The fast food industry opens a market for employees generally between the ages of 16-24. With such a young group of people comes the fads of the era; baggy jeans, spiky hair, tattoos and piercings. Then the decision comes to the employer if to hire them or not. Can an employer legitametly refuse to hire someone because of appearances? Carla Quintana (owner of East Coast Subs) states "We have to look past them I think. Society as a whole is accepting them (tattoos and piercings) not so shocking any more." She does not discriminate against her employees for having any, they actually have several employees that are inked and pierced.

With this being said perhaps society is starting to look at these "things" as not so much a taboo any more. Then again, perhaps not. I passed a woman the other day in the mall and she grabbed her child as a man with large gauges in his ears passed by. It still interests me as to why people associate these "things" as a threat as if the tattoos and such will jump off the skin and permanently scare the children. I sure hope Mrs. Quintana was right about society and hopefully we'll notice some results soon.

Rebellion

When I was younger I had always wanted to get my ears pierced. I thought it would look cool, and be somewhat rebellious. I remember asking my parents when I was 14 if I could get my ears pierced, and they refused. According to them pierced ears sent out a “negative” image to some people and that it was not appropriate for my age. I thought that this was ridiculous considering that four of my cousins had their ears pierced with giant diamond studs, and they were the same age as me. If they had them why couldn’t I? My dad had piercings back in the 80’s, and he said that when I was older would eventually regret it. As a professional working for the State of Utah, he said that the marks left on his ear lobes were still somewhat visible and a burden from his youth. So I let it go, but I always wondered what it would be like.

A little over a year ago, I woke up one Thursday morning and decided that I was going to gauge my ears. It was the first thought that came into my mind when I woke up, I didn’t even give it a second thought. It was a couple weeks before my 20^th birthday, so I though it would be a nice present to myself. So I texted two of my friends and asked them to come with me, because I did not know what to expect. I immediately made the appointment for that following Saturday. The next day at work, I asked my supervisor what was the company’s policy on piercings. At that time I was working in a restaurant as a lower shift manager, and my boss said that they did not like it, but they couldn’t do anything about it if I wanted to, just that the piercings needed to be modest.

So that Saturday I went into Koi piercing studio, the best place that I knew to get it done. My sisters had always come here for their piercings, and so have most of my friends. The place was clean and the staff was very professional. One of the piercers, Mike, called me into his room after I had picked out the pair that I wanted. I sat on the table waiting as Mike was disinfected my ears and marked my lobes. I was starting out small with a 14 gauge, but I was a little nervous. Then Mike said, “Take a deep breath” and as I breathed the gauge went into one ear, and then another breath, in went the other. My ears stung and then went numb, and then throbbed for about five minutes. The pain went away quickly and my ears felt normal within 10 minutes. My parents knew what I was doing that morning, but when they realized that I had the intention of stretching out my ears just up to an 8 gauge, they freaked. My mother tried to tell me that this would have an affect how people will view me and how future employers and professionals will see me. I told them that it was not a big deal, that they were small, could close up easily, and that I did not plan on having them forever. So for the next couple of weeks, my dad and my uncles teased me about them, even my sick grandfather jokingly said, “If I could get up out of this bed I would rip those from your ears.” All of my cousins however liked my gauges, and I felt happy about them.

I wondered what possessed me to get it done so sudden. Was this a phase of rebellion? Following a trend? Simple curiosity? I guess it was more than just curiosity. I think the opposition from others fueled a little rebellion. Today piercings are pretty common among males, especially between the ages of 18-25. However to most people in college piercings are not a big deal, but once I get older would this effect my career? Such as future job prospects and opportunities?

I'm a canvas.

Go big, or go home.

This has always and will always be my motto. At the ripe age of sixteen I convinced my sweet, naïve, easily-persuaded mother that I should get my lip pierced. Though she is an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she somehow knew that if she didn’t sign the parental consent form at the local piercing shop, I would do it myself with a safety pin as she had seen so many times in my ears. Being a smart woman, she knew the risk of infection would be much worse if I didn’t go somewhere to have it professionally done. Little did she know that this was only the beginning.

Unfortunately for my mother, the next summer I was travelling Europe with a group from my high school. During my stay in Amsterdam, I decided to get my lip pierced again. Luckily for me you only have to be sixteen years old to make adult decisions in Amsterdam. It was a little disconcerting though that I seemed to know the proper piercing procedures a bit better than “Yahn”. For example, the fact that he used externally threaded jewelry (the ball screws onto the bar instead of into the bar as with internally threaded jewelry), and the fact that he pierced my lip from the outside in. You are supposed to pierce from the inside out because then you go through all the soft tissue first and only have to puncture the tough skin once, whereas if you pierce from the outside in you have to push into and against the skin the entire time, making the piercing more painful. This event stays with me because I still have the piercing in my lip, even though it was obviously poorly done and even in the wrong spot. I realistically should go get it re-pierced but to be honest, I just don’t care that much. Way to go, Yahn.

“At least it wasn’t a tattoo,” my mother stated. A week after my eighteenth birthday I decided it was time for me to get a tattoo. I went to a friend who was working out of his basement because he was in between shops. I made sure that all of his equipment had been autoclaved, which is a sterilization process to ensure that blood-borne pathogens such as hepatitis aren’t transferred between clients, and everything was sanitary. After a long and painful session, I came home and encountered my mother sitting on the couch. I figured she might as well know, so I told her I got a tattoo. She asked what it was and nearly screamed as I proceeded to lift up my shirt to reveal my plastic wrapped and newly tattooed side- yes, entire left side of my torso. It was of my favorite flowers, lilies, and started at my hip bone. It ends about two inches from my armpit. She was a little upset at how large it was (go big or go home, see) but exclaimed, “at least it’s pretty.”

This tattoo led to a memorial tattoo on my back for my best friend who had passed away when I was fifteen. It is also a quite large piece covering most of my upper back. These led to another large piece on my right side, a dinky little best friend peace sign tattoo on my ankle (which really shouldn’t count as a tattoo at all), and a cross on my left shoulder. All of these are meaningful to me and have a reason behind them, unlike a lot of individuals with numerous tattoos. I have plans for many more including both my feet, my other ankle, behind my ears, a collar bone, a half sleeve, and my wrists.

I currently have five tattoos, two piercings in my lower lip, two in my nose, thirteen in various parts of my ears in addition to earlobes gauged to 7/16”. I also currently hold a position as Regional Manager of eight silver shops in malls across the Salt Lake valley. I thought it out enough that I can cover up my tattoos if I’m wearing anything more than a bathing suit (which I am, the majority of the time), and if necessary I can remove my jewelry. Thus far my piercings and tattoos have not held me back from succeeding in my current job, though they have given many people the “wrong idea” about me. They make for interesting meetings of adults-especially parents of friends, and an awkward, scary discussion with my father and the rest of my family. Though I have been called several unflattering names, and many people have wrongly judged me, I would not change one of my piercings or tattoos. I am an intelligent young woman, with great work ethic and creative ideas. At some point I may tire of my piercings and take out my jewelry but my tattoos will always be there. So instead of boring the grandchildren with my life story told as a scholarly thesis with too small print, hundreds of pages and no space to breathe, I can tell and then show them parts of my life. And really, who doesn’t like a good picture book?

The tattoo that almost was...

I have no ink on my body, but there have several occasions where I have come close. The first time was in high school. I had it all planned out. I had the design I wanted and the placement picked. I even went as far as to spend a weekend airbrushing one idea on my body. It was cool, but just for a weekend. It was fun playing dress up for a couple of days, but it also gave me time to think about the long-term commitment that a tattoo represents. Looking back on what I had planned makes me grateful that I took the time to think about it. It was trendy and meaningless and would have been something that I would regret. I was trying to fit in by doing something that would make me stick out.

More recently I have had another encounter with the possible tattoo. I come from a family of six brothers. We wanted to do something to permanently link us together as brothers . We planned to have a "C" monogramed on our backs- the initial for our last name. Nothing inappropriate and it could be easily hidden. We got close, but without the commitment of all brothers there was no reason follow through. One of us married and then became conservative, so the brotherly tattooing never happened. I don't know if I would have regretted that mark. It represented something very personal and important to me, something that would have been relevant for many years to come.

Pierced Ears: My Rite of Passage

It seems so minute and insignificant to me now, but back when it happened it was like a rite of passage that I desperately needed to partake in. What is this ever "sacred" ritual I speak of? It was nothing more than getting my ears pierced, and it all happened when I was in fifth grade.

I realize that some girls undertook, and undertake in, this rite long before I had, but it took some convincing before my father even considered letting me get my ears pierced. I had heard horror stories of the procedure and was quite nervous to go about the whole thing. Accompanied by my parents and younger sibling, we walked into a small store at the mall where my mother told a sales associate I wanted to get my ears pierced.

I was seated in a tall chair where I was prepped for the piercing. The employee took a magic marker and placed one dot on both of my ears. She then held a mirror up to me and asked me if they looked all right and even. She then loaded the ear piercing gun with a stud, placed it to my ear lobe, told me to take a breath, and that was it. I don't remember feeling anything more than a slight pinch. The employee then proceeded to do the same to my other ear.

Getting my ears pierced was important to me, and a landmark in my adolescent life.

Today, I have only my ears pieced, once, and nothing else. Most dress codes that I have experienced allow for pierced ears, although some restrict what types of earrings can be worn (such as no dangling earrings or gauged ears). It appears to me that most employers are nearly desensitized to singly pierced ears, seeing as they are fairly common amongst most women today.

Personal Experience (Navel Piercing)

The summer between my seventh and eighth grade year i got a navel piercing. No one my age had one so I thought I might start a trend. I somehow convinced my mom to take me to the mall to get it done. At the very top of the escalators was a small shop designed to look a lot like "Claire's," with a sign that read "Navel Piercings." Little to my knowledge the girl that administered the piercing was new, and to be honest I think this was her first piercing after what happened next. She asked me to wait a few minutes while she went into the back to get everything ready. When she finally came out she was wearing gloves and holding an ear gun. Then in front of everyone walking by in the mall she had me pull my shirt up and lean back against the glass display box. She then said that i was a little skinny, that if i had a little more fat it would be easier. At this point I was getting nervous. The girl cleaned the area with rubbing alcohol and prepped the ear gun with an earring. She held the gun to my stomach and pulled out a bit of skin and placed it in the gun. She then stated that it would hurt slightly and then before i knew it she pulled the trigger and it was done. I was told to keep rotating the very tiny earring that was now squeezing my skin so tightly that I could barely stand up straight. I had to come back ten days later to get my barbell (an actual ring made for the navel). When I returned the manager was there and was furious about the procedure, she gave me my money back apologized and i later found out the girl was fired. All I have to say is that you better research your store before you go, a "Claire's" isn't going to cut it.

Ear Stretching.

Ear stretching has been around for thousands of years, and in several different cultures. Stretching of body piercings has been popular for a very long time, but lip and ear lobe stretching are the most common.

A standard ear piercing is created with about a 16 gauge (refer to gauge sizing chart below ). "Normal" earrings are generally an 18-20 gauge. So anything larger than a 16ga would be considered "stretched".

There really is no limit to the size which you can stretch your ears. I personally have seen someone with 3" tunnels in their ears, but elsewhere I'm sure there are larger holes.

There are several different materials and styles of jewelry you can wear in your stretched earlobes. Some common materials are wood, bone, acrylic (plastic), steel, stone, titanium, and silicon. Different styles are tunnels (which are hollow), plugs (solid), captive hoops, horseshoes, etc.

You can look at different types of jewelry online. Here is one website to start off:
http://www.sthbodyjewelry.com/catalog/Plugs-Tapers/