Why Mike Tyson Wouldn't Be Working In My Office

Back when I was early in my adult years, a growing trend at the time was for men to start wearing earrings. Early on, it was considered “safe” to wear one earring in the left lobe, but eventually it became accepted to go ahead and wear an earring on both sides.

I initially experimented with another novelty in the late 80’s/early 90’s – magnetic earrings – just to see what they looked like and how people reacted. It was received well enough that I was willing to go ahead and get my left ear pierced. Months and possibly even a couple of years later, I decided to go ahead and get my right ear pierced as well.

Given that I was a bartender/college student during this time and for many years thereafter (which is a story for another day), it was an easy look for me to get away with. Eventually, however, I found myself getting close to finishing college and I began interviewing for professional career jobs. And the earrings came out. It was an easy decision given that I knew there would be numerous potential employers who would be turned off by the thought of having a guy with earrings facing the public as an employee of his or her company.

It was the right decision then and it has proven to be the right decision now. The holes have completely grown in and nobody has ever mentioned that it looked like I had once had earrings. That’s because they weren’t permanent and there is no trace of their existence.

Nowadays, I have noticed a trend for people to not only get tattoos, but to get them all over their bodies. During my early adult years, it wasn’t uncommon to see men and women with multiple tattoos, but they were typically strategically placed and not something that showed when applying for jobs. Today, however, there are pics everywhere that show more and more people getting sleeves of tattoos and neck tattoos and even face tattoos.

Personally, I’m not a big fan of any of these. I’m fine with random tattoos in strategically placed spots. I might have been willing to get one at some point in my life if I hadn’t instead spent my money on adult beverages during trips to Texas (Oklahoma didn’t allow tattoos until I was past my wild days.). But the growth in the number of tattoos people have now just seems to make it risky for people to find gainful employment. At least in an office setting.

Sure, there are jobs that are going to not think twice about hiring someone with a neck tattoo. Whether it is working in a bar or at a hair salon or in construction, body art isn’t something that is going to be a big deal. But in my world – where everyone had to work hard to finish college and work equally as hard to build their appearance and reputation – it almost comes across as disrespectful or at least out of place when someone is being considered for a job while showing off an inked snake slithering across the side of their neck. The bottom line is a guy with a face tattoo like Mike Tyson has isn’t going to get past the HR department if he were to apply for a white-collar job. At least here in Oklahoma.­­­

The smart ones cover up the tattoos when going in for an interview, but some of them are arrogant enough to think they are going to get the job despite their temporarily hidden tattoos. And as I mentioned before, some of them do. But people from my generation and from the generation that preceded mine still run a lot of the businesses out there, and as a whole they aren’t excited about having neck-tattoo guy or sleeve-tattoo girl representing their company in an important meeting. It’s too risky. And employers are smart enough to check out social media pics and tattoos typically are easy to find there.

Ironically, the trend of getting tattoos all over the body seemed to be a way for people to individualize themselves from others. However, now with practically everyone having multiple tattoos, it has become almost the cooler thing for someone to not have tattoos.

So, there you have it. Not only are tattoos potentially creating situations where employment could be a problem, but they could potentially be making you just like everyone else. So much for being a trendsetter. As it turns out, a lack of body art is what makes us unique. The rest of you are stuck with the decision or decisions you made.