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Tattoo Artists And Customers Who Have Messed Up Ink Break Down The Aftermath

Tattoo Artists And Customers Who Have Messed Up Ink Break Down The Aftermath
Photo by Lucas Lenzi on Unsplash

It takes a lot of trust to get a tattoo. After all, you're walking into a shop and telling someone you barely know, "Hey, can you please alter my body with ink? Also, don't mess it up or it will follow me around forever, haunting my very existence." Except, sometimes you do mess it up and it does follow you around forever. Most tattoo artists are skilled enough to work around their mistakes and cover them up, but some are too big to fix and that's what the following entries are all about.

*The following article contains discussion of suicide/self-harm.


Reddit user, u/T_S_Sean, wanted to hear:

Tattooists of Reddit, have you ever messed up a tattoo on someone and what was the fallout?

What A Tribute

I tattoo with my best friend. They wanted a tribute for their dog that passed and I had sketched a couple of designs up in my spare time. One night we were bored and decided to take their favorite sketch and slap it on them. It was supposed to read "Little James" with a little cartoon version of their dog beneath.

But the sketch read "Litte James" and we both failed to notice because the font was so stylized. Neither of us realized it was misspelled for 3 months! We're still best friends and love telling the story. They owe me a misspelled tattoo now and I honestly cannot wait!

LanaaaaKane

Yoar Gonna Love It

Not the artist, am the oops. Got some lyrics tattooed on me, but "your" became "yoar" - I suspect he was aiming to go over the O but did the U instead.

Result was crying me, guilt from him and almost 3.5 years of free laser removal to fix. I have gotten tattoos from him after that but have since moved.

sn0wgh0ul13

A Permanent Oopsie

My dad once brought a tattoo gun from a weird website. Once he got it he wanted to see if it worked by drawing a small line in his palm. Oh it worked. But now he has a permanent small line on his palm. He never touched that gun ever again

feeddahippo

"Punce" Up, Not Down

I knew a girl who had a tattoo of boxing gloves that said "Roll with the punces" (obviously supposed to be punches.) I pointed it out to her and she didn't care at all. Apparently she really was good at rolling with the punces. And no I'm not kidding.

gingeronimooo

You Learn To Live With It

Not an artist but have two experiences of this:

  1. An almost moment in my first tattoo. Told the guy I wanted a quote from LOTR, from Aragorn's prophecy "not all those who wander are lost"

When he showed me the sketch it said wOnder not wAnder.

It's an easy/common mistake to make but it completely changes the meaning and is a mis-quote. Luckily I caught it and decided to lose the wording in any event!

2. I had the tattoo, a bird, done in 2 sessions. First session we did the line work and discussed colour, I said I wanted it as colourful as possible. As we'd already discussed it, I thought it was covered.

Second session about 3/4 weeks later, he starts on the tattoo and he gets out mostly brown and grey inks. I didn't realise until it was too late that those weren't just colours for the more "shadowy" parts, that was the whole tattoo!

Tried to convince myself that I liked it, but after 3 or 4 years I've now accepted that I don't like the colours or really the design itself and I've had it lasered so it can be covered up by another artist.

lost_in_life2619

There Is No Reason Why You Should Be Inking People

Holy sh-t. I bought a tattoo gun like 15 years ago and with no training just started going hell bent on myself and then my friends.

My thighs are literally covered with indecipherable crap that then gets slightly better as it works it way down towards my knees. Over the course of a few weeks I got slightly better and told this guy I could do a tribal sleeve LOL. F-cking way beyond my scope. I had no business putting a needle near anyone else's skin. The dude was flabby and I hadn't worked on flabby people before and it was all different. Basically it was a big f-cking mess and the guy was filthy, always covered in dirt so it got badly infected. So at least after that I realized I could really hurt someone and stopped.

fishburgr

Not All Machines Are Perfect

F-cked up some biomech on a guys f-cking HAND about 15 years ago. Still haunts me

golden_eyed_sloth

What's biomech? I don't have any tattoos so I don't know if this is an industry term or what. Genuinely curious.

butyourhonour

It's a style. Biomechanical. Basically integrating man with machine.

bighairyyak

Maybe We Should Go Back To Teaching Cursive In Schools...

Had a close friend getting his first tattoo. Kind of an uptight guy. Our mutual bud is an illustrator and he calls him over and explains that his appointment for the tattoo is in 30 minutes and he asks that our bud write, in calligraphy, the word "home" to be copied by the tattoo artist. Although hurried our bud reluctantly does so.

Friend goes to the tattoo parlor and I see him late that night. He proudly pulls down his shirt to show me the word "home" written big on his chest in calligraphy.

But here's the thing: in cursive, unless you're really careful, an "e" is almost indistinguishable from an "o".

So I'm looking at my uptight friend, and he has in big floral writing the word "HOMO" tattooed on his chest.

I swore in that moment that I would never mention it to him — maybe that's wrong. But I'll bet I'm not the only of his friends who've noticed it.

abusepotential

Okay, Seriously, Stop Getting Hammered And Then Tattooing

I do a lot of home tattoos. Got a machine not too long ago, but had done stick n pokes since I was like 15. So it's trashy/punk/diy/whatever, but it's fun and I got pretty decent at it, especially with words.

My girlfriend and I got hammered one night and decided to get three numbers we both love tattooed on us.

She did mine first, went off without a hitch. Looks as great as it can with very little background on her part.

It was my turn to tattoo her now and that's when I realized I forgot that 9 doesn't face right, like P.

She laughed at my stupidity and she just wanted me to black out the spot with a little box and do the number a little below it to make it look stylized.

NBD because it was my gf and done in a diy front room, but still was a stupid-a-- mistake and I can't imagine doing that to someone who isn't that close to me.

[usernamedeleted]

It's Not What You Think

There was a guy I worked with that wanted bada-- written on his arm in cursive. He went to a new shop that just opened up.

It looked like it said beepuss.

Optimism_Prime

Not One Big Part, But Lots Of Smaller Parts

i literally mess up almost every time i tattoo. i'm not a pro and i have no training or license and i TELL EVERYONE THAT but because i'm a good artist people still beg me to tattoo them. so i do simple things like outlines and words that can be fixed even if i f-ck up bad (which i haven't yet) but every time there are definitely a few shaky lines or f-cked up parts of the tattoo.

yeah i know i shouldn't tattoo people if i have no training, but i know enough to be sanitary and i warn them that i will probably f-ck up a little bit and people are still okay w it so whatever

blackbird418

Don't Stop...Bellievieing?

Not me, but a friend

He bought a kit from somewhere and tattooed random people (unlicensed)

What people didn't know was that he was terrible at art and horrible at basic spelling

So many people took him to small claims to get money back

My favorite? He tried spelling "believe" Resulted in "Bellievie"

cooldart61

It's Easy To Take One On The...Cin?

I knew a girl who had a tattoo of boxing gloves that said "Roll with the punces" (obviously supposed to be punches.) I pointed it out to her and she didn't care at all. Apparently she really was good at rolling with the punces. And no I'm not kidding.

gingeronimooo

AND NO ONE SAID ANYTHING?

I once had a woman come in when I worked at a walk in shop. She had her whole family with her. She was getting her first tattoo at 70+(can't remember exact age). She was getting something that included the birth-death dates of her recently deceased husband. Her whole family saw the design. They were really excited. Let me repeat, the whole family saw the design. So I do the tattoo, the woman loves it, and then her daughter sneaks back over while I'm tearing down.

She whispers to me that her mother had gotten the dates wrong. I felt so bad. They even knew she had dementia problems apparently, and no one looked at it closely enough to see if she had gotten the dates correct. Unfortunately it wasn't dates that could easily be changed to another number. I told them I could cover it after she healed but I never saw them again :/

batgrub

In Time...

I got a tattoo apprenticeship as a teenager and a few of my friends got small tattoos by me. One night, very high, directly after my sweet 16 (I was still in my dress) I was tattooing a friend of mine who wanted "Eventually Everything Will End" written up her ribcage. Halfway through the Eventually we realize i've gone slightly off transfer and the whole thing is crooked. I am mortified. My blood ran cold, I imagined she'd hate me forever. Her boyfriend at the time just said "Just add a dot dot dot and make it mysterious, like "Eventually.." like you're trailing off' She looks at me and says "Dot dot dot me up" and I do. She loved that tattoo, even got it inscribed on a zippo.

Shortly after my 22nd birthday she committed suicide. As a tribute several of her friends got the word "Eventually..." tattooed in her honor, as if to say eventually we may see each other again. My worst f-ck up, one of my best memories. Miss you Kait

(If you ever feel like ending it all, please reach out to someone. Depression is a liar and you will be missed more than you understand)

mudvenus

If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/

People Break Down The Worst Double Standards They've Ever Heard

Reddit user No-Challenge-3305 asked: 'What's the stupidest double standard you ever heard from someone?'

golden balance weighing scale

Piret Ilver on Unsplash

A double standard is defined as:

"a code or policy that favors one group or person over another"

However not all double standards are formalized. Most of the double standards individuals face daily are based on customs, stereotypes, traditions or other less formal societal codes of conduct.

Double standards are inherently unfair to one or sometimes both parties.

They may exert control or compliance with gender or socioeconomic stereotypes on everyone or serve to repress one group while favoring the other. But they shouldn't be confused with all unequal rules.

The sign at the amusement park that says "you must be this tall to ride" is there for a very good reason.

Double standards fail to pass any logic test, with some being more ridiculous than others.

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classroom scene of middle school students with frustrated male teacher

Taylor Flowe on Unsplash

When picking a career, it's a good idea to talk to people who have been in the professions you're considering for quite some time.

My parents wanted me to become a doctor, but I was ambivalent to the idea.

My discussions with veteran doctors convinced me there was no way I wanted to go into medicine.

So what are some other not so great jobs?

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photo of woman holding white and black paper bags
Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

When I started college, I had every intention of cooking all my meals. It became very apparent very quickly that I simply didn't have the time to accomplish this, and I became the Takeout Queen.

I ordered food constantly. Between getting a monthly "allowance" from my dad (intended to go towards groceries), finding coupons taped to my apartment door everyday, and essentially being "allowed" to tip less than handsomely since I was a college student, I was able to afford this.

When I graduated and moved into my own place, things changed. I was too old to not tip properly, I didn't get any supplementary money from my family, and I had more expenses, such as rent. Still, I continued to order food, and it became my main expense.

My friends tell me the way I order food is only meant for "rich people." I have to skimp on everything else in order to have enough saved to support this. It's definitely true, but I don't think this habit will ever change.

I'm not the only one that does "rich people stuff." Redditors do lots of things that is classified that way, despite not being rich, and they are ready to share their stories.

It all started when Redditor Abbas_Noorani 16 asked:

"What is some rich sh*t you do even though you are not rich?"

Ravenous

"Food. I buy what I want and I try new stuff. I like cooking."

– 34i79s

"Grocery shopping without concern for budget is what made me realize I had made it back in the day. Good times."

"Now I have hard budgets again and it truly sucks. You question every damn decision and convince yourself to do without or downgrade to the lowest priced quality."

– txmail

"On the same boat. The other day I looked at expensive butter that I used to stock up on without even thinking twice and sighed."

– cat101786

Monthly

"Forget to cancel my free trial."

– Adept_Insurance5550

"Damn. Thanks for the reminder."

– -Bk7

"I'm still a member of AOL."

– __SpeedRacer__

Too Hot

"I leave the fridge door open when getting the butter out even though my dad said it would cost billions and send us to the streets."

– frank-sarno

"I leave the front door open when I pop out to grab my mail. Took me years of living on my own to realize the AC bill doesn’t shoot up by hundreds of dollars if I do that."

– MelodramaticQuarter

Necessities

"Buy the good toilet paper."

– FrankGehryNuman

"Absolutely!"

"Good toilet paper. Can't stand cheapo toilet paper, you give yourself a surprise when your finger goes through the paper when wiping your chuff. Don't get me started on that stuff they used to have in hospitals! It was awful - sandpaper that didn't soak up but rather moved stuff 🤐"

– helensmelon

Clean And Sweep

"I have a maid that comes weekly. I've found that my sanity is worth the cost."

– Eringobraugh2021

"Weekly? Oo la la!"

– a**ypantz72

Comfort Matters

"My thermostat stays at the temperature setting of what is most comfortable to me and nothing will change that."

– Cyb3rTruk

"Lol this really outlined how different climates can be. My thought was "Yeah, I'm going to be as cozy and warm as I want and not freeze in the comfort of my own home.""

– McCoyIsFun

Double

"Some days I have two sandwiches at lunch. I smile as I watch all my fellow proletariat eating their single sandwich."

– ShambolicPaul

"Brotip: Cut your sandwich an infinite number of times and rearrange the pieces into two full sandwiches. Don't give your money away to Big Sandwich!"

– NotInherentAfterAll

Sparkling

"Paying for car cleaning."

– angydevil

"Justified, tho my dad would kill me."

– Abbas_Noorani

The Big Cheese

"I sometimes buy name brand cheese instead of the store brand."

– NeuroguyNC

"Tillamook or nothing for me! I’ll buy store brand beans and paper towels and other stuff. But not for my cheese!"

– VariegatedThumb

Replenish

"We have a garage fridge that is full of all different kinds of beverages."

– SixStinkyFingers

"It's not the fridge itself, it's keeping it stocked!"

– 4x32Studio

A House Is A Home

"I own a house...."

– 1d0m1n4t3

"Oh damn rich people sh*t."

– Abbas_Noorani

"We shouldn't be able to joke about owning a modest home being rich people sh*t. Anyone who works full time should be able to afford a home."

– 1d0m1n4t3

Write Better

"I buy the gel comfort pens. Makes me feel I'm a higher class when writing at work. Smooth crisp consistent ink."

– UltraCoolPimpDaddy

"I have gotten into arguments over people stealing my G2 .07."

– savvyspoon2

Me Too!

"I buy small trash bags for the bathroom trash bins. My whole family uses grocery bags, but I don’t like how they always rip at the bottom."

– Deleted User

It's Required!

"No Margarine in my house, Butter Only, and lots of it. My arteries think I'm rich."

– weisblattsnut

Unused

"I have HBO but I don’t watch it."

– MillionToOneShotDoc

"I have Netflix, Prime, Hulu, and Disney Plus. Don’t watch any of it. Watch YouTube all the time and I’m too stupid to get Premium."

– AngryDerf

Now, that's the definition of having money to burn!

Of course, I wouldn't know. I need to save money for my food!

Couple exchanging rings on wedding day
Photo by Saeed Sarshar on Unsplash

Generally, when people talk about marriage, they get excited about the big wedding day and the honeymoon thereafter.

People don't always talk about what happens in the marriage after the "honeymoon phase" wears off, and they certainly don't talk about the other long-term realities of marrying someone for life.

Pondering this, Redditor Ok_Reality-77 asked:

"What did you realize after getting married?"

It's Not All Romantic

"Marriage isn’t just about the person you want to have fun with. It’s also about the person you want to spend $10,000 on a new furnace with, or go to a funeral with, or get a flat tire with."

"Your spouse should make your way in life easier, especially during the hard times."

- aggressivelysingle

Wedding Invitation Drama

"I don’t get upset if I don’t make the cut for someone else’s wedding, that s**t is expensive."

- coconutmama77

"I had one wedding where I got pretty ticked off about not being invited, to be honest."

"One of the bridesmaids at my wedding got married a few years after we did. She was out in Baltimore, and we are UK-based, but she wanted my wife as her bridesmaid too, so we of course flew over. We were the only ones not local."

"In the rehearsal the day before, one of the groomsmen wasn't there, so I stood in for him."

"Then later that night, I was told that the wedding was a small affair and that only my wife was invited to the ceremony. I would be only an evening guest. They just neglected to mention that on the invite."

"It caused massive ripples among the guests because there was no reason for snubbing me like that."

"I really liked the groom and he was in bits trying to deal with the psycho fit his bride was throwing about everything, so I ended up just doing as told so as not to cause an issue for him on his day."

"Years later, she asked my wife on a video call if we wanted to come visit them sometime soon, and her husband said to her, 'You're kidding, right? You know he doesn't like you after the wedding s**t, right?'"

"She was shocked to learn that I thought she was an a**hole, lol (laughing out loud)."

- Wind_Yer_Neck_In

The Wrong Partner

​"Bad marriage does way more harm than being alone."

- rosiebunnies

"When I left my first husband for being an irredeemable a**hat, I truly thought I’d sworn off marriage forever. But here I am, 14 years into my second marriage, and I couldn’t be more thankful that I was wrong about marriage being a bad thing."

- -comfypants

"I’ve had my own bad relationships. Then I started to look at my parents' unhealthy relationship but then saw that my brother actually has a really good one, and that helped put things into perspective. Some people should be together, and others should not."

- Lancefree

The Value of Disagreements

"That true partnership means conflict is inevitable but productive."

"Part of me knew we'd disagree, but I took some time to know the best way to work through it. It's not being a doormat and it's not being right every time."

- d20sapphire

The Importance of Alone Time

"How much I NEED alone time..."

- blacksweater

"We live in a house larger than we need. So we each have hobby areas and our own bathroom in addition to general s**t we don't do together. Our friends think it's weird, but we are strong as f**k, and their relationships didn't survive the pandemic."

- GoldenBarracudas

Secret Personalities

"People can be really, REALLY good at hiding who they truly are."

"People keep telling me I must have missed signs. I think they just haven’t encountered people that can change on a dime like my ex-husband."

- InstantElla

Increased Income

"How much easier it is to afford things as a joint couple with two incomes."

- Ornery-Cattle1051

"To me, this is one of the few downsides to being single. I like my single life but do not like my single income."

- SnoopsMan

Constant Forgiveness

"Marriage is a constant exercise in forgiveness."

"Be sure you love them, like for real."

"Luckily for me, I do."

- pussinbootskitty

Marrying the Family

"They say you marry their family. You absolutely do."

"One day I was a girlfriend, and the next I was holding my husband's grandmother's hand while she died. I was dragged into family fights the likes of which I'd never seen. I've been loved and weaponized and defended like I could never fathom."

"I laughed at people saying they married the whole family. I was so wrong."

- IHeartChipSammiches

"You put this into words so beautifully. I never would have imagined how much I love his family as my own, even though they bug the crap out of me sometimes, lol (laughing out loud)."

- chipmunk_butt

Communication is Key

"That good communication is vital to a relationship."

"The ability to have a calm, rational conversation over any topic is something to strive for. The trust that the two of you can talk about anything in a safe environment is key. The ability to be honest and open with each other."

"Communication, y'all. It works."

- agharta-astra

Ditch the Highway

"You spent X amount of years doing things your way. So has your new spouse. Just because it's not your way doesn't mean it's wrong."

"It's okay to compromise, but it's also okay to realize that some things may come down to My Way, Their Way, and Our Way."

"My husband and I learned a lot from each other but 15 years later, we have never, NEVER compromised on how to fold laundry so we just each do our own. I don't mind doing his, but I'll fold it my way. He'll easily wash and dry mine, but he folds his way. It's nice that the laundry is done, but then I had to refold everything."

"For those wondering, I fold shirts in a tri-fold rectangle and he does some weird square thing. Incompatible in our dresser drawers."

- Scucer

Hands and Height

"I have to add (this may sound bizarre) that if one of you is left-handed and the other is right-handed, you will most certainly run into some problems."

"It seems ridiculous, but where you place things that you need multiple times on a daily basis comes down to space and which hand you use (e.g., dish soap, hand soap, etc. Basically anything on a counter in a kitchen or a bathroom)."

"This also applies to height differences. Sometimes we really, literally have to find the in-between, or accept that one or the other will be doing it for themselves and it’s not insulting. It’s just really for the best sanity of us both."

- HGLiveEdge

Cherish the Time

"I must say, for me, it would be Time. Time moves SOOOOO very slow, and SOOOOOOOOOOOOO very fast."

"I married my wife yesterday."

"We closed on our first house yesterday."

"We had our boys YESTERDAY."

"I finished our basement with my own two hands (and my best friends’ hands) yesterday."

"We sold our first home yesterday."

"My father passed away YESTERDAY."

"My boys started high school and middle school yesterday."

"I just made an @ss of myself tonight and needed to apologize to my wife! (This actually was tonight.)"

"Seriously, everything feels like yesterday, but it is moving by so quickly. I’m just trying to hold on, thankfully, she’s here with me."

- pencerules

Marriage Plus Kids

"Everyone was wrong, marriage changed nothing."

"But children... Children change everything."

- korinth86

"100% agree. We lived together before we got married. Absolutely nothing in our relationship changed. But kids. Oh lord, that changes everything."

- StannVeal

Medically Responsible

"It changes who can kick whom out of the hospital room. And that was why I got married."

"My husband got married for the feel’s and the frilly stuff. I got married so he/we inherit each other's stuff and get the final say on end-of-life stuff (it was a rough couple of years, I lost a lot of family in a short span)."

"Can all that be done separately from marriage? YEP. Is it viewed as seriously? Nope. Can it be done as easily and in one fell swoop? Nope."

"(This, more than the feelings, to me, is why people should be able to marry whom they choose, regardless of gender.)"

- sageautumn

Right in the Feels

"I like saying, 'My wife…' even more than I thought I would."

"We’ve each been married before, and we were together for 7 years before we got around to getting married (we knew where it was going very early). I didn’t think it would feel like that big of a deal to say, but… I love my wife, and the experience of referring to her is enough to make me smile."

- BetweenCoffeeNSleep

While there were some tough realities mixed into this list, most of the experiences shared here were heartwarming.

Marriage might be diminished by some to be just a piece of paper, but for those who take the symbolism seriously, there is some real happiness in store for them.