for someone who is arguing freedom of speech and personal opinion you are certinaly “anti” a lot of other people’s beliefs. that in itself is discriminatory. if you’re going to take a “live and let live” attitude, then surely, ETHICALLY you have to accept that someone may be disgusted by tattoos and therefore not want to employ you. just because their opinion is different doesnt mean that they are wrong zorba. if i was employing waiter/ress staff and a kid came in with a swastica on the side of their face i honestly wouldnt employ them because my customers would be so offended that i assure you they wouldnt come back. in the same way i wouldnt seek legal/financial advice from someone wearing shorts and t-shirt in the office because to be honest you want to be left feeling at ease that the person dealing with this important thing is a professional who is taking it seriously. shorts and t-shirt dont stop them being good at their job but unfortunately we dont know how good someone is until we work with them.

i also have to say that a statement such as “i dont believe in morals only ethics” is ridiculous, just because you believe that ethics should be valued over someone’s personal morals doesnt mean they dont exist. i quite like my morals thanks very much!

rant over, you can carry on bashing each other now, this thread was blocking my notfications feed lol 😀

no… back to my orignial point about the swastica on the face lol i was simply creating another reference point i.e. looks count. the reason supermodels are slim and gorgeous is because no one is gonna buy a couture gown from the morbidly obese woman with acne. its a sad world but its just life. The point being we make the choice to be tattooed but we cant force others to put up with them. its just life 🙂 x

Some good and valid points here. Which kinda brings me to my dilemma.

I have a half sleeve that I’m kinda toying with either going 3/4, full or ending at half (easily covered by my uniform).

I work for the ambulance service in the UK and whilst it was on the requirements for my pre-employment that the service didn’t condone tattoos visible that could be deemed by the public as offensive, there are many of my colleagues who have full sleeves and still wear the uniform. My sleeve is currently jap koi with cherry blossom and chrysanths and water… hardly offensive. They haven’t said outright though that your contract will be terminated if you do have one done.

My uniform consists of a elbow-length polo shirt or for those with sleeve tattoos, they recommend long-sleeve shirts. The problem with this is that our role, as with nursing staff in hospitals is supposed to be ‘bare below elbows’ – that said, we still wear watches and people have full sleeves.

I don’t want to jeapordise my future progression in this industry as its something I’ve just started, by making a bad call judgment on going full-sleeve ink.

I’d be interested to hear from anyone else in this predicament.

A tattoo is a tattoo is a tattoo is a tattoo!

If they don’t want to have you because you have a tattoo, why the heck do they want to listen to any reasons for having one?

Thats funny that your having such a problem being a EMT or paramedic because you wanting to get a tattoo sleeve. I have a friend who also does that and he said he didnt get his full sleeve until AFTER he became one.he said they only said no before he got his certification. then after they said do whatever you want. Now hes an EMT and has full sleeves lol

My wife has several friends that are elementary school teachers and my wife recently went back to school to pursue a degree in secondary education. Her friends, professors, and counselor have all told her that she will be required to cover her ink. Ultimately, it’s up to your boss, the superintendent, and so forth, but I think it’s likely you will be asked/expected to cover it up.

A buddy of mine is an EMT and he has a relatively small tattoo of a straight razor that extends from his forearm to outer bicep. He is required to wear long sleeves at all times at work. It all depends on who you work for I suppose.

I have a prominant tat on the inside of my left wrist. My workplace is of the “no visible body art” club. I have a leather cuff bracelet (bada** yet still elegant, LOL) that I wore to the interview and for the first few weeks on the job till I proved my worth. Then I stopped wearing the cuff, and no one has said anything so far about the tat.

dis·crim·i·nate   /v. dɪˈskrɪməˌneɪt; adj. dɪˈskrɪmənɪt/ Show Spelled [v. dih-skrim-uh-neyt; adj. dih-skrim-uh-nit] Show IPA verb, -nat·ed, -nat·ing, adjective
verb (used without object)
1. to make a distinction in favor of or against a person or thing on the basis of the group, class, or category to which the person or thing belongs rather than according to actual merit; show partiality:

By the very definition of the word, an employer who makes a distinction based on class or category (i.e., tattooed) instead of merit is discriminating.