Tattoos, Piercings, and the Workplace

When I was younger I used to think tattoos and piercings were awesome. Not so much anymore. I still think they are awesome, but I think its too much awesomeness for employers to handle and its a simple cost benefit analysis. Do you want to spend $200 on a tatoo and have no job or do you want to save the $200 and have a job?

I know someone with tats all over his neck and arms and he's been looking for a job for the past two years and every employer has turned him down.

This does not apply to touring bands because tattoos and piercings are advertising for bands to make you notice them so there is a good cost benefit ratio for touring bands.

Its all about the money. When hasn't it been? I wish it wasn't this way, but sometimes if you can't beat them you must surrendure and join them to survive.

I should make a new forum rule against misspellings of "surrender"...


peugeot407

Or you could use censoring to autocorrect it (perhaps you could do that with American spelling and terms too ).

Anyway, to stay on topic, I don't really like tattoos and piercings except when they have a cultural significance or real personal significance. They are often too showy for my liking. When it comes to employment though, I'm a bit torn. People with tattoos and piercings should have equal rights to employment and we shouldn't judge people on their appearance, but I can understand the employers' decisions because in reality customers are more likely to judge them negatively, so they can hurt the business' image. While money is somewhat to blame for this, the main issue behind this I believe is that people are far too easily judged on their appearances.