about tattoos

[Oldbear]

... well it def won't be like everyone elses... it's going to be batman... and the butterflies will be bats... and I have a really good, and professional artist designing the tat.

I sense from your posts that you are really enthusiastic about your artistic morphing between the Batman character and this suicidal image. I am sure there is more to the story too judging by your screen name. Personally, I think the image would make a better T-Shirt design to wear at a party with friends, than a panel tattoo, but if it is done well, than body art is just that … art … appreciated by some and never understood by others ( I still don’t get the whole Andy Warhol thing … come on, they are just soup cans ).

I have been hiring and on a few occasions firing employees for years in the corporate world, so I am well aware of the non-discriminatory rules, regulations and laws involved in hiring a person. I have held firm the belief of hiring the most qualified person for the position regardless of personal appearance…as long as it was within the acceptable culture of the job and within the company’s policies, i.e. facial piercing and inappropriate dress for an office setting like low cut blouses or board shorts with Tevas. But I also recognize that for some jobs where public perception is an integral part of that position, physical appearances are a considering factor and could even exclude an otherwise well qualified candidate.



With your suicidal Batman image, I can easily see where some potential employers might shy away from you. Remember you have only one chance to make that First Impression and if they see this image, that impression might be tainted … regardless how well qualified you might be. Public perception is very crucial to many Dive Operators and if I were in the Dive Operation business, I would be very guarded of my company’s image to the public. And sorry, your tat would not fit into my business plan … to violent and negative, I want my customers to have positive and happy experience and would do everything I could to remove all contrary experiences.

So with that tattoo, I would agree with others that you would be imposing limits on potential employers for yourself. You will be keeping a close guard on not offending anyone. But with that said, if you are convicted on getting the design, also be aware that there are other opportunities in the dive industry other than being a guide on a boat or working in a dive shop in the public's view. Maybe you might want to be the Owner of the dive operation? Maybe you might want to be a professional photographer? Maybe you might want to go one the many commercial routes in the dive business?

Good luck with your decision and whatever you choose I hope it works out for you.

BTW…in 20 years will Batman look like the Homer Simpson and will the bats look like Éclairs?

~ME~

 

[fjpatrum]

Maybe I'm crazy but I've never been to a job interview shirtless. Once you have the job there's no reason to go around undressed, even on a dive boat. You can easily cover any tattoo that you think might be offensive with a rash-guard or shirt unless you plan on having it on your forearm (still feasible to cover) or your face. I'm guessing with a piece like you've described, cinamajunkie, you won't want it on either location so you'll easily be able to cover it. I believe you said this would be a cover-up for a smaller back piece so again, easily covered. Non-issue.

 

[buddhasummer]

I owned that T shirt, yes bought in Thailand. I used to work with at risk youth, the dress code was anything goes really as young people skirting the other side of the law tend to be weary of people in suits etc. T shirts were accepted dress in my role. I wore that T shirt to work and was asked by my boss to not wear it again it turned out one of the staff, I was unaware, had 2 sons commit suicide, one of them using a gun.

 

[vladimir]

I made a tasteless joke about suicide once, to three of my good friends. Unbeknownst to me, one of them had a brother who killed himself. My two remaining friends clued me in later, and I have regretted it ever since.

 

[Magnolia3]

I Have a god dtr... wealthy old money family. Her mother and I finaly talked her into her debut. We wished we had not... later......
We agreed to allow her to choose her attire for said event with other young ladies. (((sigh))) she chose black everything...the gown was demure
but black, the shoes were doc whatits... it was horrible. We soldiered thru the night...
She graduated 3rd in her law class at Columbia U. Her tats while all of them could be called "tasteful", depending on how one defines that word. They were out there so to speak. The butterfly on the neck, the rosary around the ankle to the cross on top of the foot, and so on..
She wanted to do Entertainment law. Firms clamored to hire her considering her school rank. After each interview she got a polite, sorry but we will continue to consider others letter. She is now working for the local State's Attorney office doing research and going thru the removal process.

I find it commendable that you are smart enough to realize that an earlier decision might have not been the most wise and sought public opinion on your latest choice. However, I have seen enough tats of Jane Russel who has morphed into an ugly betty boop to last a lifetime.
Google an image of both to see what I mean..
Wearing a shirt all the time gets to be a drag...honest.. and there is _always_ that one moment when, for whatever reason, you have to take the shirt off and there will always be that one customer who tosses a hissy fit. I actually had a clients family member look down my nursing top to see my rose tat on my upper right breast. A rose mind you... and run immed to the house supervisor and complain about the "slut nurse in psych" There is always that one in every crowd... lmao.

Ya know if you are into morhphing tats... I have, around here somewhere, a photo of a rose that was frozen, then shot and the pieces photoshopped into butterfly's... you could have the flutterby's changed to bats and the suicide/murder theme would be gone.. just a very intersting tat... just sayin'.

 

[Steve50]

Excellent possibility of hurting your chances...Not much possibilty of helpng...

 

[Rogersea]

1... you can have the tat you want to hide on your back removed you know.
2.... tats of what you suggest don't go over well with some crowds.. have you considered the effect 20 or 30 yrs from now with the tat you are considering.. its something to think about.
3. a swim shirt is fine... most of the time.. but good lord is this the tat?


Yessss, it is.

Wow,
Cheers,
Roger

 

[Crowley]

So what you are saying is that anyone with a DM card, no matter wha,t I should hire and IF I didn't hire them
because they had tattoos that were say, swastikas? or gang related tats? That is discrimination?

Having worked as a school nurse in inner city schools. I am quite familiar with gang tats that look innocent.
IF I were to get on a dive boat, and even so much as one person had that kind of tat. I would be outta there so fast
It would make the dive op have a nose bleed. That is NOT discrimination. It is self preservation.

There is no legal protection by law regarding not hiring someone with Tats.
A privately held business has the right to choose whom they do and do not hire.
By that your standards, Hooters had been hire some butt ugly flat chested grammas to work for them or
they are discriminating...

When that same privately held business caters to a certain clientele, not hiring someone
that is offensive to the majority of the clients makes good business sense.

No - because I did qualify that later in my original post with the sentiment about having tats that are in themselves discriminatory. I wouldn't hire somebody who decorated themselves in swastikas any more than I would hire somebody who dressed in a Nazi uniform - but this is not about the tattoo issue per se, it's about how that person displays themselves to the world. And - as I said - it depends on what the tattoo is.

There's plenty of people that have a shark or a dolphin (or even the padi logo, rather bizzarely) tattooed in places that are easily visible. Some guys really do have a heart and a dagger with the legend "Mom" underneath. I don't see body art like this as a problem, and therefore I have an issue with the automatic "no tats no piercings" thing. If a potential instructor candidate walked into an interview saying "I won't teach Jews" then for sure I am going to "discriminate" against the candidate and not hire that person, and if they have visible swastika tattoos, I'm not going to hire them either.

My point is that the simple fact that tattoos or a piercings should not be immediate grounds for discrimination without proper evaluation of what is actually being presented to the world. For the record, I have seven piercings in my left ear, one in my right and a tongue piercing. That would automatically disqualify me from some job applications, but I work for one of the most popular and well respected dive centres in Egypt and nobody at any point has had a problem with the way I wish to decorate my body. I like that.

Cheers

C.

 

[Thalassamania]

The flip side of "controversial" is "offensive." While you may not consider it so, there is a good chance that your more staid potential employer, colleague, or student might be likely to confuse the two concepts. The bottom line in diving is minimizing risk. The bottom line in diving instruction is projecting an image of being able to help people learn to do so. Does ink add to or take away from that image? If you had to ask the question in the first place, you know the answer.

 

[rmh84]

I think you're likely to offend anyone with a hot button on Suicide with that tat. I'm sorry, but it's true. As an employer - if you showed up with that on a T-Shirt I would either make you chasnge or go home. (which is a good way to guage weather a tat is appropriate to be seen at work - "what would happen if I showed up at work with this on a T-Shirt").