Welcome back to Tales from the Service Industry.
We hope you enjoyed part one of Life's Bookmarks
and know you will enjoy part two.
So let's get to it.
Well, you know, speaking of social media,
I heard that we got some listeners
that actually shot some questions for you.
We do.
We have a couple of Facebook questions for you.
All right.
The first one is,
what is most rewarding about being a tattoo artist?
There are a few things for me.
I think having been an artistic and a creative person
my entire life, like as long as I could hold a Crayola,
the goal for me was to always do art for a living.
So the fact that I get to do that with this medium
that a lot more people are appreciating now
and it's keeping me busy and I'm able to sustain a living,
that is incredible and I'm very grateful for that.
I also get a lot of clients who,
you can tell they're kind of going through something
when they come in and see me for the tattoo therapy,
if you will, and seeing the transformation
from when they walk in to when they walk out,
that is the most gratifying thing
because you can just see the confidence boost
or whatever energy that they were holding onto
that was just kind of icky,
just completely leaves their body
and they're like a whole new person when they leave.
That's incredible to have that ability
to do that for someone.
I'm not gonna get emotional about it.
That's amazing.
Yeah, I've heard so many people just tell me
that tattoos are so healing
and I think coming from a background like mine,
where I've always just wanted to help people,
it's crazy that I'm able to do that with both art
and then just making somebody feel good
overall during the session.
That's amazing.
Yeah, it's been great.
I love it.
Or to some, just a scratch they needed itched.
Me, I think.
That's her.
Or the itch they needed scratched.
There you go.
Oh, okay, whatever.
It's okay, we all knew what you meant.
I even thought about that
and I thought I was going somewhere.
That's too funny.
Just blame it on the red.
Yeah, I blame that one on the grape juice.
All right, you have another Facebook question
from one of our listeners.
I do.
Have you ever done a tattoo and the client has hated it?
I personally have not.
I am very grateful because, man,
I'm not gonna sit here and bullshit anybody.
I try to be as completely transparent as possible.
There's a level of nervousness
going into a tattoo every time.
Every single one?
Every single one
because it's permanent
and that always sits on the back of my mind.
So I personally have not.
I have worked with people from the old shop and woof.
All right.
There was, oh gosh, I can still see it.
I wish I had the photo to show you guys
but I'm not trying to bash this person or this artwork
but you can just tell when a tattoo is not great.
It was a wolf and it just was not great.
It was so bad.
It looked like, I don't even know how to explain it
but it took up the whole shoulder.
Oh.
So not only was it a bad tattoo
but it was on a big portion that's visible.
A lot of time.
Yeah and I had kind of heard the aftermath
and the fallout after the session
and you have to take accountability as an artist.
Was it the guest's fault?
What do you?
Client.
No and here's the thing.
So having been a barber and having,
now being a tattoo artist,
I am a full believer that if you as the artist
are not getting the answers that you need
to create the piece that the client is looking for.
You shouldn't do it.
Not that but you need to be asking the right questions.
Like a consultation will go so far
so you've got to be in depth and make sure you are
on the same page with your client.
This was just more a matter of the application of the tattoo
because going back to you can be a great artist
but a really shitty tattooer.
You have to know your fundamentals
in order to approach the tattoo
because there's so many things that could go wrong
and in this case the skin was very much overworked.
The application was just bad.
The technique was bad.
And with a piece that size the only thing you can do
at that point before you've been doing a cover up
is to go get laser.
So now you're looking into more money
just to fix the problem.
When as somebody who's been a client for the past 16 years
you really need to research your artists.
Like dive deep into their Instagram,
dive deep into their Yelp reviews, their Google reviews.
Like really make sure that they're going to give quality
work because unfortunately with YouTube
and having as many resources out there and Amazon.
I'm kind of back and forth with Amazon
but I don't think just anybody should be able
to buy a tattoo machine and just go at it.
So you have a lot of these people who are like
I'm a tattoo artist, blah, blah, blah.
And they have no training.
But they just bought a gun on Amazon
and you're going crazy with it.
Anybody at this table right now
you could pull up your Amazon and type in tattoo machine
and they'll have tattoo kits where it comes
with inks, needles, stencils.
But you still don't know.
How is that legal?
I don't know.
I just get freaked out over like the cleanliness too.
I would not even know where to start.
I think the biggest part of it,
like if your tattoo environment is not like close to
if not as sterile as like a medical office,
you should not be getting tattoos.
I was gonna say a hospital.
Yeah, because there's so many things that can go wrong.
You can get something called cellulitis.
I was just about to tell you that.
That will not that you didn't know that.
But that happened to my husband.
It's happened to me before too.
He got cellulitis and a giant tattoo on his cat.
I've never even heard of this.
Yeah, the big tattoo of Donald Duck on his cat.
I have to see this tattoo.
Donald Duck is great.
Big tattoo on his cat.
He got, we were at a reputable shop.
Like down in San Diego, we were there on vacation
and we went to a reputable shop.
But of course it was like,
what is that black Friday or of tattoos?
Friday the 13th.
So all the tattoos were on sale or whatever
and we thought it was good.
But he got so gnarly infected.
It got cellulitis.
He got a crazy fever.
He had to go to the hospital.
Had to get hospitalized over a tattoo.
They can get that bad.
But what is this, just an infection?
Yeah, it's an infection.
So just to kind of give like a quick overview,
when you're tattooing, like everything needs to be sterile.
Like I won't touch anything that's on my setup
if I'm not wearing gloves.
And anything that you do touch on the setup,
if you're wearing gloves,
you need to throw those gloves away
before you can go touch anything else
because you're cross contaminating with blood
and people don't really think of that
because the blood molecules are essentially so tiny,
you can't see them.
But there's blood splatter, it's going.
All different types of ways.
Yeah, there's a lot of things that can go wrong.
Are you convinced to get a tattoo now, Bill?
Oh yeah.
There's actually a video out there
that I had just watched recently
and it was super interesting.
Somebody had a black light on while they were tattooing.
To like see what's really going on.
The spray coming off and it's very fine.
It's more like a mist,
but it's definitely getting kicked up and whatnot.
But yeah, like everything I use to clean
is a medical grade disinfectant.
And it gets cleaned before
and it gets cleaned right after the tattoo
because the last thing you wanna do is infect someone.
Like the infection I had on my leg tattoo got so bad,
my ankle swelled up to the size of a softball.
Oh my gosh.
And this is gonna sound really gross, so trigger warning.
But I literally lost like probably an inch or two of skin
that just completely fell off from the tattoo.
And it wasn't because, you know,
like the tattoo looks fine now,
but it just, it was so gross.
It was so bad.
Dang.
That's why I say research your artists,
like make sure they are being clean,
make sure that the shop is reputable,
make sure that they are reputable.
Cause sometimes you can even have the one
that slips kind of under the radar
that gets into a reputable shop
and they themselves aren't necessarily
practicing the proper health precautions.
And I love learning this from you
with what we should be looking for too
when you're talking about not touching certain things
and changing your gloves.
Like I had no idea of those things.
Yeah, like I don't know if you noticed
when I was tattooing you, but like anytime I would,
you know, have to like move my ring light
even if I touched that with, you know,
I wasn't even touching that with a glove.
I would take the glove off and then move it.
And then put a new glove on.
Wow.
Yeah.
This is bringing me back to like my first aid
instructor course.
I know, right?
Yeah, but there's so many things that could go wrong.
Like in order to legally be a tattoo artist in the state,
I know it's a lot different for different states,
but in this one specifically,
you have to go through a bloodborne pathogen training
and then you have to go register your certificate
with the health department
so that they know where you're working at.
But wait, if you just go buy one off Amazon,
you don't have to do that.
Exactly.
You shouldn't be able to buy one.
That's so twisted.
That's what I'm saying.
Like, and there's even like certain ink companies
like that I order from and they will not ship to my house.
They have to ship to a shop that is registered and licensed.
That's good.
Yeah, so those are like the more reputable companies,
which is great because they're covering their own asses,
but the Amazon companies like in my opinion,
and you know, at the end of the day,
my opinion doesn't really matter.
If you're selling machines on Amazon to anybody,
at that point, I think you're just trying to make a profit,
but what you're doing in return
is you're over saturating the industry
and artists that are like-
With Wahoos.
Exactly, and artists that are like quality artists
are kind of getting lost in that whole sea of just,
in the industry, we call them scratchers.
So a scratcher is somebody who is,
I don't wanna say self-taught,
but just practices on themselves,
practices on their friends,
doesn't go through an apprenticeship.
You know, it's, I don't wanna call it gatekeeping,
but you know, something like this,
you really have to gatekeep certain things
and it's not to be an asshole,
it's just to make sure that you're not-
Because there isn't a specific school,
you know, that you can go to,
like when you wanna be a hairstylist,
you go to a school.
I just learned this though,
in Oregon, if you wanna be a tattoo artist,
I think, don't quote me on this,
but you definitely do have to go through schooling
before you can even become licensed.
So it's dependent on the state
and what their health department is,
but yeah, there's just so many people.
I mean, at least some, like you said,
the blood path, I can't even say that word,
blood pathogen training.
Bloodborne pathogen.
Oh my gosh.
Miss, what is it?
Jesus.
The instructor of the, I can't even,
line guys, line.
But even to go through that training
and reducing risk of infection,
like that's huge. Exactly.
And it's in depth and like the bloodborne pathogen training
that is accepted by the health department
in the state of California,
it's only certain courses that are actually accepted
by the health department.
Like Red Cross, American Heart Association.
There's a few of them,
they're all registered on the website,
but it is, the course I think took me like,
like a whole day to get through,
just to like read through all the information.
And then.
So you didn't just click through?
I hope that was a test.
Good for you.
There was a test and I passed it with flying colors.
Way to go.
I find like microbiology and stuff like that
very interesting.
And also, like I said,
I don't want to give somebody like a gnarly infection.
No.
Oh, I would cry.
I would just sit at home and cry
and reassess my entire life.
Well, mine healed amazingly.
I'm glad.
Yeah, yours was fun.
It was like all dainty and fine line.
I love it.
It was fun.
I mean, Kim confirmed,
you did not tattoo me,
but mine healed so easily.
Nice.
We've got qualified people
and our little shop fam,
thank God.
Yeah.
I love it.
Everyone's great and I absolutely love it.
I'm constantly learning something new from all of them.
So.
That's so cool.
And everybody leaves happy,
which is awesome.
Like we,
I don't think we've really had any disgruntled clients
leaving the shop.
That's amazing.
At least since I've been there,
but.
Your shop too has been reputable for a really long time.
Cause that's actually where I got my first tattoo
when I was 18 years old.
At our location.
Cause we do have another location.
No, I got it at the other location.
So the shop as a whole,
I believe has been around for about 20 plus years.
Wow.
Yeah.
Very reputable.
We have a guy that works with us
and he's been tattooing as long as I've been alive.
So.
Wow.
Yeah.
It's great.
They're legit.
Well, Kim probably confirmed,
not that I'm reading into the future,
but we'll probably be back.
Please do.
Oh, 100%.
We absolutely had such a blast with you guys.
Oh my God.
Yeah.
Even when you guys left,
I was like, they were so much fun for our listeners.
It was a group of us girls that all decided
we wanted to get this, a tattoo.
And we just took over this one shop and we're like,
we did.
And all the tattoo artists tattooed us like at once.
It was great.
Yeah.
It was definitely fun.
And like, I loved seeing you guys.
It was a good energy.
It was such a good energy in the whole shop at the time.
It was awesome.
Cause like we were seeing you guys pop over
from station to station,
checking on your guys's tattoos.
And I was like, I love this.
Okay.
I gotta ask.
Okay.
Can we just descend on the shop again as a gaggle?
Can we do like a remote podcast?
We can, we can.
Yes.
Ooh.
Let's do it.
And like just record all of you guys as the.
I don't know if we'll be getting matching tattoos again,
but yes.
We can all go have tattoos.
I can talk to the guys.
I think we could for sure set that up.
Oh my God.
Cause I'm constantly telling them like,
we should do a tattoo podcast.
Like, cause I tattoo so many different people.
Like for instance, I get a lot of like the young crowd,
but then like one of the people you could interview.
Oh my gosh.
There's so many, like one of my oldest, you know,
age wise clients, she's 58.
She just started her tattoo journey pretty heavily
last year with me and she's a hoot.
Like I love her.
I absolutely love her.
And then I get the people who are like working
what I call big people jobs,
like they're paralegals for like high end.
Big people jobs.
Yeah.
They have real jobs quote unquote,
but yeah, I've heard that so many times.
Why don't you get a real job?
I'm like, I have a real job.
It's just fun.
It's a real paycheck.
Okay.
I know.
I was like, it's just fun.
You guys wouldn't know anything about that, but.
I could pay it as much as you.
I'm just more fulfilled.
Yeah. I was about to say,
you're probably happier than most of these people in there.
And you make your own hours.
Yeah. And it's crazy.
Like I have a nephew and he's like really artistic
and whatnot.
He was on spring break and he, you know,
he was hanging at home by himself and I was like,
Hey, do you want to come hang out at the shop?
Cause we're a family shop, you know?
So he came down with us and got to see how everything ran.
He actually was put into one of the artists,
Tik Toks, which he was super geeked on.
And then he's like sitting there drawing with me.
And he like looks up and he's all,
is this all you guys do all day?
Like you guys just eat donuts and draw and do Tik Toks
and do tattoos.
I was like, yeah, pretty much.
You know what's so funny when we went and got our tattoos,
you guys had like two boxes of donuts on the table.
The donuts are never ending.
So we work right next door to it.
Like when that's the other great thing about our shop is
we're building relationships with the businesses around us.
And it's a great location.
It's awesome.
I absolutely love it.
But yeah, the girl next door, she loves us so much.
She'll just bring us over mochi donuts.
And I'm like, girl, stop.
Like stop, but don't.
And then we'll just have like boxes
and we're like sending them home with clients.
Oh, that's so nice.
That's awesome.
I'm like, you guys want to take a box?
We got plenty.
Like, please take them.
You're doing us a favor.
You had some in the back.
Yes.
We were eyeing them too.
We were like, are these for us?
You should have said something.
I would have been like, shit, take two, take five.
Oh my God, next time, next time.
Yeah, take it.
They're delicious.
We probably needed the donuts.
They're so tasty.
Love donuts.
I love it.
Like you can't go wrong with a tattoo and a donut.
And if you say no, like you can, then I can't trust you.
So you can.
Oh my God.
We wouldn't say yes.
Okay, so we're going to do a remote pod
from the tattoo shop and Bill's going to get
his first tattoo.
Oh, yes.
What the hell?
I think he volunteered for that.
Yes.
No, I just said, no, that one.
It can be something small.
Tiny.
What if it's a henna tattoo?
That way there's no commitment to it.
Not possibly.
Cool.
Something small and dainty.
I like my virgin skin.
On your butt.
Get like, no entry.
We can kiss this.
No entry.
I've definitely seen like lower back tattoos
that say exit only and those make me cackle every time.
Yeah, that's fine.
I've seen some interesting sexual innuendo tattoos.
Love them.
Which, you know, that's actually one of my questions for you.
Okay.
Is what is the craziest tattoo you've been requested to do?
Okay, there was a gal that walked in.
I'm pretty sure she was intoxicated,
but I will never forget her.
Like I will be in the old folks home,
just senile as shit and be like,
laughing about this.
She wanted above her, above her kuka,
she wanted the words, open 24 seven, all you can eat.
Oh my god.
All you can eat.
Oh my god.
And it, you know, I, at that point.
Like what, on lower abdomen?
Like right above her kuka.
Okay.
Absolutely.
And I was like, can you imagine being whoever the person is
that, you know, is about to go into uncharted territory?
Can you imagine that surprise?
But there was nothing uncharted about that territory.
But like, shouldn't that be a warning?
Like, hey, I've got a tattoo.
It's a little awkward.
No, that's a rip cord moment.
Really?
Oh yeah.
Oh my god.
Well, actually, wait, wait, wait.
You know what?
Maybe not.
Because if that's the type of person
that is like the demographic,
then that person probably would be cool with that.
Oh, for sure.
Yeah, but I cackled.
Like I have to be professional, you know,
but I just cannot hold it in.
And I started busting up and I was like,
darling, I think you are a little too far
under the influence right now.
If you still want this tattoo tomorrow, please come back.
Yeah.
Because I will do it.
I think this is hilarious.
I love funny tattoos.
I like have no problem doing it.
That's why whenever someone's like,
is this a stupid tattoo?
I'm like, dude, I have a whole Jurassic Park tattoo.
Like you should not be asking me.
Cause I'm like, yeah, send it.
I would have the same response.
Let's do it.
Is this what you want?
Sure.
Yeah. Run it.
We'll freaking run it right now.
So did she come back the next day?
She didn't.
That's why I'll remember her.
Cause she broke the like tiny little Grinch heart
that I have.
I'm like, I was so stoked.
I was like just standing, like waiting by the door.
Like, is she going to come in?
Oh.
I mean, I would still be down to do that tattoo.
So I was open to it, but.
Kind woman wanting this tattoo.
If you're listening, please come back.
I miss you.
You broke my heart.
Oh my God.
Was it me?
I love it.
That was her way of breaking up with you.
The audacity, the gumption, the gall and the audacity.
Oh my God.
Oh man.
What's the most offensive tattoo you've ever been asked
to do or to cover up?
I have been asked to do like Nazi symbols on people,
which again, like I do not condone.
I have like my personal beliefs with that.
And ironically, I've also been asked to cover up those tattoos,
which I have no problem doing.
I think, you know, it's great that people have the ability
to change.
And if that's going to be something that's
going to help them get further along in that journey,
then I would be more than willing to cover that up for them.
I've definitely covered up a lot of names though.
Again, this is why I do not do the significant other names
because I've covered those up plenty.
I think that's actually the most requested cover up I get.
Like white supremacist or racist?
No, the names.
Oh, names though.
Yeah.
Significant other names.
It could still be white supremacist.
Yeah, it could be.
You never know.
But yeah, that's why I'm like, are you sure?
Like how much do you really love your partner?
Have you done face tattoos?
Yes, actually.
I did a really small like star under somebody's eye.
That was actually one of the first tattoos
I've done on a client as an apprentice.
Wow.
Yeah, my mentor really threw me in the snake pit.
He was like, figure it out.
I was like.
That's on their face.
I was like, good sir.
No.
OK, wait.
On that note, I have a question.
I have seen that trend of people tattooing
the sclera of their eye, the whites of their eyes.
Oh, god.
That's got to be a different kind of tattoo.
It is.
They do like glow in the dark inks and stuff.
It's bizarre looking.
Here's the issue with that.
So you have to take into consideration
that that is not a true like when
I say traditional style of tattooing,
you're not going in with a needle in a machine
to do that.
Into skin.
You're actually going in with a hypodermic needle
and you're injecting the ink under the membrane.
So I know.
I'm sorry.
You're getting freaked out.
Yes.
So unfortunately, as cool as they look,
because I can also appreciate somebody
with their eyeballs tattooed, I think
it looks really good when it's done well.
There is an incredibly high risk of going blind,
like incredibly high.
That makes sense.
I have a friend who had a friend who got hers done
and I think she was blind in her right eye for about three
or four weeks before she regained back partial vision.
And it's because you can't really control how far the ink
spreads.
I don't do them.
That's actually a different style of body modification.
And a lot of body modifications like that
are actually technically illegal.
As they should be.
There are still people who do them, but teach their own.
I think they look cool, though.
I mean, for all those who have these crazy one-off ideas
of body modification, they can find someone in the world
that will do it.
There is a foot for every foot.
Sure.
You're cut off.
We're not talking about like, canes.
No matter what you want done, you can find someone.
And that's something I always tell people,
just because I'm telling you.
Because I've turned down projects plenty of times.
Even tattoos.
I won't do it, but you can probably find someone who will.
Exactly.
And I'm like, even if I know that.
It's just isn't for me.
There's also been projects that I've
asked to do where it's probably not in my style,
or it's not something like a subject matter
that I necessarily tattoo a lot.
And therefore, I'm just not wanting to take on that project.
If I know an artist that will do that project justice,
I have no problem referring the client to that person.
Especially if it's in your same shop,
and that guy is sitting right next to you,
and he's free for the next two hours.
Yeah, why not?
That's the great thing about the tattoo industry,
is it's fairly small.
So everybody kind of knows everybody.
So even if it's somebody not in our shop directly,
like if it's somebody that's a close personal friend of mine,
or an artist that's tattooed me personally,
I'll shoot them the information.
I'm fully on board with artists, supporting artists.
Because this is a hard industry to really get your footing in.
And that is good karma that will come back.
I'm hoping so, because Lord only knows I need it.
Yeah, but that's not so much just good karma.
It's establishing your reputation.
True, very true.
It's the integrity.
It's that part that's so hard to build,
but so easy to destroy.
Yeah, and that's kind of what I was going back to
on the industry being oversaturated with the people
who are really just in this to make a profit.
And to be fair, I don't want to discredit anybody
in their pricing, but we do have to make a living,
and we do have to eat just like anybody else.
But there are people that will take full on advantage of that.
And I was talking to you guys about this earlier
with the tattoo gate right now on TikTok.
This poor woman got completely bamboozled.
It went viral, the artist herself was called out,
other people that were involved got called out.
And it just overall, I think, built a distrust
between client and artist,
because now there's a lot of people
who are potential clients that will question
why my pricing is the way it is,
or why the person next to me has different pricing.
And like I said, we're independent contractors,
so charge what you think you are worth,
but also be reasonable about it.
Because if you're gonna get greedy,
that will come back and bite you.
Dang.
So that's a shame.
There's people like that out there in every industry.
And do your research, research your artists,
research the shop, everything you said.
Yeah, really dive deep into that wormhole,
because Lord only knows.
Don't just walk into a tattoo shop and say,
hey, can I get this Chinese symbol on my butt for $30?
It says orange chicken.
It says happiness.
No, it really says orange chicken or kung fu.
Something like off the wall.
Oh my gosh.
But this is a random one-off question.
Who sets like minimums?
Is it you as the artist, or is it the shop as a whole?
So that's really dependent on the shop owner.
Because everyone, like most shops do have a shop minimum,
and that'll be for like the small quick taxes.
Very small things.
Usually, I don't wanna speak as like a general,
but most of the time,
that's where the shop minimums fall into place.
No color, like nothing, bare minimum.
And then as the artist,
you're able to set your own pricing.
So everybody in the shop for like larger projects,
we do have different pricing,
but it's pretty similar to each other.
But you also have to keep in mind,
there's like artists that I work with
that have over 10 years experience in the industry.
And then there's artists like myself,
where I've only been doing this for just shy of three years.
So the pricing is also gonna kind of reflect that.
And not to say that the quality of work is better,
one or the other.
I just feel like out of respect,
I'm not trying to jump ahead.
Like I'm really trying to earn that right
to charge that type of pricing.
So. That's really cool.
Yeah.
And from what, at least in my experience,
and you can tell me if this is wrong or not,
the pricing can change based on like my husband,
he's like one of the most tattooed people that I know.
And then I guess you know.
Um.
Uh, this tattoo, he got it on his side
and the tattoo artist, oh yeah,
it's just gonna maybe take two sessions,
be X amount of time, it'll be this amount of money.
But the more he got into it,
and he did an amazing job,
it just was more intricate
than he really thought it was gonna be.
And it took a lot more time.
So it went up, cause you know,
he's taking all this time to do it.
I think in situations like that,
and again, this is me personally,
I'm not speaking for all artists,
as long as you're opening up that line of communication
with your client and not just like springing it on them
at the end of the session.
Like, hey, I know I said it was originally gonna be this,
but really it's gonna be much more.
Yeah.
You never wanna catch somebody off guard,
cause I feel like when that happens,
that's where you start to feel like maybe you're Sam.
Bamboozled, yeah.
Yeah.
So I think as long as you're open
and having that conversation
and then working out the logistics of that,
because also be understanding,
like the industry we're in, it's a luxury service.
Yeah.
So it's gonna wind up costing more
for like the more intricate detail,
the placement even, because skin is different
on different parts of the body.
You really just have to like stick with it
and like kind of come together and work that out
with your client.
Yeah.
But I don't agree with anybody just springing that on
very last minute.
Like, well, I was only expecting to pay this much,
cause I've had that happen to me before as a client.
Yeah.
Oof.
So I didn't come prepared.
Right.
You know, so that threw me for a loop
and it just left a bad taste in my mouth.
I was like, why would you wait?
Like, I've been sitting with you for six hours
and you're bringing this up now?
Not cool.
Well, who knows what inspiration
like will spike during a session as well.
If you have a client that's giving you kind of free,
free forum on your creativity, like during the session,
like, hey, this is my idea,
but like, I want you to flow and like go with it.
Well, yeah, if it becomes more intricate and more detailed
for sure the pricing is gonna go up.
Cause you know what's funny?
That's kind of similar to what happened.
They were originally making this dark keyhole
in which then the character's silhouette
and this whole thing.
And the guy's like, you know what would be really cool?
If there was a skyline right here.
And they were like collaborating
and making something new and more sick.
Like that's awesome.
Like as long as you're, like I said,
keeping that open line of communication.
Like if you like this idea, it's gonna be X amount more.
Right.
Or we can keep with the original.
And I can totally understand
like getting this sudden burst of inspiration
to kind of add onto the piece during the session.
But I also feel like this is all stuff that ties back
into the initial consultation.
That's true.
You're so right.
Yeah, because as the artist,
like you don't wanna be caught off guard.
Like I always have reference photos
of whatever I'm tattooing.
And like I want it to look like I pulled it from the iPad
and put it on somebody.
Okay, yeah.
Where if I'm making last minute changes on the skin,
that's where things can kind of, you know,
get a little bit sketchy.
Like I wanna have a visual reference
of what I'm actually doing.
Not just like drop it from my mind palace
onto somebody's skin, you know?
Cause that's where things start to go wrong sometimes.
And then you get a crazy wolf.
Yeah.
You know, I think people forget, you know,
you got that pricing triangle, right?
Where you can have it cheap, you can have it fast,
you have it good.
You can choose two.
So you can have it cheap and it's fast,
or it's, you know, it's good and it's quick.
You pay for what you're getting.
There is a common saying in the tattoo industry
that good tattoos aren't cheap and cheap tattoos aren't good.
And that applies to a lot of different service industries
also, like I think that applies like to when I was a barber,
people would question my prices with that.
And I'm like, well, you're not getting in and out of here
in 10 minutes like you would at a.
Now think about the quality and I don't want to call out
directly, but maybe we can cut that.
We'll do beep cuts.
Yeah.
Any big box barber shop.
Yeah, like any, you know,
franchise chain, chain barber shop,
where it's literally a chop shop.
And their whole purpose is to turn people in and out.
Like I'm actually spending the time to tailor
that specific service to that client.
And that's really important.
And I think that's what a lot of people tend to forget.
That's usually why the pricing goes up
and that's what you're getting with that pricing.
Did your clients get a beer during their service as well?
So at the barbershop that I worked at,
we actually had a full beer bar in the back.
Wow.
Like on tap everything the whole time.
Can girls go there?
No, I had a lot of female clients
because I was also a cosmetologist.
Like really dope barbershops they get taken care of, man.
They don't do that in female salons.
Do you get champagne or wine though, where you go?
No.
Girl, I'll give you some referrals.
You're going to the wrong places.
I'll set you up with my girl.
She's great.
I love her.
All right.
Can we go together?
Yes.
Let's do it.
Please.
She's local too, so.
OK.
I love it.
You just let me know.
I'll even provide the champagne.
Just like open it and pour it into a glass for me.
I'll get you set up with her, don't worry.
It's amazing.
Bella, do you need a barber?
No.
Oh, fine.
No tattoo, no barber.
He's marching to the beat of his own drum.
I respect that.
Solid.
But we'll give you shit.
You always do.
Yeah, that's why I'm the resident deviant.
Why break tradition?
I love that.
I have another Facebook question to pose.
And that is, how do you deal with a client that
is anxious about getting a tattoo?
And what would be your suggestions
for calming that person down?
That happens a lot, especially when it's the first tattoo,
because you really don't know what to expect going into it.
Just know, I'm very transparent with people.
Do tattoos hurt?
Yes.
Is it completely unbearable?
No.
In order to calm the client down,
I think full transparency is a great way to go about that.
And really just talking them through the process.
So usually if I get somebody where it's their first tattoo,
obviously you're going to start with the line work.
So I'll go in and do the first line, ask them how that feels.
And then that's usually when the anxiety starts to calm down.
And then really walking them through what the process is
going to be like, I think, also alleviates that stress.
But also giving them proper care instructions
prior to coming into the appointment.
Because there's a whole routine you should be doing.
Like you should be getting a great night's sleep
the night before.
You should be hydrated.
You should be eating a meal.
Bring in sugary snacks in case you
start to feel a little woozy, because that can happen.
Because initially what's happening when you're
going through a tattoo session, your body
tends to go into a slight state of shock.
So your blood sugar might drop.
So being prepared for that, it's always
better to be over-prepared than under-prepared.
And I think that also helps alleviate the stress.
Because once you're in that calm state and realizing,
OK, not all of this is going to be completely horrible,
then they start to just chill and kick back.
I also, for artists, I think we should be treating clients
like how we would treat our friends.
Because we're going to be up close and personal with them
for sometimes a whole day.
And you don't want it to be awkward.
You don't want to not vibe with that person.
Because that totally kills the experience.
Depending on where you're getting the tattoo,
you might be in territory that your friends have never
been.
Like I said, I've tattooed many body parts.
And sometimes, if I'm doing a full chess piece on a woman,
I am up in your space and just having a normal conversation
with you.
So what do you do for a living?
While I'm touching your boob?
Moving stuff around.
I'm like, yeah, that's great.
Are you having a good time?
Just trying to make it as comfortable as possible
for the client.
Because I'm not going to lie, the first time I was ever asked
to even tattoo a butt cheek or someone's tatas,
it's a little uncomfortable for me, too.
Because I'm like, wow, this is not taboo.
But it's very uncommon for a lot of people in their industry.
Yeah, I just tattooed someone's bits today.
They're like, what?
You're not like a person that does Brazilian waxes all day.
It's not like you're seeing bits and bobs all day.
I don't know how estheticians do it.
But more power to them.
Because I would just be like a little kid, just like, hee hee
the whole time.
Like laughing through the awkwardness.
Like, so how was your day?
RIP.
Crazy weather we're having, eh?
RIP.
Wait till they start to answer and then RIP.
I've had some of the best conversations
with estheticians in that environment, though.
They knew everything about me.
And they go on that date every four weeks.
I love that.
Oh my god.
I did.
Telling them all your secrets.
How is that coworker doing that you told me about last time?
Like, they knew everything.
Oh, they're doing fine.
I had a great day.
That's so funny.
No, I was pretty numb to it by then.
It was fine.
Yeah, like my cousin was an esthetician for a little bit.
And she would tell me some of her crazy stories.
And I'm just like, dude, and you're
up in there the whole time.
Maybe we should add an esthetician to the wish list.
Oh my god, absolutely.
Great stories from them.
Like, that's why I was called Tales from the Service Industry.
It's not hotels.
It's anybody that deals with the public.
This is great.
I love it.
So I have one last question for myself.
All right.
I'm sorry.
I've been hogging the mic.
So if you ladies want to join in.
Oh, I'm still really enjoying this.
Um, we've talked about inappropriate tattoos
or the weirdest places.
You've had to put a tattoo, so on and so forth.
Here's my next question.
OK.
What's the most inappropriate or disrespectful person
you've ever dealt with?
Whoa, that's a great question.
Yeah.
There's been a few, I think, just to kind of generalize it.
And because they were the same person, different body type
of thing.
I personally feel that there are certain people out there
who believe because you are paying for a service
that you are entitled to treat that person however you want.
Oh, we know that well.
Very well.
Yeah, we call them Platinum's.
We call them rewards members here.
Yeah, so I mean, the way I deal with that, I,
to be completely transparent, I have worked incredibly hard
to do what I do for a living.
And I demand respect for that because there
is a lot of shit that I've personally had to go through
just to do this that not many people even
have awareness of, you know?
So for that, I'm not going to let them just sit there
and disrespect me.
I don't care if you're paying me x amount of dollars.
You can politely leave because while you're taking up
that time and taking up my time and energy,
there's somebody else who would be super
grateful to have your spot.
So why would I want to take away from the person that's
going to treat me with respect and I'm
going to treat with respect to tailor to you?
And the issue I've seen with a lot of artists
is they don't feel like they have that power to do that.
And that's super, it's disheartening
because that starts to make your job not fun.
You know, like when you're being disrespected
because somebody feels entitled to treat you however,
like you're, it's okay to say no.
Do not sell yourself short because if you're setting
that as the standard, guess what?
That person that is disrespecting you,
they're going to think, oh, well, I can send all
of the other people that I associate with to you.
And that's going to be that standard that is coming
into your booth or whatever.
So I think you got to stay on your ground.
It sucks to like take that L, you know, sometimes
cause it's sometimes it's just a small tattoo
and you're only missing out on a couple bucks
or it's a full day session and you're missing out
like on a day's worth of rent, but like stand your ground,
hold your ground, keep yourself respect intact
because what we do, not everyone can do.
And I think we need to like hold that, you know, up.
Like a lot of us have dealt with a lot of shit
to get to what we, you know, what we're doing now.
And I think a lot of us have histories that, you know,
a lot of people weren't really necessarily rooting for us
or thinking that we were going to do anything
with our lives and now that we're doing it,
like really just protect your energy in that process.
Like we've earned it at that point.
I love it.
That's amazing.
I love it.
Yeah. Dang.
Well, it's a little different
because it's a little different from our industry.
We have not been given that freedom 100% of the time.
We're in the kiss your butt industry.
Exactly.
So you can say whatever you want.
Because you're, you know, quote unquote,
independent contractor.
We are not.
Yeah.
And there's definitely a right way
and a wrong way to go about that
because you don't want to ruin your reputation.
So if you're coming back at that person
from a disrespectful standpoint,
you're only adding gasoline to that fire.
So you have- Very true.
There's a right way and there's a wrong way.
So learning the wording to do it
so that you are setting that boundary,
that's where everything is going to just go smooth sailing.
You know?
Wow.
Yeah. I like it.
So do I.
I'm excited for us all to get tattoos.
I'm sorry, more tattoos.
Are we all getting podcast tattoos?
Yes.
No.
Come on.
Just a little mic, a little headphone set.
That's actually pretty funny though.
I've thought about it.
I think like a microphone, like with, you know,
headphones around it would be really-
How dope would that be?
Like really, I don't know.
I'm like envisioning this as like line work
and just really simple straight to the point.
See, I like, a lot of my tattoos
don't have like super deep meaning,
but to me in my head, they have stories.
They represent, you know, points I was in my life.
Like I know that Liz gets that too.
Me too, yep.
And so I can look at a tattoo
and remember where I was at that point in my life.
Remember, you know, even I have something super dumb,
like this little heart.
And I just remember exactly where I was
when I got that, exactly what it felt like
and like these different pieces of me.
I like to call them bookmarks.
Yeah.
Literally.
Yeah, because like I said,
and that kind of ties back into what I was saying
about the experience that you create.
Like being a good tattooer, again,
is only half of being a good tattooer.
Like if you're not creating a good experience,
that person is gonna look back at that tattoo
and remember the shitty experience they had.
That's true.
Where if you're creating like a lighthearted time,
they're gonna remember that.
But all of my tattoos that I have,
and I have a few, obviously,
I can tell you exactly where I was at, who did them,
like same thing that you were saying,
but it's also nice to kind of look back at them
and then look at where you're at now and seeing the growth.
Yes.
That's why I like to call them bookmarks,
because you can always go back to that and then just, you know.
I love that.
Yeah.
I'm obsessed.
I got a couple bookmarks.
She does.
I got peer to me.
Yeah, yeah.
Some of her bookmarks are funny.
Hi, Mom.
Hey, Mom.
My poor parents, dude.
Hey, my first tattoo, my mother was there.
She approved and she even paid for it.
It's matching with her.
I love that.
My first tattoo I got when I was 15
and my mom had no idea until my sister snitched me out.
Ew.
Come on, sis.
Well, it's because she got caught for her tattoo.
Again, we got our first tattoos at the same time.
So you just ratted each other out.
No, my sister, bless her heart,
she got her tattoo in a very visible area.
I was the smart one out of the two of us.
I was like, I'm gonna get it somewhere
where she will never see it and she didn't.
My mom never found out about it
until my sister called me out.
Come on.
I know, but now, you know, I'm obviously like,
I'm to a point now where it took my mom almost two years
to realize that I had a hand tattoo.
Like notice another one?
That I had a hand tattoo.
Really?
Like this thing's pretty solid.
And she looks at me and we're driving.
She's like, when did you get that?
She's like, that's new.
And I was like, which one?
And she saw your hand.
I was like, mom, I got that two years ago.
She's like, oh.
Like girl, I've gotten 10 more since.
But then my poor dad, like my dad has no tattoos
just to kind of explain the background I come from.
My mom is an accountant and my dad's a computer analyst.
Wow.
Yeah, so and then there's me.
I don't know how that happened.
The hardest child.
I don't know how that happened,
but someone had to do it
and I volunteer distribute apparently.
But yeah, like my poor, my dad, like there was a while
cause he lives up, you know, Northern California.
So I see him a few times a year,
but during the pandemic, I hadn't seen him for a while.
And that was when I got most of my tattoos
cause I had all the time off to do so.
So I finally went up North to go visit him
and I'm like wearing shorts.
All of my tattoos are out.
And he just looks at me.
He's like, oh God.
I was like, who are you?
He's like, you look like a coloring book
more and more every time I see you.
I was like, it's fun though, right?
Yeah.
It's funny.
Oh, that's amazing.
And Bill's just our unicorn.
I know I'm just sitting here living vicariously.
I love it.
That's always fun though too.
I sometimes wonder what it would be like
to like not have any tattoos.
I've become so accustomed to just seeing,
like I kind of want to do that trend
where you cover them all up with makeup.
And I just want to see what I would look like
cause sometimes I forget my tattoos are even there.
Like my neck tattoo sometimes I forget his arm.
People will just poke it.
I'm like, why'd you poke it?
Why are you touching me stranger?
Oh my God.
Yeah, it's happened.
It's yeah, I've had complete strangers.
Strangers touching you.
Yeah, like I don't know what it is about them saying,
like I'm like, you guys are saying this out loud.
I just want to see your tattoos.
I'm like, you don't have to touch me to see them.
I was in a sprouts one time, just browsing through the fruit
and somebody just comes up from behind me and starts,
You're from behind you touching your neck.
Yes, and girl, I grew up in the hood.
So I was ready to turn around and start swinging, you know?
And I turn around so fast and they're like,
it's just so pretty.
I just wanted to see it.
I'm like, why can't you just look with your eyes then?
I tell my toddler that look with your eyes, not your hands.
And these are full grown adults.
Like the woman that did this touched my neck tattoo.
She had to have been in her late forties, early fifties.
So she knew better.
Yeah, she knew better.
You think?
I was just like, sweet pea.
You almost got knocked into last decade.
Probably deserved it.
You almost got shanked.
You know that fight or flight, you know, response?
Mine's very much fight.
I do not flight.
So I was like, man, I was about to get arrested in a sprouts.
Can you imagine?
There are local tattoo artist is arrested in sprouts
in the produce aisle.
Imagine.
I couldn't imagine calling somebody like, hey,
y'all got the bail money on deck
because this just happened in a sprouts.
And I got to get out of this bitch.
Get me out of here.
To be fair, she was all up in my business.
I just reacted.
She would have deserved it, absolutely.
If you were at Walmart, I would expect that.
Yeah, totally.
Oh my God.
But yeah, it happens so often.
People will just like, I'll be having a normal conversation
and then I'll feel my arm get dragged out by somebody.
Just trying to hold your hand.
Just like, oh wow, your tattoos are amazing.
I'm like, yo, personal space.
See, I'm very huge on like, okay, especially strangers.
But that was one of the biggest and most difficult things
for me when I was pregnant.
People think just because you're touching your stomach,
you get to just touch you.
Right.
And I don't even know you
and you go put your hand on my stomach.
I'm like, it's still me.
It's still on my body.
Why are you touching me?
You're like, my sister was the same way.
So half the time my sister, I'd have to ask her,
she's on nap.
I'm like, okay, cool.
I don't want to poke the bear.
She would have ripped my head off immediately.
But yeah, I never understood that either.
I'm like, you can't just go up and touch people.
There are laws about that.
I mean, even worse.
It's like, people walk up and rub your stomach
and be like, oh, good job.
Nobody rubs in my junk and says, oh, good job.
Yeah.
Oh my God.
That would be awesome.
She's cringing.
No, because I have a very imaginative brain up in there.
So I'm like, that would be so weird.
I wonder if it would happen inside of a sprouts too.
No, but probably would have Walmart.
Walmart?
Oh.
Oh man.
Oh goodness.
Well, do either of you have any more questions
for our fabulous guest?
No, I ran the gamut.
I came prepared.
You did.
For the listeners, we had notes prepared
or Bill had notes prepared.
Oh, I didn't.
I knew they were all just going to fly out of my mouth.
I love that.
Well, in Origins, we talked about how we typically
just let it be organic and kind of flow.
This was different.
It's a very big deviation.
Well, this was on our bucket list.
Yeah.
I feel like it was also pretty organic.
It was.
I felt that too.
This was like a really cool, casual conversation.
I had a lot of fun.
Well, okay.
So on that point, like you were saying about
getting people kind of prepared for their experience
at the shop, so on and so forth.
Right.
And in Origin, we talked about it too,
is that the whole concept of this
and the chemistry that we've developed,
it is weird you come in, you put on headphones,
sit down in front of a microphone.
I feel like I'm in space.
But like I said to you right at the very beginning,
after about 15 or 20 minutes, that all kind of disappears.
Yeah.
And that comfort of being at a cocktail party
and just drifting in and out of conversation circles
kind of comes into play.
So I hope you've found the experience
to be different but not cringey.
Yeah, no, this was a lot of fun
just because I don't think I get asked this
as often as people would think.
Wow.
So it's cool to kind of share my perspective on it
because I think a lot of people have a generalized idea
of how tattooers are, more like a stereotype.
But I think right now just with the shift
you're seeing in the industry,
it's kind of cool to break that norm
and open up the conversation,
especially because there are so many clients
that are like, I don't even know what to ask
and I'm hoping this is something that helps
alleviate some of that stress
because getting tattooed should be fun.
Getting tattooed should be an experience
and it should be a bookmark.
It should be a bookmark.
Well, and that's part of why I wanted to have
a tattoo artist and bartenders
and more of the service industry folks
that people do have stereotypes on
because I wanna hear their stories.
I wanna know their perspective.
We work in the hotel industry.
Liz is in recreation.
So our experiences are in certain levels
with certain type of people in certain industries.
I wanna know more about those industries
that kind of hide in the shadows or are on the fringe
or have negative connotations that are associated with them.
I wanna talk to those people.
I wanna know what it's like to walk in your shoes
and I wanna hear your stories.
Yeah, it's just so crazy, especially for tattooing
because back in the day, tattoos were just for sailors,
felons and bikers and stuff.
And now we're seeing a huge demographic of people
just coming in to get tattooed
because they wanna collect the art.
So it's definitely making a shift towards that
and I think that's incredible.
I'm obviously meeting great people doing that
and I'm grateful for the opportunity to do so.
I love it. So it's awesome.
Well, I really appreciate you taking the time to join us.
I appreciate you guys having me.
The blast.
Well, I might be jumping the gun
but you can come back any time.
Yes. 100%.
Please. I would absolutely love to.
This was fun. 100%.
I'll talk to the shop and see if we could do
a remote podcast there
because I think that would be fun.
That'd be amazing.
Just the conversations you have
while you're getting tattooed.
I have to be careful about going live sometimes
because I'll be tattooing friends
and we'll just go completely off the rails, off the hinges.
But it makes the experience fun.
Totally. It's awesome.
Oh my God, yes.
I would love to come back.
Anytime you got the time, reach out, let us know.
We'll find a slot to bring you in.
All right.
I look forward to it.
As we're wrapping this up, can you plug your socials again?
Yeah, so you can find me on TikTok and on Instagram.
It is the same handle.
It's Chelsea Dagger underscore tattoos.
And is that two Gs?
Yeah, so it's C-H-E-L-S-E-A Dagger D-A-G-G-E-R
underscore tattoos.
All right.
I don't have a TikTok
but I'm gonna go get one now.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah, TikTok's been crazy.
Yeah, not to pander, but we will follow you.
Yeah, I'm already following you guys on TikTok.
Yeah, I was gonna say,
Tales From The Industry is on TikTok.
Bella, if you wanna plug our socials.
Oh my goodness, I'm on spot.
Yeah, where are you guys on?
Cause I've been trying to tell people.
So you can find us on Facebook.
All right.
You can find us on Instagram.
Tales From The Service Industry for both of those.
Awesome.
On TikTok, it's a little different.
It's T-F-T-S-I, but it's T period F period letter,
period letter, period.
T-F-T-S-I.
And then where can we listen to this lovely podcast?
Anywhere you can actually stream a podcast.
You'll find us on iTunes, Spotify, Google, Amazon,
iHeartRadio, YouTube, the whole nine yards.
Where anywhere you can find a stream, you can find us.
Awesome.
Yeah, I'm really excited to see what you guys put out
in the next couple of weeks too.
I've been having a blast listening to all the episodes.
Yay.
They're just making me cackle in my car like a psycho.
And I have a fricking fishbowl of a car
so people are just watching me ugly laugh.
I'm like, ah.
It's fine.
Good, that's what we aim for.
You're laughing with us.
I love it.
With that in mind, you need to go back and listen to,
the number will surprise you, parts one and two.
Okay.
Those are gonna be right up your alley.
Oh, good Lord.
100%, 100%.
I cannot wait.
So, Chelsea, thank you so much for being with us.
Ms. B, always appreciate you being here.
Liz, thank you so much.
Of course.
We're happy to be here.
Thank you for having me.
We appreciate everybody listening
and we will be back in two weeks.
Bye team.
Bye.
Good luck.
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