"Respect and Loyalty"

With Respect and Loyalty being the topic I will be explaining some of Tattoo Artists BIGGEST problems with this but I wont be listing ALL the ways to disrespect us, I will just pick a few out of the many..MANY different ones and how it ties into Loyalty as well. 

Respect is a very, very large part of this industry. With that being said, a HUGE problem that we all encounter is the amount of DISrespect we face. We are a business based on trust... if you don;t have respect for us as people, artists, business owners... then there's no trust.. if there's no trust then we cant do our job and well... that just doesn't work does it? Just because you're coming in to have the saying RESPECT AND LOYALTY permanently placed on your body doesn't mean you show or demonstrate it.. just saying. 

One of the Number One ways to disrespect a tattoo artist is to cancel an appointment that you have had at the exact time you should be walking through the door... giving an excuse about why you cant show, THEN posting on facebook the proof of the opposite of what you said.. 

Now there are a few things wrong with this.. Problem 1: The Cancellation. If you cancel an appointment at the exact time you are to be walking through the door then we can't schedule someone in your absence so we lose double money and possibly a client. If we have to turn away a new client because we couldn't take their walk in due to the 2 o'clock appointment you had and didn't show up to.. then we lost that walk in, their business and money and yours as well.

 On the topic of money that runs into problem 2: Your excuse. You call at the appointment time giving us a sob story about not having enough money in your check this week or you lost $100. That's sad and it sucks and believe me I know what its like to work your ass off, then when the check arrives you curl into a ball and cry at the amount that you DON'T see. That being said you don't have to give us this whole sob story about how you don't have the money. All we need to know is that you cant come then we handle the rest. Ok done deal. 

Problem number 3 is: Facebook. So now you've canceled and given us the excuse.. but half an hour later (time frame into the appointment you should have had) I or my Staff see you post on facebook about how you're on a shopping spree right now and got the best $200 deal at Macy's, or you're on your way to Atlantic City to spend your paycheck, party hard and have a great weekend..... But.. wait.. Didn't you just call saying you had no money in your paycheck and couldn't afford the $80 tattoo appointment that you've had for months? Didn't you call saying you were broke? THAT is disrespect.  Please, do not get me wrong... your life is NONE of my business but if you took the time to call me to cancel your appointment and come up with a story that will help your situation and then post all over facebook KNOWING I or my shop can see it... THAT is my business because you've made it PUBLIC at this point. Easy fix. DON'T FRIEND YOUR TATTOO ARTIST ON FACEBOOK IF YOU ARE GOING TO LIE TO THEM!!!!

I LOVE having my clients on my facebook. I get to see what tattoo ideas they may post online and then offer up my services. I get to see them post the pictures of the tattoos I give them and all the responses and reviews I get. But if you are going to stand me up, lie to me about it and be disrespectful to me and my shop at any point of our client/ artists relationship then DON'T add me. I can clearly see what you lied about and like I said before your life is none of my business but when you screw me out of money and time... I don't take kindly to that.

Onto the other part of this post... LOYALTY. 

Now loyalty comes in many different ways. We have clients that are so loyal to us as artists and a shop that they have permanently tattooed our shop logo on them and are basically a living, breathing, walking billboard. Do I expect every client to be THAT loyal? No. Absolutely not. But a bit of loyalty is always a nice thing. For example, if you are walking down the street and someone stops you, compliments your tattoos and then asks where you get them done.. you think for a minute then list multiple spots in the local area... STOP, REWIND... The person who stopped you asked where YOU get them done and if you get them done at my shop I would hope you say my shops name. However you answered multiple shops.. not just the one you go to therefore that person you encountered has less of a chance of coming to our shop and experiencing what you did. I can't control what you respond to people but it is nice when the response is one that puts people in our direction. 

Second example is once again FACEBOOK! I've seen that classic notifications "so and so tagged you in a comment" you go and read it and its on someone else's status that reads "Where is a good tattoo artist? What are they good at? Looking for some new ink." Your comment reads something like "oh you should go to my artists Such and Such at this Shop located here, their specialty is color and they're cheap... or you can go to this shop.. I've heard they're good.." Why would you mention that other shop if you go to the first one you've mentioned? You say you would NEVER go anywhere else so why even suggest it? That's one of those Loyalty AND Respect moments... Oh and you called us cheap... really? Now were budget friendly or "Fair and Work with the Client". Not Cheap.  

Or I've even come across a comment suggesting to go to me and then suggesting to check out my "competition" because were "both so good at what we do".. then continue to say that you are going to my competition for a tattoo that you PREVIOUSLY commissioned me for!!!! Let that sink in.. I won't even explain how disrespectful that is on so many levels.. 

I see the posts of new pictures of new tattoos when you stood us up but went somewhere else because they were "cheaper" or "closer to home"... once again see above Facebook Respect paragraph ^. 

 

Last but not least one of the biggest most disrespectful things you could do to a tattoo artist that also has to do with loyalty is: Standing us up to go get the tattoo done by a local scratcher.... BOOM! Big Problem. 

1: This is a problem because people know you've been coming to my shop for years... they see the new picture of your ink up on facebook and AUTOMATICALLY think it's from us but... it confuses them because it doesn't look like our work. This is not only a problem because it is attached to our name (loosely) but now that person may have the idea in their head "well if that's they type of work they're doing now ill never go there!" and THAT is unfair to us and them as potential clients. 

2: If you made an appointment with me or even if you didn't and you're just a "loyal" customer and you decide to go to a scratcher to get a tattoo you are giving me a HUGE slap in the face. For those of you who don't know a Scratcher is someone who tattoos out of their house, demonstrating NO cleanliness or attention to cross contaminations, infections and germs.. they are not licensed or trained in anyway and will more than likely give you the worst tattoo of your life ( But hey it was cheap right?). Now that youre up to date back to the point. You stood up a clean, professional safe place to get a great tattoo for a dirty chair in a hotel room or kitchen (also call them Kitchen Magicians) some cheap ink and an Ebay tattoo "gun". Doesn't get more disrespectful than that. 

3: Yes its YOUR body and your choices but going to a scratcher instead of a professional causes problems for the professionals. Scratchers usually don't monitor ages as well because.. why would they? So when that 16 year old they tattooed in a Hotel gets caught at their house with a new tattoo and the mother flips out, demands they tell her who did it to them and they decide to lie and think of the FIRST shop that comes to mind guess who gets the threatening emails or phone calls? That's right.. The professionals. Us. Who wouldn't DREAM of touching that 16 year old but they were scared so they lied and said it was us. Or maybe that mother who was flipping out is a dedicated customer to us and that's why the 16 year old said it was us. That's even WORSE because then we lose their business as well!  Honestly, no one has time for that so please just stop. 

The sad truth of the matter is I could go on and on about how we face disrespect every single day in this industry and I probably will write another article later on about different ways but for now I hope this opens some peoples minds and eyes into our reality. I'm a person just like you who deserves respect and I appreciate all the customers/clients I have that give it to me. Thank you for reading. Cheers.