Growing up, throughout my Catholic high school days I spent every day making sure my socks carefully covered my ankle, so no one would see my tattoo. Luckily my uniform covered my upper left arm, as well as my upper back so I didn’t have to worry about covering up the tattoos in those areas. But I spent every day pulling my socks up extra high so that the priests wandering the halls wouldn’t detect my hidden treasure.
Once in a while someone would ask me to show it, and of course I would, with pride. But even my senior prom photo shows a large bandage over my arm, as well as my upper back, hiding my artwork.
Hiding my body art from school officials was nothing compared to what I had to go through to hide them from my parents. I constantly kept socks in my car to shove on before entering the house, even after a day of sandals at the beach.
Working in restaurants throughout high school and college my body art was never an issue. But after college came the job interviews, then the jobs and the stereotypes.
Appearance matters. Even if you’re not experiencing it first-hand, it’s there. One day I entered the busy newsroom I worked in dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, tattoos showing. Nobody batted an eye, but nobody took me seriously either.
Coming to work in a nice dress shirt, ironed pants, hair up in a bun with a notepad and pen in hand, people looked at me in the meetings. They acknowledged that I knew what I was doing and didn’t question my expertise.
I don’t question dress codes and I don’t question whether or not to cover up tattoos when necessary. I just do it because that’s the way it is. If you want people to take you seriously, you have to look the part.
I always laugh when I hear people complaining about dress codes, and having to cover up their tattoos in the workplace. I have been inflicted with a dress code my entire life, so the fact that I could not show up to school or work in a tank top displaying my body art didn’t phase me at all.
When I was in high school someone once asked me, “Doesn’t it bother you that you wear a uniform all day in school, then you put on a uniform to come to work directly after?”
I just shrugged and said, “Nah, I’m used to it.”
I have no sympathy for those against dress codes and covering up tattoos in the workplace. I know it’s the year 2006 and times have changed, but that’s the way it is so everyone needs to get used to it.
