# 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:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/41 "2006-03-25T17:32:04Z")
> [@FilmGeek](#): > > **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. I believe you, but they LOOK like they’d hurt. I got a cartilege piercing (I can’t spell either), on the top of my left ear, and while it didn’t hurt that much, it never healed properly. I was always getting my hair caught in it, it hurt to sleep on my left side (which is how I sleep), and it was always red and sore. I ended up having to let it close. _sigh_ I think it also depends on the person-I’ve seen some people with facial piercings who look ridiculous, and others who look really cute. Same with tattoos. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/42 "2006-03-25T18:14:36Z")
> [@xbuckeye](#): > > 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. All food service places I’ve worked have used blue band-aids because they are more visible. A band-aid in someone’s food could possibly get a restaurant shut down. So they want something that is easy to do quick “is it still there” checks on and easy to spot if it does make it’s way in to a dish. ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/43 "2006-03-25T19:07:21Z")
> [@blueslipper](#): > > The other day i went shopping in the central shopping dictrict of Melbourne Australia. I was served by a shop assistant with face and **stomach piercings** (emphasis added) and two tattoos showing. I don’t have any problems with face piercings and tattoos, but I do NOT want to go into a shop and see enough of the salesperson’s belly to know that they have stomach piercings! Heck, I wouldn’t want to see their UNPIERCED stomach. That’s just oogy. Call me an old fart, but I do NOT want to see belly flesh from a worker in a camera shop, or any other kind of shop, for that matter. Jeezopete. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/44 "2006-03-26T07:27:54Z")
**blueslipper** , how old are you? How do you cope with other changes, like your favorite fast food place no longer carrying an item you liked? When you were younger, was it easier to cope with change, or have you never been able to stand the slightest thing different? Did you have exactly the same thing at exactly the same time every single day as a child, and certain meals only on certain days? It truly boggles me that you are so oblivious to the outside world that you honestly did not notice how widespread piercings and tattoos are. (And have been for about a decade.) I do think you need to go to counseling, and learn how to be more tolerant of people’s differences. Substitute ethnic charateristics in place of tattoo or eyebrow ring to see what I mean. You cannot handle that another person looks a way you wouldn’t want to, and do not see that they have a right to be in public doing jobs that involve interaction with the likes of you. I suppose you’d rather send them out of sight to muck out stalls on a farm, or other nasty jobs where you won’t have to look at them? :dubious: :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Auntbeast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Auntbeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Auntbeast)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/45 "2006-03-26T07:48:21Z")
I’m of two minds on this. Mind 1: I think that tattoos are trendy and when I see them on people I imagine the big, black blobs they will become in time. I realized I was out of touch when I drove a motor cycle, had no tattoos, but all the sorority girls I worked with had them. Big, floppy earlobes from big ol’ holes are icky. Mind2: Hey, it’s your body, be as weird as you want. Please bear in mind, I didn’t have a front tooth until I was 19 and was SEVERELY limited in jobs I would get hired for, no one would hire me to interact with customers, however, I usually ended up with that type of job because I had the personality for it, if not the physical attributes. As such, I can’t fathom doing anything that would limit my ability to get whatever kind of job I want, or wear whatever is appropriate. Now uncovered tracheal holes…oh sweet god, cover it UP! We have a guy that comes in and he has this plastic hoop thing going INTO his neck, he always sits directly in front of the dealer, I swear, it’s all I can do to keep my lunch down. That and any kind of eye injury/scar. I have a very, very low tolerance for gory stuff. It doesn’t take alot to make me naseus. Evening News: bear this in mind when you are showing the gore-de-jour. (Yes, I watch CSI with my eyes closed most of the time) ---
**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 27, 2006, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/46 "2006-03-27T02:52:03Z")
How are you supposed to breathe through your trach hole if you cover it up? I guess he could wear a light guaze scarf or something, but I’d be willing to bet that covering it up isn’t really going to help his breathing. Also, he probably didn’t wake up one day and think to himself, “Hey, you know what would really make me feel complete? A tracheotomy! It’s just what I’ve felt I’ve been missing for all these years.” ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/47 "2006-03-27T08:20:14Z")
> [@Troy McClure SF](#): > > I never understood why people (not the OP, I mean in general) demand an explanation for allowing people with tattoos or whatever works in customer service. Seems to me like the burden should be on them to explain why they shouldn’t. I’m coming to this thread late, so what I might say is probably superfluous, but … a major part of making a sale is making a personal connection of some sort with the customer. Overly ostentatious appearance, of any kind, gets in the way of that. If a person’s job is merely to accept orders or shuffle paper, then sure, piercings and tattos don’t matter. But if the idea is actually to _sell_ something, then no one in their right mind would let someone non-wholesome do the job. There are exceptions; some products are aimed at a demographic for whom tattoos and piercings give a salesperson legitimacy, i.e., skateboards, surfboards. Some are not, i.e., cars, lawnmowers. Personally, when I go into a mainstream business and see someone with a facial piercing or obvious tattoo, it tells me that this employee is probably a peon, since if they were really important, their appearance wouldn’t be tolerated. And by the way, I have three tattoos myself. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/48 "2006-03-27T08:25:57Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > Substitute ethnic charateristics in place of tattoo or eyebrow ring to see what I mean. Or don’t, since the former are involuntary and getting tattooed and pierced is not, making this a spurious comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Auntbeast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Auntbeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Auntbeast)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/49 "2006-03-27T12:43:20Z")
> [@Mirror Image egamI rorriM](#): > > How are you supposed to breathe through your trach hole if you cover it up? I guess he could wear a light guaze scarf or something, but I’d be willing to bet that covering it up isn’t really going to help his breathing. > > Also, he probably didn’t wake up one day and think to himself, “Hey, you know what would really make me feel complete? A tracheotomy! It’s just what I’ve felt I’ve been missing for all these years.” We have quite a few folks that come in with trach tubes. He’s the only one that doesn’t cover it, and the only hook-type thing I’ve ever seen. I know it’s not by choice, and I understand you deal with the cards you are given, I was just stating that it squicked me out. Forgive me if I wasn’t clear. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/50 "2006-03-27T14:19:52Z")
> [@Mrs Johnson](#): > > What I expect at a shop/store varies by the place, but as long as the staff members are clean, dressed appropriately (no undergarments showing, excessive clevage or flab or anything else hanging out of their clothing) and are polite I don’t care what they look like. > > If you could see the guys stomach piercings… I’d say that’s inappropriate. I expect the stomach/mid-section to be covered up. That’s inconsistent. Why is it OK to have tatoos and body piercings, but not OK to have your underwear, cleavage, or belly showing? Both are part of your appearance, both are presumably indicative of how you want to be seen by the outside world (I couldn’t care less about what I can’t see, so I’m not referring to hidden tatoos and piercings), both are done by choice. Why should you care about one but not the other? ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/51 "2006-03-27T17:35:06Z")
To all those with problems. Welcome to the 21st Century, you’ll get used to it. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/52 "2006-03-27T19:01:58Z")
I own my own business (I am a veterinarian) and I have piercings and tattoos. My tats usually do not show, as I often wear a white lab coat. My piercings…well, the 13 above the neck are hard not to notice, I guess. I hire preferentially people with tattoos/piercings. Yes, I suppose I discriminate against the unadorned, but it _is_ my business. When people choose to take their business elsewhere (and yes, it happens) I am happy. They are the people I would rather not interact with to begin with. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/53 "2006-03-28T07:09:40Z")
> [@Lizard](#): > > Or don’t, since the former are involuntary and getting tattooed and pierced is not, making this a spurious comparison. Well, or you could take what I said to mean that I feel the OP is looking only at the outside of people, focusing only on that and not bothering to get to know the person’s inside. They aren’t bothering respect that person’s differences based on how they look on the outside. Whether one is by choice, and the other not isn’t really the issue, because the end result is that they don’t even bother because they don’t like how the other person looks. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/54 "2006-03-28T11:31:31Z")
I’ve always found the service in Lush and Cornucopia (a really nice vegetarian lunch place) much friendlier and more efficient than elsewhere, and those are the two places I can think of off the top of my head that have obviously tattoed, pierced, dreadlocked and dyed staff. There’s a guy in my class who has dreadlocks, a beard, a pierced nasal septum and a bar through his ear cartilage- he’ll be qualifying as a doctor in 6 weeks. He wears his hair tied back in hospital and takes out the septal piercing, but leaves the ear bar in. He’s the nicest, sweetest guy you could ever hope to meet, but he does make an effort to appear slightly more conservative at work, out of respect for the patients (most of whom are elderly, and some of whom are confused and easily upset). If the staff don’t have an attitude problem, do their jobs well and their piercings are well-kept and hygienic, I have no problem. The assistant in the shoe shop with obvious scabies on her hands…not so much. ---
**Author:** ![marymargaret](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@marymargaret](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marymargaret)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/55 "2006-03-28T13:14:46Z")
The first time I saw somebody with a BUNCH of pircings behind the counter, I was surprised. But I have actually found I don’t even notice it any longer. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/56 "2006-03-28T19:11:00Z")
> [@mrald](#): > > I work in a nursing home where peircings and tattoos have to be covered up. I have pericings and tattos. The tattos are always hidden because of clothes, but I never hide my eyebrow ring or the several up my ears. (woman are only supposed to have one in each ear). The old people LOVE it, they just can’t get over it. The higher ups have mentioned it, but I won’t hide it. I always get a good evaluation though so whatever. Presumably this is different from the OP, in that you are openly flaunting the rules of your employer. Supposedly the shop assistant hasn’t been told otherwise and continues to break the dress code, so there isn’t a basis to criticize. ---
**Author:** ![Taber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@Taber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taber)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772/57 "2006-03-28T22:35:36Z")
> [@Canadjun](#): > > That’s inconsistent. Why is it OK to have tatoos and body piercings, but not OK to have your underwear, cleavage, or belly showing? Both are part of your appearance, both are presumably indicative of how you want to be seen by the outside world (I couldn’t care less about what I can’t see, so I’m not referring to hidden tatoos and piercings), both are done by choice. Why should you care about one but not the other? That’s not inconisistant at all. I can believe that tatoos and piercings are fine, but beleive that shop assistance should show up to work not naked. Obviously some line must be drawn somewhere in everyone’s mind, with one extreme being demanding clerks in suits with completely conservative haircuts, etc, with the other extreme being permissive of completely naked clerks. The OP gets flak because his line is closer to the business suit standard than can be reasonably expected in soceity. I suspect if I started a pit thread about me getting fired for going to work dressed in PJ’s, I’d get a similar amount of flak. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shop-assistants-with-tattoos/349772.md?page=2)