eczema. I’ve seen that shit at fast food places and if that’s not breaking some sort of code, then I don’t know what the hell would. ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/25 "2006-03-25T03:16:03Z")
I don’t mind shop assistants with tattoos and piercings. Especially as most of them are on their faces/bodies (for piercings) and arms/bodies (tattoos). What grosses me out, though, is the teenage girls in food service, who handle food with those stank-ass really long, fake nails - and no gloves. My nails are a few mm long, and they get all kinds of rubbish underneath them in the course of a normal day. It kind of turns my stomach to see someone with nails that are a good centimetre long picking up and arranging food, because god knows what’s underneath there. Nasty. ---
**Author:** ![Galaxyhorse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7bcc69/32.png) [@Galaxyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galaxyhorse)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/26 "2006-03-25T04:35:13Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > So, it never strikes you as being remotely inappropriate to judge someone solely based on their appearance? Is the OP being judgemental? Why do you assume that? I also do not like face rings. I do not mind tattous. I cannot look at a person with a face ring for more than a few seconds. I also think that earrings are body mutilation also. I agree with this When I go somewhere to spend my money (that I spend 11 hours a day licking boots for ) I prefer not to look at someone who craves attention by bolting 3 pounds of metal onto thier face . It’s a free country – they have the right to look the way they want, I have the right to spend my dough where I want. To each his own. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/27 "2006-03-25T05:07:37Z")
> [@Galaxyhorse](#): > > Is the OP being judgemental? Why do you assume that? Clearly, he (or she) and you both are–it sounds to me like you think body modifications are disgusting and attention seeking devices. > [@](#): > > I also do not like face rings. I do not mind tattous. I cannot look at a person with a face ring for more than a few seconds. > I also think that earrings are body mutilation also. > I agree with this When I go somewhere to spend my money (that I spend 11 hours a day licking boots for ) I prefer not to look at someone who craves attention by bolting 3 pounds of metal onto thier face . It’s a free country – they have the right to look the way they want, I have the right to spend my dough where I want. To each his own. I feel very sorry for someone who chooses to spend their time “licking boots” for a living. You do certainly have the option to spend your money, or not, however you like. You should rethink the concept that body modifications are done purely to attract your attention, though. I have fourteen body piercings and multiple square feet of tattoos. At the moment, only three piercings are visible. That’s not becase I don’t want them to be seen, it’s just that they’re done for my own pleasure, to celebrate and decorate my own skin. I find it sad to imagine you’re so petty and judgemental that if you were happy with the business you did with me, you’d suddenly decide to take your business and money elsewhere if I should happen to push up my sleeve. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/28 "2006-03-25T05:12:44Z")
Oh, and about the OP–our dress code says a maximum of two facial piercings are okay, not including ear piercings, tattoos are just fine. Our head honcho ladies (both in their late fifties/early sixties) think nose piercings are cute 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/29 "2006-03-25T05:54:44Z")
> [@xbuckeye](#): > > The rationale is that biting into a Band-aid is gross, but biting into or swallowing a piercing stud can be downright dangerous. > . Biting into a band-aid is not only gross - I’d consider that dangerous as well. ---
**Author:** ![Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirror_Image_egamI_rorriM)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/30 "2006-03-25T07:47:22Z")
> [@blueslipper](#): > > Can they wear anthing they like, have any kind of tattoo or piercing or body mutilation? Modification, not mutilation. Everyone modifies their bodies (cutting/coloring hair, shaving, trimming fingernails, going to the gym, cosmetic surgery, heck, anything you do to change your appearance is modifying your body), some just modify it more than others. Here’s a question: My mother has had breast reduction surgery. I have stretched earlobe piercings (2g, which is 6mm–about the size of a pencil). Which one of us is more extensively modified? Obviously, my mother. She’s had major surgery to change her appearence (and lost a couple pounds of flesh in the process). I’ve only got a couple of fairly small holes in my ears. Which one of us would you probably deem more fit (in appearences only) to deal with the public? Again, my mother. Her appearence fits in more with the mainstream than mine. You don’t have to like anyone’s appearence, but I hope you have never, ever said anything to anyone about how they look, except to compliment them. ---
**Author:** ![Monkey\_Chews](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@Monkey\_Chews](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monkey_Chews)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/31 "2006-03-25T08:44:14Z")
> [@blueslipper](#): > > I realise that tattoos and piercings are very common these days. I just had not realised they were okay for shop assistants. I’m really puzzled by this statement. What is it about shop assistants that would mean this stuff is out of bounds for them? I mean, we’re talking shop assistants, not… oh, I dunno, priests, or the prime minister, or a grief counsellor or something. And I don’t say that as some sort of slur on shop assistants or anything, I just can’t understand why someone working in a shop would be expected not to have a tattoo or piercing. ---
**Author:** ![Galaxyhorse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7bcc69/32.png) [@Galaxyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galaxyhorse)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/32 "2006-03-25T09:47:27Z")
> [@Monkey Chews](#): > > I’m really puzzled by this statement. What is it about shop assistants that would mean this stuff is out of bounds for them? I mean, we’re talking shop assistants, not… oh, I dunno, priests, or the prime minister, or a grief counsellor or something. And I don’t say that as some sort of slur on shop assistants or anything, I just can’t understand why someone working in a shop would be expected not to have a tattoo or piercing. I understand it to mean that shop assistants are face to face with customers. So maybe they should look good ---
**Author:** ![PurpleKat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@PurpleKat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurpleKat)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/33 "2006-03-25T10:34:42Z")
> [@Galaxyhorse](#): > > I understand it to mean that shop assistants are face to face with customers. So maybe they should look good But isn’t “good” subjective? I think that some piercings do look good on some people (as with hairstyles, certain applications of makeup, and color choices for clothing, different people look ‘good’ in different things). I wouldn’t choose piercings or tattoos for myself – I don’t even have my ears pierced – but that’s because I’m too squeamish for piercings, and I value being able to alter my appearance to fit in with vastly different social circles too much to get a tattoo. But for someone else, if it’s what they want, why shouldn’t they? There are all kinds of beauty, most of them artificial to some degree or another in this day and age. I know I keep my figure by working out on exercise devices that don’t go anywhere, tweeze my eyebrows, keep my skin nice with special soaps and creams, and enhance my hair color with highlights and dye. I do affect a more “natural” look, but that’s my choice, and if it were out of style, I would expect it to be respected by my employer, anyway. If employers are to change or fire people whose appearances might offend a few customers, where are they to draw the line? Lots of customers don’t like looking at fat women, so should employers tell their female employees to lose weight or be fired? And several customers at the place where my boyfriend works as a receptionist have snarkily demanded that they “get a girl” (ie, have a woman receptionist instead of a man) – should they do that? Finally, a last thought for you about what POSSIBLE reason anyone could have for large numbers of tattoos or piercings besides “getting attention”. I once read an article that discussed a phenomenon wherein people who were abused or molested or raped wound up tattooing and piercing their bodies as a means of “reclaiming” them. At the time, I thought the article was stupid, and mentioned it laughingly to a (heavily tattooed) friend. She told me that it was most definately true for her – what I didn’t know about her was that she had been molested when she was a child, and the tattoos for her were a way of taking her skin back from that abuse. It may not be why EVERY person gets a tattoo or piercing, but it’s the reason for some, and something to think on before judging, next time. Of course, as you said, you’re free to take your money elsewhere. Clearly, the fact that the shops in question haven’t gone out of business indicate that enough other people don’t care or are drawn to places that allow such freedom of expression that it’s not doing anyone any harm for you to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/34 "2006-03-25T10:43:44Z")
> [@Galaxyhorse](#): > > I understand it to mean that shop assistants are face to face with customers. So maybe they should look good Yes, absolutely. Macassar oil; neat collar; beardless, but with a neatly-trimmed moustache; three buttons on the waistcoat; and no _nonsense._ Why, just the other day I was shopping for an extra chamber-pot, and the shopkeeper himself was wearing a two-piece suit coloured most garishly with that new coal tar aniline dye – and the blighter was wearing a _beard_. I assure you, I took my business elsewhere. Harrumph. ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/35 "2006-03-25T14:15:00Z")
I find long fake fingernails disgusting. When they touch my palm as the cashier hands my change back, I feel ill. Yet it would never occur to me to blame her for her fashion choice. I’ve always been aware that it’s my problem. OP: You’re the one with a problem, not them. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/36 "2006-03-25T14:38:15Z")
> [@Galaxyhorse](#): > > I understand it to mean that shop assistants are face to face with customers. So maybe they should look good As long as they are dressed appropriately, reasonably clean, and polite and helpful, I don’t think there should be a problem. Also, someone else mentioned that it does depend on the kind of shop you are in - I would definitely be startled if a department store SA had a dragon tatooed on their cheek, but then again, I would feel the same way if the person working at my favorite funky earring store were suddenly wearing a business suit. It’s all a matter of context - and taste. ---
**Author:** ![deevee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@deevee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deevee)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/37 "2006-03-25T14:52:09Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > Yes, absolutely. > > Macassar oil; neat collar; beardless, but with a neatly-trimmed moustache; three buttons on the waistcoat; and no _nonsense._ > > Why, just the other day I was shopping for an extra chamber-pot, and the shopkeeper himself was wearing a two-piece suit coloured most garishly with that new coal tar aniline dye – and the blighter was wearing a _beard_. > > I assure you, I took my business elsewhere. > > Harrumph. Huzzah Mr. Mudd! ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/38 "2006-03-25T15:16:16Z")
> [@Ensign Edison](#): > > OP: You’re the one with a problem, not them. I apologize if my tone was too snippy for this forum. I have taken my opinion and attitude [where it belongs](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7232174). ---
**Author:** ![xbuckeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9e8a1a/32.png) [@xbuckeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xbuckeye)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/39 "2006-03-25T15:41:18Z")
FWIW, you are not supposed to handle food with long nails or weeping, oozing sores either. If this is happening in a place you frequent, I would suggest finding a new place to frequent or call the local health department. The blue bandaids are metal detectables so that a food processing facility that uses a metal detector to screen finished product for foreign bodies can find them. I’m not sure why the local fast food joint is using them…probably don’t understand the purpose of them and thought they looked neat in a catalog. ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/40 "2006-03-25T16:59:03Z")
I think it really depends on the job, as well as the clientele. If I wore a nose ring while working at a souveneir shop in Santa Cruz, I’m sure hardly anybody would care. But if I wore a nose ring at my current job, talking to a conservative parent on why they should pay us $3500 a year to tutor their child, they might not take the nose ring so well. You can’t say ‘nobody should wear X at any job’ because in some places it will simply be a pointless rule. It should be more a matter of practicality and safety. Though I should note that I doubt someone is going to get turned down for many jobs for _lacking_ a visible piercing/tattoo. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772.md?page=3)