Cleaning Out the Inbox: Supporting Tattoos and Piercings at Work

A lot has been written about whether employers can impose their corporate values on their employees' lifestyle choices. I'm certainly not an expert in the field, but I tend to concur - an employer's right to impose their beliefs about your tattoos and piercings is greater than your individual right to have them.

This doesn't mean, however, that people don't work tirelessly to try and change those corporate notions that body modification, whether through tattoos or piercings, do not make someone unfit for work.

I was e-mailed last month about the Support Tattoos and Piercings at Work page, along with this blurb:

"They started their page a little while ago because their friend was let go from her job for having tattoos & piercings. She always had the tattoos & piercings, but because of customer complaints she was asked to remove them or leave her job by the end of the month. Her friends started the Facebook group & paid for Facebook ads to quickly grow it. It quickly gathered friends and random people together to support her. They planned a specific date to have everyone email her boss saying they supported businesses that hired employees with tattoos & piercings.  When they did this it was the same night as a major snowstorm. So many people emailed in that it temporarily shut down her work's email system! She got her job back & now they feature fans who have tattoos/piercings and what they do for a living. I helped write one of the emails. They're also on instagram www.instagram.com/stapaw . Thought it might be a cool blog story."

I see it both ways - if I am a company and I worry that my employee's appearance might impact the bottom line, it is within my right to have them change their appearance. A lot of Starbucks employees cover up their ink for this very reason. This is not to say you don't have a right to tattoos and piercings. Often, however, you have to choose which is more important to you - your job or your nose ring. Similarly, you can't work for a company with one public persona and think you can keep your job, even if you exercise your right to free speech and spout off about things diametrically opposed to your employer's corporate values.

Nonetheless, I would venture to say that tattoo acceptance in the workplace is gaining ground. Whether it be the ongoing evolution of our society, or because of grass-roots and social media efforts (or both), the face of the American workforce is changing.

This entry is ©2014 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Chuck's Ultraman Tattoo

Over the summer, I attended an alumni function for my high school in Hawai’i.

We were at a sake bar on the lower East Side, and I met Chuck, who had this Ultraman tattoo on his arm:

I snapped the photo and recorded nothing, hoping I could have the story recreated through social media connections.

Alas, I have yet to hear back from Chuck, but I thought I’d clear out the 2013 file and maybe update this further down the line.

If you don’t know who Ultraman is, start here.

Thanks to Chuck for sharing his cool Ultraman tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2014 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Kimberly's Flowering Sugar Skull

It may be 9 degrees today in New York, but I'm thinking about last July, when I was basking in the warmth of the New York City Poetry Festival on Governor's Island.

And inkspotting, of course!

I met a woman named Kimberly, who shared this sugar skull:

Kimberly got this about six years ago at Addiction Ink in the East Village.

There's a lot of symbolism in this piece, and Kimberly elaborated for me:

"The flowers in the eye are for my grandmother, and then every flower around the edge is a favorite flower of a female member of my family. Left eye is a rose, right eye is a mum, pink one is prairie rose, gerber daisy , cherry blossom, daisy, and then roses [at the bottom]."

"What's the significance of the gold tooth?" I asked.

Kimberly laughed, "I really liked it - if I really want to mess with somebody, I say it's how many men I've killed!"

This is one of four tattoos that she has.

Thanks to Kimberly for sharing this great tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2014 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Amita's Lovely Sanskrit Tattoo

Last spring (yes, as in spring 2013), I attended a talk at NYU where one of my old schoolboy chums was speaking.

One of the event hosts, named Amita, had a lovely Sanskrit tattoo on her arm, and she allowed me to take a photo.

Alas, my e-mails to her have gone unanswered, so I’ll just post this and move on.

Thanks to Amita for sharing with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2014 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Familiar Ink: Meister Returns to Tattoosday with an Awesome NYC Tattoo

There's something therapeutic about running posts of work I spotted over the summer. The warmth from these encounters is brightening these winter days.

Case in point, on a bike ride out to Coney Island, I was cruising along the boardwalk when I spotted a woman on a bench, reading a book. She had tattoos so, naturally, I stopped.

It was after I introduced myself that she recognized me, and I saw the sparrows on the backs of her calves. This was Meister, who had contributed back in January 2012 here.

Meister blogs at The Nervous Cook and is a food writer and coffee columnist. Now, she is a repeat subject on Tattoosday. I first met her in December 2011 on 23rd Street and 7th Avenue in Manhattan. Here we were, 19 months later, in another borough and another season.

What would have been impossible to see in the winter, was now visible in the summer, and Meister rolled up her shorts and shared this awesome tattoo on her thigh:

This is, if you look at it closely, an aerial view of world-famous Central Park. Meister explained:

"It's a map of Central Park, with some birds, and a little squirrely-o ... I love Central Park, it's my favorite part of New York City and I wanted to honor it ...it's my home. And on the other [thigh] I plan to get a lake in my husband's home town, which is Oklahoma City, to finish it off, my last piece, but I've been hesitating because it will be my last piece of work..."

In addition to the red-tailed hawk and the New York City pigeon, there's a peacock because, as Meister explained, "I was running past the park the day that the peacock escaped" from the Central Park Zoo. You can re-visit that newsworthy event here.

Like her previous work featured here, Meister had this done by Myles Karr. If you're going to stick with one artist, Myles is among the best to choose from. He's currently with the amazing shop Three Kings Tattoo, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Myles and the good people at Three Kings have had work featured on Tattoosday many times before. Click here to see everything from Myles on Tattoosday and here to see all the work from Three Kings we've showcased.

This entry is ©2014 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Three Views of Byron's Leg (from the 4th Annual Urban Tattoo Convention)

Yes, we're still working on summer posts, like this one from Byron, who shared some work done on his leg:

Byron told me that the section of teeth and eyes was done freehand.

He also told me that the skull with tentacles was based on his own sketch.

All of this incredible work was done at Inked City Tattoo in Trenton, New Jersey. The artist is Marco Rodriguez, and it took about a year to complete.

Thanks to Byron for sharing this incredible work with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2014 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Out with the Old, In with the New

Nothing new to share today, other than this link to Buzzfeed's "Top Tattoo Designs Of 2013 According To Pinterest"

via Buzzfeed via Flickr: whitneyarlene

A great way to start 2014!