Tattooing is an art form. It can also be one of life's biggest addictions. Some people love to be tatted like a flesh canvas. Tattoo artists have reality shows and have become celebrities on their own. However, as much as some tats are a work of divinity many of us really need to rethink our life choices when permanently marking our bodies. FOR LIFE! For instance, at least get engaged to someone before branding yourself with their name.
Redditor SledDog888 wanted the tattoo artists of the internet to admit a few things... Tattoo artists of Reddit, which tattoo made you they most uncomfortable to do?
The semi-truck seems like a bit much. No?
It wasn't so much the tattoo, but rather the customer. He was a very strange older guy, and out of 7 artists in the shop, only one could tolerate working on him. He came in sometimes days in a row, and normally we don't recommend getting multiple tattoos so quickly, but with this guy it was like, to hell with it.
He came in one time for a semi truck with 'kicking a**' written on the back window. A few days later he came in to get 'alone and beating it' - completely unaware of the irony.
Thank the Lord...
The discomfort came after. When the client was paying I went to grab the money and he said something along the lines of "you like that money baby?"
It was awkward I'm usually quick with comebacks, but I just stared at him until he left. Also the women who moaned loudly the whole time I tattooed her. She said it was to help her ease the pain, but I'm not entirely convinced as I was near her lower regions.
Also not me, but my boss and other workers at the shop had to deal with a lady that would reach into their shorts. Some liked it some didn't, plus she was aggressive and would call for the lords help loudly every time she got tattooed.
Dust Bowl
My ex-girlfriend's best friend was dating a guy at the time named Dustin. Her nickname for him was 'Dusty'. I'll let you guess what she got tattooed... right above her vagina.
She's not dating him anymore, so I'm sure that's an interesting one for current / future partners.
Johnny Forever!!
Wife's friend is a tattoo artist. She said her most memorable was a young woman who came in and wanted Johnny tattooed on her chest because she loved her boyfriend so much. Said boyfriend showed up at the tattoo parlor after she finished so she could show off the new tat, they ended up getting in a huge fight and he broke up with her.
Couple months later, girl comes back in with a different dude for another tattoo. Says to the artist, "this is my boyfriend, Johnny!"
Not the dark place!
I was getting tattooed once and this guy comes in to get a tattoo of a diver swimming out of his a-hole. Luckily I was lying down so I had an excuse not to look over but the artist seemed kinda uncomfortable afterwards.
Dated a girl once with numbers tattoo'd on her wrist. As it was highly unlikely she had been in a concentration camp, I asked her for the story. It was her social security number, apparently her mother had this done to both her and her brother in case (and I quote) "they find your body but the head's been cut off and they need to identify you."
Yeah that family was a little messed up. Oh and it was pretty sloppy, like prison level, so considering that and the fact that it would have been done on children, it wasn't likely done at a professional shop.
X does NOT mark that spot!
Tattoo artist here.
I recently had a man come in and ask about getting a name covered that was placed right above his genitals. He brought a drawing in of a tribal dragon that he did himself. After explaining that his drawing really wouldn't work for the area or the cover up he said, "I guess that spot wasn't a great place to put my daughters name huh?" After a really awkward few moments he left.
I didn't end up covering it and haven't seen him since.
I was asked by a research lab to tattoo 3 hamsters that were identical. Like a little symbol on two of them, so each could be distinguished. I wasn't sure if it was real or not, as the interaction was over the phone.
I tattooed a couple of real characters over the years, including one guy who kept getting the same tattoo over and over again (a tiger head) and eventually just got little dots to fill in around them all, and another guy who got vertical and horizontal lines on various body parts to make himself appear larger. He talked about getting additional teeth implanted so he could process food more efficiently, and wanted me to be his disciple.
I can't hear you Sir...
I was being tattooed once and this guy walked in, super strange and we could tell something was off about him. He was wanting some kind of Japanese symbol on his forehead and my artist (shop owner) asked him if had any other tattoos. The guy says no and the owner tells him he won't do face tattoos without having any other tattoos.
This guy proceeds to just stare at us all for a solid two minutes without saying a word. Wide eyed, like we were from outer space and told him the Earth was flat. Then the artist says "Sorry man. I can tattoo the symbol on you anywhere else but I won't tattoo it on your face without any other ink." The guy continues to stare at us, says okay, slowly turns around and walks out the door. We thought he was going to come back and kill us.
My friend is a tattoo artist and a guy came in wanting a KKK tattoo. So the very heavily muscled black tattoo artist came out like "you're gonna be in my station." The guy shuffled out of the shop very awkwardly.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images