There are a few industries where professionals get more than they bargained for with their clients. Think bartenders, tattoo artists, sex workers, ER doctors and nurses — the jobs where you see every type of person.
Redditor evildrtran was curious about tattoo artists in particular, and went to the r/askreddit subreddit to investigate what life as a tattoo artist is really like.
In the Ask Reddit forum, they asked:
“Tattoo artists of Reddit, what goes through your mind when you are hired to tattoo a body part that’s private or atypical?”
Yeah, they’re fishing for the really weird stuff and we are here for it.
The post, which went up a day ago, has so far received 703 comments and 2.4K upvotes. Below are 16 of the um, most interesting responses.
1.
Not my story, but a friend of mine who is a tattoo artist. She had a guy asking her to tattoo the cash symbol $$ on his nuts… she did it, but charged $500 NZD for roughly 20 minutes of work because of the spot
2.
My tattoos are pretty boring – all small, thin lines, easily hidden – but I make it a point to ask each artist their craziest experience. One very amusing artist told me he’d seen/done just about everything (flames on a shaft, an inner thigh squirrel “reaching for a nut”, etc) but one lady stood out in particular. She demanded a tat “on my cooter”, and since she was a friend of the boss, he couldn’t turn her down. When she elaborated that it should read “BITCH” on her labia, he just shrugged and asked if the lettering should be horizontal or vertical…
3.
My husband is a tattoo artist, and he once had a dude come in and ask him to tattoo his ex-girlfriend’s name around his asshole so he could “shit on her forever.” My husband flat out refused, and the guy almost cried begging him to do it. He had to threaten to physically remove the guy before he gave up and left. Said it was hands down the most bizarre experience he’s ever had as an artist.
4.
I’m not a tattoo artist, but I am a customer. I lost my breasts and nipples to breast cancer, and a tattoo artist gave me tattooed nipples that look like the real thing. He works as a standard tattoo artist 4 days a week, and does mastectomy reconstruction nipple tattoos once a week at a doctor’s office.
He was incredibly professional, kind, and I didn’t feel vulnerable at all despite the location and the fact that he was working over my scars and recreating a “private” body part for me. It felt just like getting a normal tattoo, only afterwards I felt less broken.
5.
I worked in a shop when I was younger. A girl came in and asked to get a tattoo and a piercing on her vagina. We declined the tattoo but a new piercer we had said he would pierce her clit. We tried to talk him out of it but he wanted to do one because he never had. They go in the back and he comes out a minute or two later looking for a mask. She had some kind of infection and smelled awful. He wore a mask and powered through, he also never accepted another genital piercing. She got multiple infections and was a pain in the ass.
We also had a tattoo of the month. It was a tattoo put on display, you could get the tattoo wherever you wanted, in the same size, design and it was $6.66. One month we had a cannibal chicken. It was a chicken that kinda looked like fog horn Lake horn, eating chicken out of a KFC bucket. A guy came in and asked for it in his armpit. We all knew he wouldn’t finish it, but the guy actually stuck it through. Took a lot longer than a tat that size should have and if the guy wasn’t so friendly and entertaining we probably would have gave him the boot, especially for $6.66 but he did it.
I think you base you decision on experience and how interesting the project is.
6.
I grew up in the tattoo community, I have almost a full body suit, I had my butt done by two different tattoo artist, one I am super close friends with, the other I think is a legend- Eddie Deutsche. First getting my butt done by my friend at his house was a little awkward at first then, well it is a tattoo with your balls hanging out not a big deal, they just do their job and you sit there in pain. Eddie did one of my upper thighs/ butt cheeks as a guest spot at another shop pretty much in the lobby, everyone wanted to see him work, you just become numb to strangers staring down your bits and holes.
Most artists I know turn down a shaft or vag tattoo, not great places to lay down ink and people don’t sit well to do real art. Don’t think either had a second thought about doing my ass, they have seen some pretty crazy skin that people want tattooed.
7.
Not the artist. But was in a shop with a friend getting a tattoo done. Dude walks in and legit asked “How much to tattoo a barber pole on my dick?” The artist stopped what he was doing, stared the guy dead in the eye and replied “You’d literally have to pay me enough to buy a new Harley.” The guy asked is he was serious and he informed that he was. Dude said he was absolutely insane and slammed the door as he stormed out mumbling about how stupid it was.
8.
Honestly, haven’t really been asked for anything like that over the years. Isn’t something I’d do anyway. Had a guy a few years back say he wanted a dragon to cover up a name on his dick. Certainly not something I’d do.
9.
I focus on doing the best job possible and I keep an open mind so it doesn’t get awkward. After 13 years, skin is skin!
10.
Not a tattooist, but I had 2 shops turn me down and a third quote me an astronomical price when I was looking to have my scalp tattoo’d