Customizing the Body (PDF file) - Print My Tattoo

143 The Tattoo Relationship
that they are involved in a profit-oriented business. Consequently,
tattooees are evaluated on the basis of the potential (largely economic)
gain they offer measured against the amount of time and
energy they require. Recipients who shop for a tattoo on the basis
of price or who enter the setting with no clear concept of what
they want and are unable to find a suitable tattoo on the standard
flash sheets are commonly defined by tattooists as interfering
with their opportunity to make a profit and, thereby, being more
trouble than they are worth. Here is a description of an interaction
with a problematic client whose uncertainty interferes with
the tattooist's interest in maximizing gain while limiting time and
energy expended.
[Quote from fieldnotesl the shop is unusually busy for a
weekday afternoon. A husky biker type has been waiting for
some custom work. He has a large skeleton with a gun on his
left bicep and wants Fred to do some work around the existing
piece. "I don't care what you do. Just make it look good. You
know, maybe a cemetery or something like that:' Fred grimaces
as he takes out his hectograph pen and begins to draw
tombstones on the guy's arm. He works slowly-drawing,
making a face, spraying the arm with green soap and rubbing
off the sketch, trying again. Finally, he puts down the pen and
says, "Why don't you just look around at the flash and see if
there is something you want. We're busy here and I can't take
the time with this shit. If you want a tattoo 111 do it, but you come
in here and don't know what you want and expect me to do it all
for you. You don't want a piece, you just want to get tattooed:'
There is a certain amount of danger associated with all businesses
that operate on a cash basis. Tattooists, who commonly
work at night, frequently have sizable quantities of cash on hand,
and tend to encounter a rather rough clientele, are well aware
of the risks they run, They typologize clients with regard to their
apparent dangerousness. Like police officers (Wilson, 1970), prostitutes
(Hirschi, 1962), cab drivers (Henslin, 1968), and other
service workers who routinely find themselves in high-risk situations,
tattooists are attentive to clientele who make furtive movements,
ask unusual questions, or exhibit other forms of behavior
that are out of the ordinary.