![\"tattoosshakinghands\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/tattoosshakinghands.jpg\")
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I woke up with an uneasy feeling about what was about to transpire over the course of the next 24 hours of my life. The mental tug-of-war between my shoulder angels was intense and my head hadn\u2019t even left my pillow.<\/p>\n
It was tattoo day, and [a substance that shares its name with a certain town in the Zanjan Province of Iran] was about to get real.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to pinpoint whether it\u2019s excitement, apprehension or anxiety but it\u2019s a emotional ritual that plays out every time I get a new tattoo. I\u2019ll admit that as time goes on and I get more and more work done, the uncertainty has been streamlined to something that has vacated my conscience by the time I\u2019ve finished brushing my teeth.<\/p>\n
But today was different. I was taking the plunge into the abyss that is the territory below my elbow. My first visible tattoo isn\u2019t of the extreme job-stopper variety (face, hands or neck) but it\u2019s placement on my inner-forearm will necessitate long-sleeved shirts during interviews, not for fear of having to explain myself but for the fear of somebody not as understanding as the estimated 40 percent of millennials who have at least one, according to a Pew Research poll conducted in 2010<\/a>. <\/p>\n I represent a majority of the new wave of people decorating their skin with traditional, abstract and contemporary art; bucking the trend of historical archetypes of the tattooed, I\u2019m young, educated and have yet to spend time in prison or the circus. I\u2019m just a person. A person with tattoos.<\/p>\n Contrary to common perceptions, tattoos for me, and many other people, are not an impulsive reflex to youthful naivety and lack of foresight. I\u2019ve had this appointment for months and I\u2019ve sought out an artist whose portfolio coincides with the style of my desired piece. By the time I\u2019m healed, I\u2019ll be nearly $1,000 poorer because I care about the quality. I\u2019m well aware that the ink that\u2019s about to be injected into the uppermost layers of my skin will remain there for life, barring amputation or other traumatic accident.<\/p>\n The attitudes toward tattoos have evolved over time in the Western world. What was once a taboo in the United States is now the body modification of choice for a generation. No longer relegated to sailors, veterans or the unsavory underbelly of society, tattoos, like it or not, are mainstream. Yet, many institutions are still trying to regulate, control and sometimes eradicate them.<\/p>\n In March, the Army amended their rules regarding visible ink<\/a>, resulting in a rush of soldiers trying to get tattooed before the March 31 deadline which would prohibit visible tattoos, with those venturing past the short sleeve\/short pant barrier being limited to nothing larger than an open hand. The relationship between the military and body art goes back centuries, with soldiers in the Roman army taking a liking to the practice while battling the Britons and Crusaders bearing the mark of the Jerusalem cross to ensure a Christian burial in the event they died in battle. Tattoos displaying rank, unit solidarity and paying homage to a family\u2019s history of service are common place.<\/p>\n Call me crazy, but anyone willing to put their life on the line for their country and the people living in it should be entitled to do what they please with their bodies.<\/p>\n Tattoos have become fine art, so fine in fact, some people have explored the possibility of posthumously preserving skin<\/a> to immortalize their body-gallery. And with the proliferation of ink-centric television shows depicting how far the art has come, it\u2019s undeniable that progress has been made. While they might not share the same desire to slice off their skin and have it framed and displayed over a fire place, it\u2019s becoming commonplace for everyone from soccer moms (and dads), to teachers and baristas to be adorned with permanent works of art.<\/p>\n Tattoos have undoubtedly become more socially acceptable, with some polls suggesting that people who have them are no longer the minority, but despite their prevalence in popular culture they still can serve as a barrier in the workplace.<\/p>\n Legal? If it doesn\u2019t involve a deeply held religious belief, yes.<\/p>\n Outdated? Debatable.<\/p>\n Depending on the industry, tattoo policies in the workplace can vary from utterly prohibited, to encouraged, to just straight-up confusing. Walk into your local coffee shop and (assuming you haven’t followed to Siren’s call to the land of green and beige) the person creating the art in your latte might be showing off their own flowers or hearts on their bodies, but you\u2019d be hard-pressed to find the same on your bank teller. Go in for your annual check-up and your physician is likely to have a clean cut appearance, but take your laptop to the Apple doctor and in the store\u2019s waiting room you\u2019re just as likely to be helped by someone adorned with ink as you are by somebody with an iPhone.<\/p>\n Statistically speaking, it\u2019s been said that getting hired at the iPad-slinging tech-giant is less likely than receiving an acceptance letter from Harvard<\/a>, with the university taking about 7 percent of applicants and Apple hiring about 2 percent. Yet, Apple is consistently ranked near the top of customer satisfaction polls by Consumer Reports<\/a>, despite all those pesky tattooed employees. (All sarcasm aside, let\u2019s be honest, these people have access to your computer\u2019s browser history, so who\u2019s really in a position to judge who?)<\/p>\n On the other side of the corporate giant coin, Costco, which merged with Price Club in 1993, has a policy that is downright confusing. Warehouses that were originally Price Clubs and remain under union contracts allow employees to have visible tattoos while buildings opened after the merger enforce a strict no visible tattoo policy. However, union employees who transfer to non-union buildings carry over their ink-wielding privileges while their co-workers must hide theirs under compression sleeves and band-aids.<\/p>\n The message is mixed but at glance it appears that people with tattoos are good enough to serve you a hot cup of Joe, but not to take your temperature. Good enough to bring you the news but not to bag your groceries.<\/p>\n I understand that I\u2019m fortunate enough to have a publisher that encourages self-expression and provides us a workplace that embraces that ideal. And maybe as a \u201ccreative\u201d, I\u2019m expected to be edgy and counter culture and have tattoos of robots and bobbleheads. The fact of the matter remains, I am the same person today with my beautiful new outline on my right arm as I was three weeks ago. What I choose to put on my body does not dictate my level of dedication to telling stories as honestly and ethically as I always have.<\/p>\n Of course some tattoos are offensive and, at the risk of sounding like a hypocrite, some of their placements are too extreme for my personal tastes. Some might say that skin is skin, regardless of whether it\u2019s a limb, rib-cage or head, but there\u2019s nothing more intimately attached to one’s identity than the face. Everyone I meet sees my face, while there are people who I\u2019ve known for years that have never seen my feet. For me, face tattoos don\u2019t make sense.<\/p>\n