In my senior Nonfiction English class, we read an article by a adolescent psychologist outlining several of the reasons why teenagers get tattoos. Normally it takes us about a day to get through an essay or article -- for the tattoo article, it took 3 days because there was so much conversation going on.
Kids wanted to show off their tattoos, which I declined seeing, although couldn't avoid entirely. One boy has a few cliched tribal tattoos (which he felt were "original"), a few somethings on his chest (which I wouldn't look at) and "Johnson," his last name, down his arm. Needless to say I teased him relentlessly about having a big johnson down his arm (he he!).
In the following days a girl came in with a rather low cut top proudly displaying not one, but two new tattoos on her chest. Both of Hello Kitty, naturally.
Several of the girls have admitted to having tramp-stamps, and wanting to get more done to them.
However, the cream of the crop occurred earlier this week.
One of my kids walked in and asked for some lotion because his new tattoo was starting to itch. Stupidly, I asked what his tattoo was of. He pulled up his pant leg to reveal an eagle-clad ankle. This eagle was holding a flag that said "PRIDE." Huh? Yeah, I thought the same thing.
Turns out this was a "grab bag" tattoo. You go to the tattoo shop, pay $40 up front, pull a design out of a box and you get what you get and you don't have a fit.
When the kid saw the quizzical look on my face he explained that it was initially a $150 tattoo that he got for $40! Like it was some sort of bargain! It's like the idea of going into a store and buying something, not because you need it, but because it's 75% off. In my eyes, 75% off crap is still crap.
So, if you're itchin' for a cheap tattoo, try the grab bag route. You can get a tattoo for super cheap.
Even if (or especially if) it's an eagle with a flag that says PRIDE.
4 comments:
Kudos to the person who figured out a way to sell all of his/her reject designs. Now to help all the poor saps falling for it.
I'd really like to know what kind of a tattoo shop would allow that. Two very close friends of mine are tattoo artists and their shop has VERY strict guidelines for just about everything. Probably to cut down on the ire of parents, etc. One of my friends actually had someone's grandmother call the shop to scream at him about her grandson's tattoo - the guy was 29 years old. But some is unavoidable I guess.
As someone with tattoos I find that silly and irresponsible of the shop - and WHERE were this teenager's parents? I suppose that despite my openness to them, I'm against teenagers getting them. I'm glad I got mine later in life, because lord knows what I would have got in HS. Hello Kitty, perhaps? (BARF)
too bad i didn't know about this years ago ;)
How about an eagle holding a flag across your shoulders?
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