“If you are unsure about your future, I would suggest not getting tattoos or extreme piercings that are visible. It can drastically pigeonhole you. And I don’t think anyone under 30 years old should get a neck tattoo.” This statement was made by a 21 year old Michael Barry. Mike is a Christian male and sees himself as a conservative Democrat. He has numerous tattoos over his body, including a large one in the left side/front of his neck, a piece on the back of his neck, and tattoos behind both ears which were the main focus of my questions.
Michael is currently employed at Hickman Electrical Inc. as an apprentice electrician. The environment he works in varies from job to job, ranging from processing plants to Wal-Mart. He works with other electricians usually on a daily basis, and occasionally with engineers and/or clients. As far as his current job goes, he cannot recollect specific positive or negative situations revolving around his tattoos. “The job we are on right now, the engineers call me “the kid with the ears and face tattoos” and they call everyone else by their names,” said Mike. I asked him if his visible tattoos would affect his line of work to which he responded, “It will definitely hinder my advancement within the company. It keeps me from getting farther ahead, dealing with office work and clients. It keeps me in the field, I don’t get sent out on job walks- contractors don’t want to send someone with 1” gauged ears and neck tattoos to try to get a job.”
Recently, Mike had his earlobes sewn. (As you may have seen on Fox 13 news Salt Lake City) He says this decision was a combination of a few things; it was a great opportunity, he sort of grew out of that stage in his life and was no longer wearing jewelry in the stretched holes, and it was a decision to better his professional future. “Overall, for now I am happy but I am a fairly logical person and half of me has always kind of had some regret and worry about my neck tattoo. I usually tell people not to get them,” Mike mentioned. He stated that he and a lot of other people don’t know where their life will take them in 10 years, so decisions he made at 18 may or may not negatively affect his life in the future.
I wanted to hear more specifically about how he felt his tattoos had influenced his working career thus far, and how they would continue to influence it down the road. “When I left retail and tried to get a job, regardless of my resume or experience I wasn’t the top candidate. I may be slightly intimidating- scare the customers off. In an ideal world people wouldn’t pass judgments based on appearances but it happens, and it will happen forever.” Unfortunately, I have to agree with him tenfold. Mike continued, “I tried to get a job at so many floral shops around d the valley, but moms don’t want to come in and buy a flower arrangement from someone who looks like a criminal.” This statement caught my attention, and I wanted him to expound on it. “If you look into the individuals in the prison system that have been there for however many years, most of them are tattooed. If you go to Sub for Santa charities, or church, people usually have none. People with tattoos have value systems that may or may not be typical or upstanding. They have a tendency to be seen as ‘wild’, and aren’t usually the ones who attend community social gatherings of a respectable nature. They are usually foul mouthed- I probably have the foulest mouth of anyone I know,” Mike explained. Based on his well thought out opinions, I’d say he’s probably right.
Though Mike knows his tattoos have affected his career opportunities and will do so in the future, he is still interested in more visible tattoos. He mentioned wanting his hands tattooed and even wants to get the back of his head tattooed. He feels unbalanced with one side of his neck done, and noted that he “may be using it as a justification but, he already has one side so why not?” He believes that tattooed hands are almost worse than neck tattoos, so he remains unsure if he will get the top of his hands done or not. “Tattoos are like any other artwork, it’s all about location-it makes it interesting.”
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