There’s no arguing about taste— even though you sometimes might want to! When you’re a professional in the tattoo industry, you’ll run into some truly bizarre situations from time to time… like customers who ask for really weird designs and refuse to be talked out of them.
Internet user u/noskee sparked an interesting and witty discussion on AskReddit after inviting tattoo designers to open up about the very worst tattoos they’ve ever given to someone. We’ve collected some of their most intriguing stories to share with you, and you’ll find them below as you scroll down.
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#1
I don’t have a tattoo I regret doing, but I have a tattoo I regret needed to be done: One evening a dude came in to the shop with his tiny Asian wife saying he wanted a female artist to cover a scar on her abdomen with a rose. She didn’t speak any English and never once made eye contact, so I immediately assumed she was just a meek, submissive sort of chick going along with her authoritative white husband. (An encounter with another couple in the past made me apprehensive about this sort of situation). She seemed like she wasn’t sure if she should get the tattoo, and started out being a huge pain in the a*s. When we finally agreed on a design, though she made me place the stencil over and over, and over.
While remaking the stencil (for the like the 20th time), I remember joking with the piercer that “He bought this broad off the internet, for sure.” I joked he was able to her her scar covered using the money he saved buying out of the “scratch and dent” section of the mail-order bride catalog.
During the procedure, this chick showed no emotion or sign of discomfort AT ALL. I sat, impressed by her restraint, while her husband told me they met while he was teaching English as a second language over in Korea (I think?) He went on to say that she was part of a fishing village where the women would learn to hold their breath for several minutes at a time waiting underwater for fish to swim by and throw them up onto the beach. I practiced holding my own breath and only made it 20 seconds before i was forced to re-evaluate this chick. I was impressed, and I said so. He confirmed it is indeed “awesome” to grow up in such a village until a bunch of soldiers decide to drop by to [forced intimacy] and pillage. It stops being awesome when you see your friends and family die and all your food stolen. Which is exactly what happened to her. She survived, but gave birth to a son 9 months later. She also survived the next time the soldiers came through, but, ended up pregnant a second time.
He said: “If you lived where she is from, you would be allowed to have only one child. If you ended up pregnant again, you would be forced to undergo a hysterectomy, or go to prison.”
At that time I had one child, and was considering a second, which meant I didn’t think straight for months after that tattoo. I don’t regret the tattoo, but I do regret my stupid comments. It was a humbling reality check. That was 8 years ago but I still keep a photo of that rose next to my station.
© Photo: ms_mullet
#2
My buddy has tear drops on the sides of his middle fingers. Anytime someone complains to him he puts them up to his eyes and makes a pouty face.
© Photo: KeytarPlatypus
#3
The worst tattoo that I wasn’t given was denied to me by an artist who said I was too drunk.
…I owe that man or woman *everything*.
(It would have been a name tag on my chest that said “hello, my name is….”).
© Photo: Weekend833
Yes, we’ve heard how the “customer is always right,” but this just isn’t the case. Naturally, you want to help bring to life your clients’ vision of their tattoos. However, that doesn’t mean that you have to stay quiet.
You can be diplomatic, witty, and friendly, but if you genuinely think they’re making a mistake with their design, you should speak up and explain the possible downsides. Then, if the customer understands the risks and your concerns but still wants the design, you might end up having to go through with it.
That being said, any professional worth their salt should refuse to ink tattoos that spread hate and go against common decency. Some lines should never be crossed. And a bigoted, hateful customer shouldn’t be catered to.
#4
Professional artist 10 years exp here. I don’t want to go into too much detail because thinking about that week was hard but a very close friend of mine passed away and was cremated and her sister had some of her ash mixed into the ink for a memorial tattoo (its an incredibly small amount- entirely safe and will not affect the healing process). I can’t really tell you the feeling of handling that task or the ashes themselves knowing they were apart of someone who I could physically hug just a few days before… It wasn’t an easy process.
© Photo: xing112
#5
This is so fortuitous that tattoos are on front page because I was just at Hurricane Harbor last Saturday and I saw a tattoo of two unicorns f*****g under a rainbow on the back of someone’s neck, and I have been dying to talk about it.
© Photo: anon
#6
Not a tatoo artist, but have a mate that is one of the better tatooists in the city where I live.
One day he had a woman come in and ask for a full back tatoo of musical notes. My mate had asked her what music she wanted tatooed and she said she didn’t care. So yeah I get this call from him asking if I could help him find sheet music to a particular song.
She ended up with Star Wars – The Imperial March tatooed on her back and to this day I doubt she knows what song it is.
© Photo: FjorgVanDerPlorg
Tattoodo urges people to think a lot about their tattoos before they even set up an appointment with their chosen artist. Think about the size, coloring, positioning, and other things. Sure, you might be flexible on certain aspects, but you should have more or less a clear idea of what you want. Take a bit of time to communicate with your tattoo artist if you’re unsure about some things. That being said, moderation in communication also helps. “60 emails or DM’s to your tattooist is a bit overboard!”
Meanwhile, consider bringing a few references to show the artist. Yet, don’t expect them to copy someone else’s art directly onto your skin. Each artist has their own style and way of doing things, and you want to give them some room for their talents to shine.
#7
I knew a guy in high school who got drunk, and went out on his 18th birthday and got a tattoo of a mean looking grizzly bear on his bicep. Whoever did the tat, must have been drunker than he was, because it looked like a character from South Park. It was cartoonishly bad.
© Photo: User
#8
Buddy of mine in the Army got a rooster hanging from a noose tattooed on his calf so he could say he had a c**k that hung below his knee.
First year military tattoos are no joke.
© Photo: sheephound
#9
Not an artist, but one of my friends asked for ‘Love, Laugh and Live’ in Chinese script; it took a few days before someone pointed out to her that she actually had ‘Please choose one of the tattoos below’ in Chinese script on her right arm.
© Photo: richardharrowsmask
Furthermore, you need to find a balance between being vocal about what you want and not micromanaging the professional who’s working on your body. “As long as you’re respectful, you can meet your artist in the middle, and both of you can properly collaborate on your tattoo!” Tattoodo says.
At the same time, try to avoid asking for tons of tiny changes to the design during the process. “Changing sizes a million times, moving the stencil ¼” several times around your body, freaking out about insignificant details just to stall or make sure, just one more time, that it’ll be perfect…all of this can be so stressful for your artist.”
#10
He asked for a 13, and I drew a 31.
© Photo: reddit.com
#11
I did a cover up that I wasn’t proud of, but that’s what the client wanted.
A couple came in to the shop asking for a cover up of an ex bf. She showed me and surely enough, a big guy’s name on her side hip. The good part was it was done in a light blue ink, easy to cover. I already started getting ideas in my head of what to cover it with. Guy steps in and says, “No. We just want a star over it”.
The name was about 5-6 inches long and I explained that a star that big would have to be, at least… 8inches big to fully cover the name. Both said yes to this. My boss walks over and gets on my a*s for not suggesting something else, but I explained to him that that’s what they wanted. Both looked at him and nodded.
By the time it was done, this small, petite girl had a blue star covering her entire hip area. It looked cheap, tacky, ghetto mad, just stupid. After that, I refused to do cover ups if the client doesn’t listen to reason.
© Photo: User
#12
I wouldn’t say worst… I’ve got a few s**t ones in my first year but the one I felt like s**t for asking the guy to pay is for a different reason altogether.
I do custom script, there’s this couple that comes in, trashy tattoos etc. She tells me that he’s going away to prison in a few weeks and he wants to get her name and she’ll get his name right after. I insist this isn’t the best idea, try to convince them otherwise, they don’t listen.
So I do it because rent doesn’t pay itself and I got bad habits to maintain. He goes first. After getting her name tattooed across his stomach she spits in his face, says: “Now you understand how s****y it felt when you slept with *insert name here*, you thought I’d never find out you f*****g piece of s**t?!” And then stormed out the shop, never getting hers…
Now I’m not a 100% sure here because I’m not very good with these things but I think they had problems… *cough*.
© Photo: Grimzkhul
In other words, it all comes down to communication and trust. You have to communicate what you want without making it seem that you don’t trust the artist to do what they do well for a living. If you don’t have any trust, why pick that artist at all?
Have you ever had to give someone a tattoo that you were unhappy with, dear Pandas? On the other hand, have you ever gotten a tattoo that was very different from what you wanted and what the artist said they could do? Which tattoos are you most proud of? Which ones do you regret? Feel free to share your tattoo stories in the comments.
#13
I once had a very embarrassed guy come in claiming he needed a cover up on a piece he had gotten due to losing a drunken bet.
I didn’t do the initial tattoo but I did the cover up piece on the initial one that read:
“I love Karen’s pu$$y”
Karen was his mother….
© Photo: R1Adam
#14
Asked my artist this. He told me that years ago some s***pper came in looking to have vines and roses tattooed on that would come out of her b******e and curl up her back. He asks why not just get the roses on her back and b**t, but she insists it must come out of her a**s. He reluctantly does the tattoo for a high price and said it looked pretty good too. But curiosity got the better of him after a while and he asks why she insists on having it come out of her b******e.
Her response was both the strangest and smartest reasoning I could have heard for such a tattoo. She would dance and she figured the guys would ask “hey how far does that tat go” to which she could say “for ten bucks I’ll show you”. So the dudes pay up a ten spot, she shows her a*****e real fast and done deal. She’s richer and they looked at an a*****e. My tattoo artist is not proud of that job.
© Photo: piknick1994
#15
I saw a mugshot on the news a few years ago of a guy with [darn] YOU tattooed across his forehead. Definitely a conversation starter…
© Photo: SLOGiants
#16
A guy i know has a tattoo of Roman numerals with his date of birth running down his forearm.
The problem is – he wasn’t old enough to get one at the time so lied on the form he had to fill out, and as a result, he now has a tattoo with the **WRONG** date of birth on his arm!!
© Photo: UnclePepperpoty
#17
A guy from high school got a stick figure pushing a lawn mower above his [private part] line. Now he has a wife and kids.
© Photo: yay_dinosaurs
#18
I also asked my artist this question while I was in the chair. His story is actually kind of sad – he was working in a shop somewhere “down south”, and they used to have this Eastern-European sounding guy come in a lot with a string of beautiful Asian girls. The girls would get the same tattoos he had – they stopped serving him after this happened a few times. The first time they assumed it was a couple tattoo, second time that he has poor judgement, but after that it started to look a lot like a human trafficker marking his “property”. He said one of the girls didn’t even know the tattoo was permanent. He probably regrets tattooing some of those girls.
© Photo: One_Peanut_Cookie
#19
My sister in law just put a pokemon valor tattoo on someone’s neck.
© Photo: Jilgebean
#20
Knew this guy who got a disabled sign on his [private part] and called it ‘[private part] cripple’ or some stupid s**t like that.
© Photo: anon
#21
I’m coming into this thread real late, but I’m a Tattooer, and I have two that come to mind. The first one was “[darn] LOVE” across a Hispanic guys knuckles. I guess he had just broken up with his girl, and was really heated. Tried to talk him out of it, said his mind was made up, figured he might as well spend his money with me, and get it done nice. Gave him what he wanted and sent him home. The other one was on a biker girl that got “Property of (guy’s name)” on her lower back. Talking huge though, literally half her back. Same deal as the last one. Might as well get it done right and might as well be the one that makes the money. Apparently her and the guy had only been dating for two months, and she had just had a baby with another guy. Even asked her when the guy went outside to smoke if she was sure, and that she could back out if she wanted to and made sure she wasn’t getting pressured into it. She was just genuinely down as [darn] for the guy, absolutely stoked to get that tattoo. Hope they’re still together cause there’s no way in [darn] that giant tattoo is getting covered.
© Photo: Noservant
#22
I asked the tattoo artist this question while I had mine done. Someone he worked with got an estimate request for a v*gina to be tattooed onto his taint. She gave him an estimate thinking he’d think it too high and moved on. Turned out the other places he went to first quoted him higher, so he accepted. The guy I was talking to said he’d walk by her cubicle and see her bent over with the guy’s legs up, and she said she was fine the first hour or so until she took her first break. Then it was torture for her to finish.
© Photo: fantasticforceps
#23
Guy who recently became an officer in the army had a tattoo on his ribs/ stomach of a Unicorn with magic shooting out of its horn, rainbow colored magic, and then wheat coming out of the back. Wheat. Like what you make bread out of.
© Photo: anon
#24
Not an artist, but saw a girl with a large heart shaped confederate flag on her lower back with a banner behind it. Left side of banner bad initials in it, right side had dates. Above the whole thing it read: Daddy’s Girl.
Fortunately I get to see this girl everyday
In the mirror.
She’s me.
[why?] was I thinking?
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© Photo: MagaroniPenguin
#25
A girl I know got a rainbow and Nyan cat as a tramp stamp…..she’s one of those girls.
© Photo: User
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