Just some 20 years ago, tattoos were a thing mostly for subcultures. Nowadays, it’s rare to meet a young person who doesn’t have a tattoo. The reasons for getting a tattoo can be many: self-expression, love of body art, emotional healing. But one of the most popular reasons people say they get a tattoo is for commemoration.
The woman in this story wished to tattoo something her recently passed sister was planning to get. And because the tattoo had such sentimental value, she was looking to get a discount. Unfortunately, the tattoo artist refused, saying that he too had bills to pay. Wondering if that was a jerk move, he decided to consult the Internet.
Table of Contents
Getting a tattoo can be pretty expensive nowadays
One artist wondered whether him sticking to his gun and lowering his prices was a jerk move
Many people defended the artist: it’s his time and his art, so the client should pay the appropriate amount
AITA for refusing to tattoo an extremely over weight woman?
So I am a tattoo artist and today a very large woman came in to get a geometric/jewelry ish tattoo on her stomach/underboob area, we had discussed this tattoo over messenges but she had not mentioned her weight… now weight normally isnt a huge concern but this woman was huge, her entire torso was just a series of folds especially around her ribs and the middle of her stomach where the tattoo would be placed, not only that but under her various folds there had definitely not been cleaned in a while (the smell was something else)
I had already drawn up the tattoo but upon looking at her torso I decided it simply wouldn’t be possible, the tattoo would either have to go into her (dirty smelly) folds or skip over those areas, which means if she lost weight that there would be huge gaps in the tattoo. So I simply told her that I could not do the tattoo, she asked why and I tried to explain to her as kindly as possible that because of her folds on her Stomach that I would not be able to do a nice tattoo in that style but that we could go for a different placement or do something more organic for that area…
This is where she completely snapped at me screaming into my face that I was fat phobic and just didn’t wanna do it because I found her gross, and that a “anorexic skinny hoe” like me just didnt get her …..
I care a lot about making my clients feel comfy but obviously I don’t wanna do shit tattoos, I obviously triggered something in her and I feel really bad about it, I asked some of the more experienced artist what they’d do and they agreed I made the right call.
Now this is where I think I might be the asshole, her whole tantrum made me really not want to work with her so when she finally said that she’d do another design on her stomach I refused, I told her that her behaviour made me very uncomfortable and in my temperamental state that she should btw go wash her folds before coming into a tattoo studio where cleanliness is top priority.. So am I the asshole?
