Food and Tattoos.

In most lines of work appearance is key. Having tattoos or piercings definitely can affect what jobs people can have. The environment of a workspace determines the dress codes of employees and workers, and as stated by one of my group members, “… it depends on the atmosphere in which you work and company you work for.” This applies to the food industry as well, where depending on the kind of setting, visibility of tattoos can either be acceptable or not.

Currently, I work in a small local bakery in Salt Lake City called the House of Bread. Dianne Swift is the Assistant Baker there and she has six tattoos, one on her right and left wrist, one on each side of her rib cage, one on the back of her neck, and a large tattoo covering her shoulder and upper arm. Dianne is 28 years old from Arcadia, California, and she has been living in Salt Lake City since March 2009. She got her first tattoo when she was 23 years old, and since then she has not experienced any major problems with her tattoos working in the food industry. A few of Dianne’s tattoos are visible, and I asked her how customers react, and if they ever had a problem, and she said, “No…most people are pretty nice about them and will ask ‘Oh what is that about’ and are really polite, plus we are in Sugarhouse so a lot of people are more liberal… there are a few conservative people that come in and give the evil glare, but for the most part people are intrigued and ask about them.” I asked if people had implied things about her because of her tattoos, and she stated “Yeah, people have assumed that I either had a messed up childhood, or that I’m a lesbian because of the equal sign on my wrist and the two women on my arm” Dress is casual for employees at the bakery, it just has to be modest and suitable for baking.

Before Dianne became a baker, she had worked as a waitress at restaurants such as California Pizza Kitchen, Iggys’, and Wood Ranch BBQ and Grill. There they had more restrictions when it came to the dress code and tattoos. I asked her about her previous work experience as a waitress and she said, “They would tell us we couldn’t show any tattoos… we all wore collar and button down shirts and for the most part you couldn’t see my tattoos except the one on my wrists, which were pretty small. Those I would cover up either with band aides, makeup, or bracelets. I was the number one server pretty much, so managers would let me get away with them. People loved me, I had like the highest sales out of everyone…so managers looked the other way.” She mentioned that if she had worked at any other job, “such as a receptionist, or anything like that, people probably wouldn’t care… but thankfully or hopefully I wouldn’t work someplace where people would care... but if I stay in this business, like being a chef, cooking, and baking… people are covered in tattoos, so its not a problem.” Dianne said that she wouldn’t dream of exposing her tattoos if she were in a formal setting. However, since baking is less formal, the dress is much more relaxed even compared to higher end food service jobs.

Dianne’s tattoos are close to her, and represent and reflect on her personal beliefs, points of view, and experiences. She hopes to get more in the future, but for the mean time is content. Dianne’s goal is to purchase the bakery from the owner in the near future, and will either keep it as the House of Bread or open up her own bakery. Dianne’s perspective on her profession and the ability to have visible tattoos is that “I’ve really lucked out.” Regulations and Policies about tattoos and piercings in food service are very lenient, and focus primarily on proper hygiene and cleanliness. Majority of establishment require modest dress, yet depending on the setting and image of the business, it can vary.