What's the story of your ink?

[Buddhaman]

I have 3 tattoos for now. Planning on my next one but still mulling over the design. Japanese kanji for death on my right wrist - my sister has the kanji for life on her left wrist. Jellyfish on upper right arm - my wife nicknamed me "Squishy" from Finding Nemo (the little jellyfish Dory finds). And a teddy bear holding a purple balloon on my left forearm - tribute to my niece who died due to a distracted driver at only 4 years old. My wife has a hummingbird, magnolia blossoms with a bee and butterfly (for her grandfather), a blackberry branch with a bee and death's-head moth (for her mom), and a stuffed unicorn with purple balloon for our niece.

 

[THAT Gurl]

I LOVE my ink ... It is mine and though Grumpy doesn't get it, he also doesn't judge. I've had SO many strangers come up to me (old folks) and say "I don't like tattoos but yours are beautiful!" I didn't get them for anyone but me, but I don't mind that they help someone else realize it's not really their place to judge ...

Both forearms, left upper arm, shoulder, chest and a backpiece. All florals. One of these days I'll get back in and get started one my right ankle, and calf.

 

[BrandonM]

Very cool. It's funny, we all learned about David and Goliath in bible school when we were kids, but for some reason, they only taught us about the slingshot and how Goliath was smote by the stone. They never told us about David picking up Goliaths sword and chopping off his head.

I make a big deal about that when I teach Sunday school. I also like teaching about king Eglon. His fat gut swallowed the assassin’s whole sword, handle and all, then fell over and crapped his pants. It’s a classic.

 

[beardking]

This is me. Lots of guys have ink now, but I'll never get over the idea that you're just marking yourself up because you either have an inflated self worth or very low self esteem and need something to make you special. Girls with tats are always easy (this is a fact, even those post menopausal women), and guys with tats have self esteem issues if you talk to them for more than 10 minutes (80% fact? Jury's still out).

I also find that I treated people differently when they have a tattoo. I'm more likely to promote a non-tat person to a public position, whereas tats go in the back. (Think hostess and waiter vs cook or janitor). I don't want people thinking they're getting hepatitis from their food. I'm obviously not in foodservice anymore but back then (5 years ago) I wanted the cleanest appearance facing forward, and let's face it tattoos aren't a clean look.

 

[RickN]

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But a lot of business owners still feel that way and just as you the right to what you believe, so do they have the right to what they believe. It is not their job to make people accept people with tats, piercings or ear lobes that hang down to their knees. It is the people who have the tats, etc to make others accept them by being the best they can be. Respect is not given, it must be earned.

 

[THAT Gurl]

But a lot of business owners still feel that way and just as you the right to what you believe, so do they have the right to what they believe. It is not their job to make people accept people with tats, piercings or ear lobes that hang down to their knees. It is the people who have the tats, etc to make others accept them by being the best they can be. Respect is not given, it must be earned.

Uhhhh ... Hmmmm ... This has not been my experience. Since I've gotten ink I've worked for a lawyer, an accountant, in retail and in the hospitality industry. I didn't hide my ink at any of my interviews. Not a single interviewer has mentioned my ink as being a problem. In fact one person told me they prefer hiring people with ink as they tend to be more people friendly and tend to be more creative when it comes to solving customer service related issues.

 

[RickN]

Uhhhh ... Hmmmm ... This has not been my experience. Since I've gotten ink I've worked for a lawyer, an accountant, in retail and in the hospitality industry. I didn't hide my ink at any of my interviews. Not a single interviewer has mentioned my ink as being a problem. In fact one person told me they prefer hiring people with ink as they tend to be more people friendly and tend to be more creative when it comes to solving customer service related issues.

The attitude is changing but it is slow.

 

[beardking]

But a lot of business owners still feel that way and just as you the right to what you believe, so do they have the right to what they believe. It is not their job to make people accept people with tats, piercings or ear lobes that hang down to their knees. It is the people who have the tats, etc to make others accept them by being the best they can be. Respect is not given, it must be earned.

And I can say that goes the other way just as well. Just because you are a business owner doesn't mean you have automatically earned the respect that a lot of them seem to think they deserve. Show me that you can look past someone's outward features/appearance and focus on their skills and you'll be a lot more likely to earn my respect.

And honestly, if you (the general "you", not you in particular @RickN ) are the kind of person that will only look at a person's surface and decide against hiring them, then I'm glad because I sure as h8ll don't want to work for someone like that. It's just kind of a quick filter in reality.


As for the original question of what's the story of my tattoos, that varies.
I have a a pair of lions on the side of my left calf because I'm a Leo and at 21 I wasn't overly imaginative.
I have a tribal sun on the back of my right calf because I drew it up one time and really liked it and kept it with me for about 10 years and finally decided to get it tattooed on me.
My best friend and I designed up a couple of very similar tattoos that we got after we had best friends for 20+ years. Mine is a battle axe with Norse runes around it, and his is a sword with the same runes.
I have a half angel / half devil stick figure on my right shin because I'm only half evil . (eventually plan on getting 333 tattooed before it)
I have a barbarian dwarf standing on top of a pile of dead bodies on my left shin/inner calf because I used to play D&D a lot as a kid and that was always my character and I thought it was a bad a8s design.
I have a small, yellow skull on my left bicep that is an almost exact copy of a temporary tattoo that my then girlfriend gave me on one of our first dates that I've carried around with me ever since (we've been married 20 years as of last September, and together for 27).
I have a family crest on my right forearm with a clover, a feather, a purple tulip and a boxer on either side of it. Growing up, my grandpa (who passed away over 20+years ago) would always say that our family was Irish, Indian, Dutch and dog. The clover and feather are for the Irish and Indian. The purple tulip is for my mother who passed away on my birthday this past year because one of her favorite flowers (and mine) were tulips and her favorite color was purple. The boxers are because they are my favorite breed of dogs. Obviously this one is a memorial tattoo for my grandpa and mother. The somewhat ironic thing is that it was originally going to be just one for my grandpa, but I verified that I was remembering what he would always say with my mom the weekend before she passed because I was planning on getting it the next weekend.
And the last tattoo that I have (for now) is a red heart on my left ring finger. For our 20th anniversary my wife and I got matching tattoos because we figured that if we had made it through 20+ years together with all of the sh8t we had put each other through, it's a pretty safe bet that we are in it for the long haul.


Sorry for the wall of text, but the OP did ask what the story was. Some of them are significant. Some are less so. All of them mean just as much to me and if someone wants to think negatively of me because I have them, then that's perfectly fine with me because they aren't the kind of person I want to associate with anyway.

 

[THAT Gurl]

The attitude is changing but it is slow.

Given the number of people I interact with in any given day who have ink, I'm gonna have to disagree with you. I can't remember the last time I went somewhere and didn't see at least one (and usually several) employees with ink and/or piercings.

 

[Glock 'em down]

Your brilliant and loving personality kinda helps you Patticakes.