It’s not a matter of being anti-tattoo, tat yourself into one big blob of ink for all I care. Hold on, I suppose I am anti-tattoo on my own skin.
However, the OP was asking opinions about tattoos, many of which are suggestions not to get them. All of which are all based on perceptions and/or reactions to seeing someone who has tattoos.
Well, i have hired a person with tattoos that were visible in the interview and actually chose her over someone with no tattoos (not for that reason) and i can still understand why an older person or a person from a more conservative culture/background might object to having a tattoo visible during an interview. To me it’s a bit more like coming to the interview with a purple streak in your hair - i would probably think it was cool. Lots of people would probably think it was kind of out there and choose a more conservative candidate. i really don’t think there’s anything wrong with that although i do realize that the economy is in the toilet and the tattooed folks in the thread are going to get all up in my grill for pointing out that a style choice may be held against them by some employers.
All that aside, i have to agree that Cat does tend to be a bit like a dog with a bone about her certain pet subjects. Personally, i think it’s part of her charm. 
No shit. This is a thread about visible tattoos.
I’m aware of that. I’m just pointing that out to those who are so convinced that tattoos make you a total degenerate.
Why? Probably 75-80% of the people I know with tattoos have good ones that they care for properly and still love after a decade or two. I refuse to accept that it’s a bad decision just on your say-so.
raises hand Yo. Untattooed, hate needles and will never have one, defends 'em.
Well, hell, I thought that character trait was required here. 
I think it very much depends on your line of work and geographical location. Personally, I’d rather have mine on the less visible side. I have a very small one of my right shoulder blade. I will be changing it to something different on my 50th b-day. I would like to have a shark on my hip also, but tats are expensive. Think about it very carefully before you do it. Never make rash decisions about things that are permanent, or difficult to undo.
I don’t have any tattoos myself, but I quite like them on other people and will defend them.
I used to defend tattoos - ones you can hide, anyway - even before I had them.
But I have to say, mullets??? Now I would definitely hire Non-Mullet person over Mullet-person ( provided everything else was the same.)
BUSINESS IN THE FRONT, PARTY IN THE BACK!
Another untatted defender of tats here.
Except for the one I saw today, a forearm tattoo that said “Born Barista”. I don’t know whether that’s a pop-cultural reference that Google and I are both missing, or whether that kid is just inordinately proud of his congenital coffee-making prowess, but either way I’m not defending it.
I saw one on the knuckles, across his right hand it said F U C K and then on the left hand it said Y O U !. So when you looked at his hands head on, of course it told you to go fuck yourself. Nice. I’d totally have those covered up into tattooed bands or something. The guy worked for a tax agency! (coughlibertytaxcough)
No, it’s like saying, “Not only will I not eat cauliflower, but I find it so disgusting just knowing you cook with cauliflower that I’ll never allow anyone in my family to come to your house.”
Oh, certainly she’s entitled to her opinion. I’m also entitled to be seriously disappointed in her for holding it. Being asked for your opinion is no defense for offering a distasteful one.
In a thread where someone asks what kind of experiences they might have if they choose to date someone of a different race, there’s a big difference between being the person saying “you’re probably going to get harassed” and the one who says that if they owned a restaurant, they’d refuse to seat you.
A name is much more mutable than a tattoo and suggests a great deal about the culture a person was brought up in. Someone can change their name much more easily than they can remove a tattoo; you can probably judge people at least as much on a non-Anglo name as you can on a visible tattoo. (Which is to say: it doesn’t say fuck-all about their ability to perform a job or blend into your office culture.)
Outfits and hairstyles can be easily adapted to suit a particular occasion. Not remotely comparable.
Except that’s exactly what she said. “All tattoos look like scribbling to me, and I think it’s silly to want to have permanent scribbling on yourself where other people can see it.”
When it’s for a personal choice that has to do with fashion/culture and not job performance, yes, it *is *punishment. “You dared to make a choice that I wouldn’t have made for myself, and I want to see you suffer for it, to prove that my choice was the right one and yours was wrong.”
Not about their ethnicity per se, but to what extent they identify with non-mainstream cultures. You know, the same way that a *tattoo *exemplifies how people identify with non-mainstream cultures. And as I’ve already observed, it’s much easier to change your name if you don’t like the associations it has than it is to change a tattoo if you come to a similar conclusion.
I didn’t start on getting tattoos until I was 25, and though I’ve seen a lot of ones that were not quality work, I was still in support of the ability to get them. It’s a more permanent form of self-expression/decoration, but it’s still a form of decoration. My usual response to “I don’t like tattoos” is “then don’t get one”. Why? Because your dislike of something does not mean you get to control what other people like.
I don’t like blonde hair and think that artificial blonde hair is unflattering on many folks, but I don’t go telling the ladies with chunky blonde highlights that they look trashy. I just don’t comment on it, as it makes them happy.
Another untatted person defending. There are bad tattoos and there are good tattoos. There are also times you can tell a person made a bad decision and are now trying to change it (both of the people I worked with with visible tattoos).
I don’t have any tattoos, yet I like the idea of tattoos.
Neither do I, although I’d like to get one, when I can afford it.
They are really not expensive, at all. Of course it depends on what you get! But I was pleasantly surprised at how cheap mine was (and how quick it was to do).
Granted, mine is very simple - one color, and it’s only about an inch square.
ETA: The funny thing is, too, I am literally the last person anyone expects to get a tattoo. Yes, people have pre-judgments about tattoo people and I don’t fit any of the stereotypes. I always smile at people’s shock. 
They’re not too bad–my wife has a piece on her ankle that’s goes all the way around and is about 6" high, and it was a little over $300 from a reputable shop.
That’s beyond my budget right now. Oh well, I can wait.
And now I’m seriously disappointed in you for being seriously disappointed in me. Whoa, meta!
You think not liking tattoos is the same as being a racist? I can see why you think my opinion is distasteful if you have this big of a cognitive disconnect going on.
Your liking something does not mean that you get to control what other people dislike.
