The most common question about my tattoos (or maybe second after “do you know what you’ll look like when you’re old?”) is how they’re viewed at work. Long before I started getting heavily tattooed, I considered what it would mean to work in an office – high necked tops, cardigans and long sleeves, no neck tattoos until I’m old or important enough to get away with it.
Herbert Heisenburg
Since I’m too broad shouldered for deep V-necks anyways, I considered it a worthy trade-off and dove in. Although having long arms have made covering my tattoos a bit more difficult than I had expected, I’m generally successful in keeping them mostly out of sight. People see them, though – in the summer when I’m attempting to slip into the change rooms unnoticed in my sweaty bike gear; at social events or training when I’m dressed down; when I get lazy and wear a 3/4 sleeve t-shirt and hope I don’t have any important meetings.
Somewhat surprisingly, in the 3 years I’ve been working in the department, I’ve had one negative comment (couched as concern, because diplomats are smooth that way) and countless positive ones. Lots of people want to know what the story is behind them, show me their tattoos, and make me take off my blazer in the cafeteria (usually when my boss is walking by).
I promise I’ll stop using pictures from our elopement soon. Blame Kateryn Silva for taking such good photos, and the only photos of my tattoo in its current form.
It helps that I don’t have any tattoos of zombies or swear words, and that I’m not otherwise very sartorially edgy (see above: cardigans and high-cut tops). But I like to think that it’s mostly because people recognise that the days of tattoos being the domain of sailors and jailbirds are over, and that there are lots of otherwise “normal” people who like tattoos as an art.
Presumably there are people that disapprove, but are polite enough to keep their opinions to themselves, which I admire (it’s a skill I’m working on with little success). But even those people must be able to differentiate between my style and my content, as it were.
I admit to a little nervousness about how my tattoos will be received in other countries. Certainly as a backpacker, I always got a lot of compliments (and requests to pose for photos, feeding my hope that one day I’ll get to be a model in a whisky ad in Japan). But my hope is that they won’t be viewed negatively in a professional environment.
At least they’ll always be a great ice-breaker for visiting prisons.
Hooray for standing up for individualism!
I conceal mine at work with high-necked tops – people encourage me to just show it and let people deal but I still feel too professionally green to be “political” about my appearance at work. I hope to get some work done on my upper arms soon which will change my work wardrobe for summer, I guess. The “what will you look like when you’re older” question gets tiresome. I’ll probably look older all over, right, tattoos included? Who cares?
The aging thing is funny, because I’ve become a lot more protective of my skin health since getting a tattoo… Before , aside from the SPF in my facial moisturizer, I would put sunscreen on if I was planning on being in direct sun at a festival or pool, etc. Now I put sunscreen on every day in the spring and summer, even if I’m just riding my bike to the store. Admittedly it is rooted in vanity (wanting to keep my ink nice) but is good for my health overall.