An Edmonton woman wants it to be illegal for an employer to discriminate against people with tattoos and piercings. She says that she has been on the receiving end of such discrimination because of her own love of piercings, which includes 22 above the neck, and she does not believe that it should be allowed. I understand her goal, but I have an addendum to her proposal: The above only applies if the tattoo or piercing is not stupid.
Tattoos and piercings in general are so mainstream that the only holdouts are people with needle phobias and the elderly. It would be extremely difficult to run a business without even considering someone with body modifications, since you're going to be cutting down the potential pool of employees significantly, especially if you're trying to hire younger. Instead of being shocked by someone with extensive art on their body, people are more prone to asking them where they got it done.
You can definitely tell when someone has put a great deal of time and effort into getting their work done, but you can also easily tell when they have not, and that is why I suggest that a stupid tattoo or piercing should be grounds to not consider employing someone. A stupid piercing is relatively difficult to judge, though I personally do not like the stretched out earlobe look and am tempted to see if I can throw things through the hole. I would go with a stupid piercing being job dependant. Given that many jobs involving machinery become dangerous with any jewelry, a piercing that cannot be removed is also dangerous, and thus stupid, if you're trying to get a job in that field.
Tattoos are much easier to define as stupid, and it's much easier to tell. The easiest involves text, a spelling or grammatical error will stand out and make the bearer look like they lack forethought. After all, it's not like it's hard to check spelling or find someone to double check if your sentence is coherent. It's even important if it's in a language you do not understand. Many people get tattoos in an Asian language such as Japanese without knowing the actual language, because the characters look cool and someone said they mean peace. But if they did not check, they might have accidentally put a something they don't intend on their bodies, which would certainly make it difficult for actual Japanese people to take them seriously. As well, anything offensive is going to give an employer pause, for good reason, and nobody is going to be especially willing to do their banking with someone who has profanity on their face.
This is not to say that people should not get tattoos, because there are plenty of people with beautiful, meaningful and worthwhile tattoos. They are the reason why it has become universal, because they are going through the effort to make things that showcase what tattoos can be an art form. It would be a shame if they did not get hired because of the art on their bodies. But I would also say that their tattoos are not stupid in any way. As an art form, body modification is the most personal, and it's a major part of how people present themselves to the world. That is why it is important that people avoid presenting themselves as someone prone to not thinking things through and making poor decisions.
