Customizing the Body (PDF file) - Print My Tattoo

133 The Tattoo Relationship
Other participants in the setting-fellow tattooists. regular
hangers-on. and so forth-help to support the tattooist's controlling
definition of the situation. The regulars act as members of
the tattooist's "team." By engaging in casual conversations about
arcane features of the tattooing subculture and off-hand discussion
of technical issues and other matters that are unfamiliar to
the client. team members aid the tattooist in creating the "front"
that he or she needs in order to exercise interactional control (see
Goffman. 1959).
Without this concerted display of expertise. the tattooist would
have difficulty managing some of the necessary features of the tattoo
process. In most settings in the everyday world extensive
physical contact. infliction of pain. and exposure of intimate body
parts are severe violations of the norms regulating interaction
among strangers. TattOOing interaction-which routinely involves
these elements-would be highly conflictual if clients did not define
the tattooist as skilled. knowledgeable. in control, and. consequently.
cede to him or her the right to treat them as technical
objects.
But the objectification of the client can increase the potential
for conflict and threaten the tattooist's interactional control.
Therefore. the tattooist must also develop certain "expressive
skills" (Govenar. 1977: 48-501. which indicate to the client that
he or she is being dealt with as a person. Skilled tattooists employ
humor. indicate concern. ask clients about aspects of their lives.
and prOVide reassurance in order to put them at ease. Through
the use of these acqUired interpersonal skills the tattooist affirms
the client's indiViduality and further decreases the likelihood of
conflict.
Tattooists'Typifications of Clients
The general discussions of service work (for example. Mennerick.
1974; Spiggle and Sanders. 1983) and sociological analyses of
specific service delivery interactions (for example. Sudnow. 1965;
Browne. 1976; Roebuck and Frese. 1976; Faulkner. 1983) clearly
demonstrate two key features of commercial settings in which
there is direct contact between buyer and seller of an intangible
and relatively nonstandardized product. Service workers. from