It is my first day on the job and I am wearing a sweater and boots despite it being 90 degrees. I got the job through a phone interview and no one from the company has seen me in person yet.
I glance around at my new coworkers and try to get a feel for how accepting they are. I am looking for something specific that will indicate whether I am going to sweat to death in long sleeves all summer, or whether I will be welcomed with open arms.
Tattoos.
I am an inkoholic. I have four currently and many more planned. They are mostly visible and definitely hard to cover, especially in heat.
Finally, I catch the glimpse of a symbol on someone’s ankle and I can breathe easier. I start to focus in and notice that many others have smaller words and pictures that I couldn’t see at first. I take off the cardigan and sit down at my new desk.
According to a 2006 Study, approximately 40% of adults have tattoos and 60% have piercings, so why is it that these body modifications are still so taboo in the workplace. Why does my mother worry about me covering them up for job interviews? Why are they seen as unprofessional?
Years ago, body art was seen as a form of rebellion, something that only thugs and gang members partook in. However, a survey of tattooed Adults found that 96 percent of them hadn’t gotten their tattoo out of rebellious feelings. Nowadays everyone from nurses to CEOs have some type of ink or piercing.
I work in the very liberal field of College Administration, which doesn’t usually care about things like body modifications, but there is always that nervous feeling of will I be asked to cover up or will this parent trust me with their children when I catch people staring at my arm. It makes it difficult to start somewhere new because you are scared that they won’t accept you because of your decisions about your body.
My mother is another tattoo fanatic. She has four and a nose piercing. She works as a Nurse and an Administrator for her health care facility and to my knowledge, she has never mistreated a patient because of her ink. She never gave the wrong medicine because she was fixing her piercings. She is one of the greatest nurses there is and her tattoos do not hinder this process.
This is such a widespread problem, that organizations like STAPAW, Support Tattoos and Piercings at Work, have formed to help spread awareness and educate people about how a person’s body is not their resumé.
It seems unfair that other types of modification such as plastic surgery and hair dye are seen as beautification processes but a nose ring could lose you a job. As STAPAW says “Tattoos and piercings are merely another form of beautification. Beauty is subjective”
My tattoos, like most people have a very deep meaning for myself. The Batman logo on my arm reminds me to fight for justice, my foot quote reminds me that I can overcome anything. These are the values that I want my students to learn from me and what better way to start the conversation.
It is time that we stop hiding our artwork and start embracing that it doesn’t change our work ethic. It is time that employer’s stop caring what we look like on the outside and instead interview us for the skills that we bring to their business.
I am not any less of a person because of the pictures on my skin. In fact, I am a little more interesting because of it.
