Posted on 04/03/2006 8:42:51 PM PDT by presidio9
Tattoos and piercings are ways for an individual to express their personality, but most employers are looking for presentable employees.
"I think that appearance is very important, [because] it lets the employer know that you know how to take care of yourself," said Eric Constantine, the manager of Athlete's House in Nashville.
It can be a very difficult choice whether or not to have your ears pierced or to get a tattoo, as Lisa Stevens, a freshman, found out.
"I really wanted the lifeguard job at the local pool back home," she said. "The only thing was that I also wanted a couple of tattoos that I could get, now that I was 18. I had to make the choice between the two because the pool wouldn't allow any visible tattoos. I second guess my decision a lot."
More and more people are getting tattoos than ever, and more and more of them are having to find ways to cover them up at work.
Tyler White, a Jackson, Tenn., freshman, was trying to find a summer job when a friend of his told him about an opening at a local car shop.
"I went in for the interview and everything seemed to go well, then the manager asked me about my tattoos," he said.
"I had to wear a long-sleeved jumpsuit all summer," White said.
It is important to realize that getting a tattoo is permanent and can hinder one from doing some of the things they might want to, like getting a job.
There are places that are appropriate to receive tattoos that are almost never visible.
Most employers say it would also be a good idea to stay away from too many piercings if one doesn't want to have to remove them every day before work.
Constantine said, "The employer pays a lot of attention to your appearance.
"It is important to look your best for [an] interview, even if that includes passing up getting a tattoo or an extra piercing," he said.
Overall, most people think it's okay to get that extra hole in one's ear or that barbed wire around a person's arm.
However, students are urged to know that career options might become limited because of many visible tattoos or piercings.
"When you look like $hit, don't expect to attract anything but flies."
Believe it or not, it would change you. Some of your friends would think it was cool, some probably won't, and be willing to say so. You friend ship ring could change, you may become resentful and bitter because your friends don't except you just the way you are. Of course you will have been the one that changed.
Like anything else in life the decisions you make affect your life, they affect those around you. Just put an in your face tattoo in a visible area of your body and go visit your children's teachers, friends, associates and check their reaction. You may find that your own children would rather not have you around.
If your going to dance, you gotta pay the fiddler.
You can not anecdote your way out of it.
Why is it so hard for you to admit what you do to how you look says something about you?
As for the rest of your missive: FRiend, you're stuck on cliche.
It's the old triple whamy if you've got the piercings, the tattoos, AND you have one of those made up African names.
Taqua-nisha Letronde Jones.
You'll love this story:
My wife and I were at the grocery check out when she noticed the bag girl had used "sparkles" as a cosmetic. After staring at her for several moments the girl sneers at my wife and says "what are you looking at?" My wife replies "You. That was the idea, wasn't it? You have sprinkles all over your face."
1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
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Excerpted from The Complete Multimedia Bible based on the King James Version Copyright (c) 1994 Compton's NewMedia, Inc.
I think I like where I am.
I cannot change how you look at others from this keyboard.
Only experience can do that for you.
Should I assume that rhinoplasty, breast enhancement, orthodonture, botox, and liposuction (etc.) are good self mutilation and other self-mutilation is bad just because the 'good' self-mutilation might be more pleasing to the eye of some beholders? Or should I relegate those people too, to the ash heap of society for daring to change their appearance?
You think how you will, FRiend, that is your burden, not mine.
You know the real irony here is I can't communicate with you because you won't leave your bubble of self-congratulation for being so open minded and tolerant long enough to consider the idea there IS a difference between an old man with an anchor on his arm, and a young girl with barbed wire around her ankle.
Like it or not, there's a difference between a boy wearing make up and a girl wearing make up.
There's a difference between clothing and a permanent tattoo.
There's a difference between ostentatious piercings and culturally neutral piercings.
There is a difference between a charitable donation and a wage, though one would never know it by your 'pick and choose' style of reasoning.
You also wouldn't need melodramatic hyperbole like "relegating people to the ash heap" if you weren't trying to inject strong emotion to make up for weak reasoning.
Around here if a girl has barbed wire around her ankle, she either did a bad job fencing, or got thrown from her horse.
Boys only wear makeup on Halloween, unless their six year old big sister and her friends get into mom's stuff and paint 'em up.
Why are you trying so desperately to change how I view things? (You are wasting your time if that is your objective, I have even gone so far as to give you biblical references, not to show off my paltry knowledge of scripture, but to show one source of my beliefs.)
I have 12 grandchildren, and a great grandchild on the way. Don't you think I just might know the difference between a shirt and a tatoo? (It is easier to give someone in need the shirt off of your back than the tatoo, for starters.)
Some youngsters are getting tatoos, granted, some are getting piercings. Most will heal. Kids do things they may regret later in life, and it is not uncommon to bear scars as a result. It is part of growing up.
If you read back through my posts, I think you will find that I work in an employment environment where wages are earned through performance, not by being pretty.
If you wish to donate to the pretty, that is up to you.
If they do not get the job done, here, in my line of work, it does not matter what they look like, they do not keep the job.
Donations are for the sick and injured, widows and orphans, and the victims of other disasters, not folks having a 'bad hair day'. Yep, I know the difference.
It appears we are at an impasse.
You seem to feel a serious need to change my viewpoint, and I am not changing.
My attitudes are the result of years of experience, from both sides of the issue, as employee and employer. They have come about because they work for me.
Your mileage may vary, your needs may differ.
Take care, Friend, and accept the fact that, on this, we disagree.
I am sure there is much more we will agree about elsewhere on this forum.
A person is born "homely" and apart from radical reconstructive surgery it is beyond there control. A pierced eyebrow, three earrings, and a pierced lip is purely a choice which no one has to do.
If you make a choice you need to be able to live with the fact that others might make choices about you.
"Your mother might have added, "Don't have beelzebub and flaming skulls tattooed on your arm, chest, or forehead unless you're prepared to be treated like an freak, a criminal, or an idiot." "
Funniest and truest post of the day.
I know some elderly veterans who served in WWII, and they have tattoos.
And I bet that most of them were bombed on cheap booze when they got those tatoos and woke up the next morning thinking "what the h*ll have I done?"
"Not to mention downright dishonest and corrupt. Car Salesmen and Insurance Salesmen wear suits. So do politicians. Motorcycle mechanics have tatoos. Guess which one I trust more"
Well all I know is if I have to have surgery and I meet my surgeon to discuss the procedure and he has tatoos all over his arms, a pierced eyebrow, and a tongue stud, I am running out of that room like there is no tomorrow.
I didn't think one would lump ear piercing or a simple tattoo as self mutilation. When the tattooing or piercing is to a rather silly degree, then it becomes that, silly and unwarranted.
Looks like you understood perfectly what I was sayin'.
thanks.
If somebody has one or two of something or other in a nice hidden area, fine. even an extra ear thingie or two is fine. Just don't assault my eyes with a barrage of wierdo piercings and tattoos.
When I was growing up, a man wearing an earring meant one of two things - and you hoped it meant he was a pirate.
Color me old-fashioned but what is a "wife-beater" and why would you want to marry a man who wears one?
"wife beater" = sleeveless undershirt
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