7.15.2008:
Tattitude
2:54 PMI just got back from Publix.
I love Publix. They have a fantastic deli department, their subs are always delicious, and they sell gallons of Splenda-sweetened tea for cheap. I would live in Publix, if it weren't for the fact that Publix doesn't have my sweet office setup and massage chair. If they did though, I'd be totally living there, like totally.
Anyway.
Checking out with my 4 gallons of tea and some gum, I entered into a dialogue with one of the long-time checkout people there about the content of the various gossip rags they carry at the registers, when suddenly, the old and sweet lady bagging my tea and gum began giggling with delight.
"Your arm!" she said. "It looks like a christmas tree!"
I smiled. "It kinda does, doesn't it?" I offered.
She just laughed and laughed. "That's great!" she said. "can I see the rest?"
I lifted my left sleeve and showed her the half-sleeve tattoo that has accumulated on my arm.
"Wow!" she said. "I bet that took a long time!"
"About 18 hours so far," I replied.
"Wow!" she said, laughing more. She was so sweet and so jovial. "So when do you take it off?"
"Uh," I said, smiling as I thought she was just joking. "Never, they're my permanent pajamas!"
"Never?" she said. "Not even to shower?"
I looked at the checkout clerk with a bit of confusion, as if to ask if the woman was just joking, or if she was senile. He kinda wrinkled his nose and turned to her and said, "it's a tattoo, Irma..."
"Tattoo?" she asked.
"Yes," he said. "It's permanent. It doesn't come off."
She looked at him with confusion. She then looked at me with an equal amount of the same. "Never?"
"Nope," I said with a smile.
She blinked. "Wow," she said, and just stared at it.
"Have... Uh... Have you never seen a tattoo before?" I asked.
"Don't think I have..." she said, with a bit of a frown.
I looked at the clerk again. "Is she serious?" I asked him.
"Probably," he replied. "This is her first ever job... She doesn't get out much, I think."
We finished the transaction, and as I was grabbing my bagged groceries, I bid them both a fond adieu.
"Can I ask you something?" Irma asked.
"Sure," I replied.
"Why would you DO that to yourself?" She asked this with a sneer, as if she was my mother (well, not MY mother, because when my mother sneers and asks such a question, it's usually with much more volume, adding an object of medium weight flying through the air).
I wanted to explain to her how expressive the artwork is and how beautiful it is and how much it means to me, both the allegory in the tattoo and the tattoo itself.
Then, I felt like i'd be wasting my time, so I wanted to say "Because I like it."
Then, I began to feel some disdain for her disapproval, so I wanted to be a smartass and say "It was a bet, and I won, muahahaha!"
Then, I got angry. I wanted to bark at her and yell "Hey old lady, why the fuck do you even care? Manage your own life, I'll manage mine."
I ended up just saying, "Hey, different strokes, right?"
She just tisked at me and went back to work.
I left without another word said.
I'm not sure I'd even be bothered to think about it if she simply disapproved... I think it was the fact that she didn't even know what the hell it was and still disapproved that got me so engaged. You do things in your life, knowing that you'll end up taking some shit for doing them but that the shit'll be worth it... You know, going in, that the shit you'll take won't even bother you. But sometimes, it comes at such an odd angle from such an unassuming source, you can't help but react.
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8 Comments:
You should have asked her why she doesn't turn her fucking blinker off after making a turn at 5mph. She learns something about you, you learn something about her.
You could have asked her if she wanted to see the one on your dick. Or Ask her how long did it take her to Learn "Paper or Plastic." - JW
Wow... Harsh replies...
Just thought I'd give a different POV on this...
So, she doesn't know what it is, and she's given a very brief (unless I'm wrong and it was more in depth) definition on a tattoo. Now, I am all for tattoos that are well-thought out and have meaning, but I have to admit that I could completely understand why having permanent markings on your body like that could seem very crazy to someone unfamiliar with it.
Kyuuketsuki_Kurai
I understand it seeming crazy, but it's not her place to give dirty looks and tisk. That's what pisses me off,
I don't have any problem asking "why would you do that" curiously. I had my labret and eyebrow ring and had plenty of people ask me how they did it, and were generally curious about, but no one made any comments and disapproving sighs or I'd have ripped into them too. It's ok to be curious, it's not ok to tsk at it and give disapproving sneers.
Then again, I might just be thinking she was a little more offensive than it really was.
I hate to say it, but I'm not really a fan of tattoos. but then, I'm a nurse aide at a nursing home, and I see daily what tattoos look like when you get old, and your skin gets all wrinkled and stretched out of shape. There are several people who have tats that I cannot identify because their skin has either been stretched out so far, or has wrinkled so badly.
but just because i wouldn't do it, doesn't mean I berate or look down on people who choose to use their bodies as living canvases.
one thing i learned from that nursing home was that older people tend to be closed-minded about things. nothing you say or do can convince them to try new things, or be more open-minded, or just to try to look at things in a positive light. chalk it up to elderly grouchiness, joe, and don't let it bother you anymore.
When I got my tattoo (of a mobius strip none-the-less) people don't understand it and they think it is pointless, but a good tattoo is just like a good dream or a good memory; You can tell them what it means, but they will never feel the same way you do when you look at it and touch it. My tattoo is actually one of the only things that keeps me grounded after my life turned to absolute shit. Wear it proud my inked brother.
I'm not a fan of tattoos myself, but I'm sure that's mostly because I never knew anyone with a tattoo when I was growing up and the only time I ever saw them was on biker types or other "bad boy" sterotypes. When I started dating SirGeek, I got to talking with his father about the several tattoos he had on his arms from his time in the Navy. He said totally regretted getting them especially since being in his late 60s (and having them done in his 20s), they looked like utter crap from the passage of time and the aging of his skin.
That being said, it's your body, so do with it what makes you happy.
I'm guessing that the old lady Joe ran into just never really knew anyone with tattoos and her reaction was based off that.
And Jeremy, I might wince if I looked at your labret or eyebrow ring, but it's not because I disapprove, but because the idea of having that done to myself gives me some sort of sympathic pain (yeah, I'm a major wuss when it comes to pain.)
Bah, just an old lady being cranky.
At least you don't get "Wow, I can't believe you have a tattoo, you're SO not the type" every time people see it (who know it's there). **end rant**
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