Why?

Today I will be writing about every tattoo artist biggest pet peeve that is a word. 

Why. 

Now for normal people or those that have absolutely jack all to do with tattoos or tattooing you wouldn't understand the reasoning behind our headache when people ask "Why?" This also includes all variations of why as in "Why not?" or even "how come?" 

It has been something that not only bothered me but has been reoccurring lately ESPECIALLY since its Tax time. Tax time means that people either come in and want to spend little to nothing on work or are polar opposites and want to spend a ton of money on good work. For those who want to spend little to nothing this question comes up a lot. Let me delve a little deeper. 

When you come in to get a tattoo or get once priced I automatically ask you the size. My shop does everything by size. When you tell me you want a half sleeve of a Japanese landscape with a cherry blossom, silhouetted buildings with a sunset, blossoms blowing in the breeze with a river and koi fish and I quote you at a high number don't turn around to me, laugh and say "why so much?" 

Why? Why am I quoting you at an appropriate number? well for one, its a lot of work. Two you want a million things in one.It's difficult and will take some time to layout. Three, you're buying something that can never be stolen, replaced, lost, erased, forgotten or replicated. Not to mention you're buying my time and equipment, both of which are not cheap or worthless. I, as a tattoo artist, will put everything i have into that tattoo. Time and determination to make sure it is a 100% perfect, what you've always dreamed of. Your fantasy tattoo. Please don't disrespect me when I quote you a price but laughing in my face or snorting saying "nah no way that's way too much" because frankly its not only insulting, it pisses me off. You're coming to me to create a masterpiece on your body. If you want some scratcher type shit or mediocre at best ink then walk your happy ass right back out my door because you wont find it in my shop. You think you can find a SHOP that can beat my prices then fine, have at it but i guarantee the work will not be anywhere near to what my shop crew could do and I'll see you for the cover up in a month. 

On the opposite side of the scale we have those who get priced at a ridiculously low number and STILL ask why its so much.. this is purely ignorance. Most tattoo shops have a shop minimum, ours is not bad AT ALL so when i quote you AT of SLIGHTLY above shop minimum which is as I said NOT BAD don't say "oh man..well why so much? cant it be a little cheaper?  I don't really have that much" I'm going to dissect this sentence for you. 

"oh man...well why so much?" - Its SO much because it is what is needed to do your tattoo. By the time I'm done pulling out my needle, Vaseline, ink caps, Ink, bib, paper towels, stencil paper, printer ink to print the tattoo or sharpies to draw it on you, covers for the chairs, clip cord, machine, tube and a whole lot more I don't feel like listing its not worth your $20-$30 dollars you're so graciously offering me for my services. In fact the paper towels ALONE are $15, my outline ink (yes there's more than one type) is almost $30 a bottle so with just that added together YOU'RE PAST YOUR OFFERING AMOUNT. It isn't worth it for me to tattoo you because I'm not making anything on it its going right to my equipment and not even properly, its not covering shit for my equipment so I'm jipping myself. PLEASE do not misunderstand for those of my customers that come to our Specials when you pick off the sheet and all tattoos on it are $20. That is in bulk because I will tattoo about 80 people in a day so i will profit AND cover my materials so its different. 

"Cant it be a little cheaper"- Not only (see above) but because i said so? you're coming to me did you somehow think someone else was going to price your tattoo or that YOU would? Believe me its not how it works. 

"I Don't really have that much"  - Well then to be brutally honest you shouldn't be here. You shouldn't be in a tattoo shop trying to haggle an artist who already has more than fair prices. People don't get it. I feed my family with this. I SURVIVE with this business so if you really think you can walk in and "talk my price down" i almost have an impulse to Up your price just for the inconvenience and headache you're giving me. Not to mention the insult.  I work hard to create things designed to bring joy and happiness to people and you're giving it a bad look. If you don't have the money you don't try to lessen the price so it works you come back when you can afford me and my work.

.................................

Another situation that I have seen come up as of late is with booking. Now, not much goes into booking. Its simple really, you and the artist pick a date and time that coincide with both schedules, you put down a deposit and show up on the day assigned at the appropriate time and WHAM you get a tattoo! Shocking right? I know.
When you don't show up at the appropriate time and proceed to call 45 minutes later and say "oh well I know I'm late ill just come now" or "oh ill just come in later, 7:00 good?"...PLEASE don't be SHOCKED when we say... NO. The next sentence out of your mouth should not be "Well Why not?" or upon further conversation (which we really shouldn't have to go into depth about our reasoning with you ) don't respond with "why are you so booked"..............

Uhm..
Well..

How can I put this... WE ARE GOOD AT WHAT WE DO AND LOTS OF PEOPLE WANT US TO TATTOO THEM! YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY ONE THEREFORE WE HAVE PROCEDURES SUCH AS APPOINTMENTS AND SCHEDULING WHICH YOU  CLEARLY HAVE NO RESPECT FOR!!!
Just Saying.  

Seriously. Please don't ask such stupid questions. I mean the saying goes "there is no such thing as a stupid question." Bullshit because there is. There is no way my THRIVING business is surviving on JUST your money that you happen to spend with me once every 4 months or even once a year so please bring your head back out of the clouds and get real. Next, That is what the appointment is for. We book up very quickly and yes there are more than just the owners of the establishment on staff that would be more than happy to tattoo you. If you do NOT want one of them to tattoo you and will only go to one of the two owners then guess what? YOU may HAVE to wait. Make an appointment and if you want that tattoo that badly you will wait for it.
Also, as far as, "well ill just come in later" Please see my blog entry about Respect because I go into detail about how that DOESN'T WORK. You have an appointment for a reason and please don't ever ask us, Why? Honestly, its pretty much breaks down to an almost juvenile explanation of, BECAUSE I SAID SO.
The last thing you want to do is piss off the person who is tattooing you. It will be a bad experience for both the artist and client and will leave a bad taste in the artists mouth when it comes to your name.
Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for the next one. I promise it will be soon. Cheers. 

"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. 

"That One"

As tattoo artists when I say something like “That One” we usually all automatically know who im referring to. Those of you who are not in this line of work, I shall explain. “That One” refers to that ONE client that thinks everything you do revolves around them and they are your ONLY customer..They think your business would suffer without them and that's the only thing you strive to do.. their tattoo. Let me expand a little bit.

Example number one: “That One” calls and would like to make an appointment. You gladly take the call, chat about the design and what is wanted and you make the appointment. Then the appointment day comes up. Now, they have stopped in prior to the appointment to drop a deposit down to ensure that they WILL be showing up at exactly 5PM. Well 5PM that day rolls around and guess what? They aren’t there! Then your phone rings and its them. You ask where they are and their response is something of the following: “Oh my bad i’ll be there in half and hour no big deal bro” or “oh well i’m going to be late so ill just show up at 7 since that's better for me” or even “ well i’m late anyway so i might as well just make it tomorrow at noon, see you then”.

Heres the many problems we have with this. Number 1: Oh my bad, no biggie dude is not the way to speak to the person who you want to tattoo you, especially if its a FEMALE like me. Number 2: If I made your appointment for 5PM then there is a reason I made the appointment for that time! Not only may there be a person in the slot directly after you but I may have been leaving early for reasons I should not have to tell my client. This is a business not a frat house where we share every personal bit of information. The appointment that was directly after yours is now being pushed back and that does not look good for me or my business, it is unprofessional and frankly quite stressful. Not to mention my shop closes at a specific time and I will not be starting your 3 hour tattoo 2 hours late going past my closing time. I have a family and reasons I close at that time at night. I am a very accommodating person but I won’t jeopardize my plans and rules for anyone. Now Number 3: I assigned the appointment at 5PM on a specific day for a reason. That means it had to be the day i assigned..not the day afterwards at noon. That slot is not available therefore I made it for the specific time slot that you are now trying to currently change.

As a business woman it absolutely infuriates me when someone comes into my shop acting like they own the place. You are coming to me for something you want so please show a bit of respect for me and my business. Please do not misunderstand any of what I am saying. I love my job and clients but this type of behavior is not only uncalled for but down right rude to us as artists and business owners. We strive everyday to accomplish our dreams and bring happiness to those who need it. This does not help us reach this goal. Unfortunately this is a problem that is world wide and ALL tattoo artists have to deal with. It makes our jobs just that much more difficult, especially for a female tattoo artist. We find that clients, especially Male clients with little respect, do not take it well when we enforce our rules of the shop and respond with a “No”. We stand our ground and stay strong and that may result in a not so happy client because this client is not just any client… they are “That One”. “That One” does not know that they are wrong, that they are rude and that they are borderline ridiculous for acting in such a manner that may put a damper on your client/artist friendship. So they continue, even after you have dropped hints, subtle examples of exactly what they are doing or even flat out telling them they are wrong. There is a fine line between figuring out a reoccuring problem trying to fix it and completely losing a client because you lost your temper and yelled at them for making you mad. Unfortunately that is something we battle with on a.. not so everyday basis but more like twice a month type problem.

Depending on where your shop is this could be a local problem, happening all the time, or just a sometimes problem that will be easily handled. It is sad to me that tattoos artists have to deal with this at all.  There are so many things us artists have overcome just to do our job on a daily basis that this should not be one of them.

As I said before this may occur when “That One” calls but it is even more frustrating when it is through any type of social media or texting. “That One” insists on blowing up your phone or facebook asking you “How much this costs? What time are you open? What do you think of this design?” and then proceed to send a million messages of pictures of what they are thinking of getting. Now at my shop we like to treat our customers with respect, love and like they are family. However when we clearly respond with “I am not working right now please contact me during business hours” that is not us trying to be snotty or rude. That is us trying to be professional and responding to the client to let them know we are not ignoring them but we are also not at work so won’t be doing work related things. Ten o’clock at night is not an appropriate time to ask if a feather flowing over your collar bone saying “be free” would look sexy in your bikini and when can you come get it? We are tattoo artists not security for an overnight bar.. chances are we aren’t even awake due to the ridiculous amount of time and work we put in everyday. As humans we are allowed to be tired which occurs more often than not. I feel as though some people look past this and just expect us to continue going day in day out without getting tired or running out of steam, i’m almost sure of it. I realize that this day and age tattoos are much more popular than they were back when they first started to surface but this doesn’t mean that we don’t have families, friends and plans, dates and vacations to go on as well as the occasional blissful sleeping that we’ve heard of. I love being a part of such a demanding industry and I would never take it for granted but these occurrences makes it difficult to enjoy our jobs. Clients are what keeps us going, and believe me we appreciate it, they are the heartbeat to our body. It makes it so much easier when they appreciate us as much as we do them.

Just remember clients, don’t be “That One”. Stay tuned for the next post. Cheers.   

Introduction, The Beginning.

Where to begin? Where to begin?...I have wanted to do this for quite some time but never got the chance. I am a young female Tattoo Artist in New York and I have witnessed many struggles in my short 2 years of this profession. This is where I would like to bring some of them to light.

There are things I have noticed, spotted if you will, that not only bother me but my fellow artists. I realized something. There aren't that many blogs or articles that speak the truth about tattoo artists in their every day lives. There is no step guide for this, no ABC's. Many people have the wrong idea of us and its something that needs to be set straight.

Tattoo artists are not what everyone thinks they are. We are not these party hard stoners and alcoholics that you see us portrayed as. People who stay up all night after tattooing all day and jump bar to bar then never sleep and do it all again the next day. Yeah. Right....We are home owners, parents, responsible people that have bills to pay and families to feed. We do our job on ridiculous hours until our fingers are numb and our backs almost break just so we can make a living and bring home the bread to our family. So we can bring a bit of joy to someone else who may need it more than us. No one sees the struggles we go through, the high demand that we put up with. We do our job for multiple reasons and of course making money is one of them. The main reason being to bring  happiness to people in a way that will stay with them forever. We are in an industry that is permanent, competitive and stressful but brings us the most joy in the world. 

That is what this blog is going to be all about. Bringing awareness about who we really are, the struggles that we go through and the amazing adventures we take one blog entry at a time. Cheers.