I’ve got to give it to tattoo artists . They must hear a ton of interesting stories, huh? Not only do they create unique pieces , but they deal with all sorts of people.
I bet they have heard it all, ha, ha! So I thought you could get a kick out of some of their most memorable encounters. Check them out and laugh.
1. This Honest Mistake
“My wife and I got matching tattoos with our children’s [birthdays] and our wedding day. Pretty generic. We had to watch the kids so we took turns. She went first, I showed up after her appointment and she was beaming with excitement at how nice the numbers were. She showed me. The wedding day was wrong. She had the 15th and ours is the 14th. The tattoo artist felt terrible. My wife had looked at it at least twice before it was put on. Entirely her fault.”
Honestly, that sounds like me. I keep getting our anniversary date wrong all the time, lol.
2. Just Shrug It Off
“I did an armband of sheet music on this walk-in and I put one of the segments on upside down because I don’t read music and it looked right. Client noticed when I was about halfway done with that segment; luckily she was cool and just said she should have checked her stencil harder and shrugged it off.”
Sometimes mistakes happen and all you can do is let it go.
3. Mirror Issue
“Once had a client call the shop who was crying hysterically because, according to her, I had done her tattoo backwards. It took a few minutes to get her to calm down to the point where we realized she was looking at it in the mirror. She apologized and hung up.”
Um, okay, lol. Do they give out awards for stupidity?
4. Don’t Ever Tattoo Yourself
Just learn from this dude:
“I tried to tattoo ‘PATIENCE’ on myself when I was 16, using the stick and poke method. I made it as far as ‘PATIEN’ and stopped. I never finished it. Eventually got it covered up when I was 28.”
5. This Interesting Moment
Here’s what one tattoo artist shared on Reddit:
“I watched my boss turn a stylized ‘Tierny’ (mistress’s name) into ‘Diane’ (wife’s name) once. I’d never believe [sic] it if I didn’t see it with my eyes.”
Wow!
6. This Royal Screw Up
“One of our artists [expletive] up tremendously on a face tattoo. She did the stencil beforehand and showed him, after his approval she started above his brow. He wanted “cursed” but he left the shop with “CUSRED” tattooed on his forehead. He was pissed, of course, never saw him again.”
OMG!
7. This Clock Story
“Some lady comes in and wants a pocket watch with roses in her arm, so my coworker agrees to do it. The client specifically wanted the pocket watch to be stopped at ‘4:20’.
He draws it up for her right arm and she’s soooo excited, but for some reason she decides to change it to the left arm last minute. No problem, he runs in the back to the printer to mirror the image. She loves it, and they slap the stencil on and start tattooing. When they’re almost done, he realizes when they mirrored the image, the clock doesn’t say ‘4:20’ anymore, it says ‘7:40.'”
Apparently she never noticed, though!
8. You Pick It, We Stick It
“Tattooing a kanji backward. Client brought in the reversed image, I made a stencil and applied it and the client checked it in the mirror and gave the OK. Came back the next day claiming I did it wrong. I pulled the original out of my box and held it up next to the tattoo and said ‘Nope, that’s what you brought in.’ Felt bad, but still laughed when she left. Long story short: YOU AS A CLIENT ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR SPELLING.”
On the one hand, I agree with this tattoo artist here. But on the other hand, I feel they should make sure it is correct, no? Sometimes a client can get confused when they look at things in the mirror, right?
9. This Bargain Tattoo
“Got a small tattoo on my foot. As he was making a line I heard him say ‘Whoops…’ I now have a stray line that’s jutting off away from the rest of the tat. Fortunately, over time it has faded, but it’s such a crappy tattoo. The whole thing is just the worst. It was only $60 so I didn’t say anything, and just told myself one day I’d get it covered up by something better.”
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10. This Client Freak-Out
“The worst freak-out a customer had was when she was making a Celtic knot to his own specifications, despite her telling him that ‘That isn’t how they’re supposed to look’ He paid for it anyway, she made the tattoo, and the idiot didn’t like the results and pushed over a couple shelves and broke the window with a chair in frustration, all while cussing her out.”
Can you imagine that?
11. Don’t Lose A Bet
“A few years ago I was tattooing a client who had apparently lost a bet, his buddies were allowed to tattoo something behind his shoulder as long as it wasn’t racist or offensive.
Turns out the guy drew up a design of ‘A Leprechaun throwing up on a book’… Sure, why not, everyone was sober and they were paying pounds upfront.
Easy work- the drawing was really simple and the shading was easier than I thought it’d be.
Turns out everyone liked it… Except the guy with the tattoo of a leprechaun throwing up on a book. He picked at the scab, trying to get rid of it, completely took it from bad to worse.
Comes in about ten days later, demanding a refund of money HE didn’t pay or the studio, not me, cover it up. Nope, management said you signed for it in your right mind and then damaged it yourself. Personally, I was yelled at and told NEVER tattoo anyone like that, it only works in television series or film.”
Here’s the thing, never bet anyone if you think you might lose. This guy did and definitely paid a hefty price for it. The worst part is, he became a sore loser and tried to blame the artist for it. That’s not cool.
It must be quite interesting to work at a tattoo shop, huh?
You absolutely have no idea who will walk through your door. I’m sure many artists, assistants, and receptionists can attest to that. Do you have your own story to share with us?
