Things that make you go "WTF?"

[Nina]

Similar to the "tattoo ignorance" thread, but on a lighter note: what are the things people have said about your tattoos that made you laugh, or wonder if they were a) serious, b) aliens from a distant planet or c) just plain stupid?

I get the "is that real?" question a lot. Occasionally I have to rub my arm so that people believe it's really real. I'd say that's your run of the mill a).

But what was between b) and c) was this: "I didn't know tattoos could be done in color!" from a girl younger than me. WTF? Where have you been in the last decade?

A clear c): "That one didn't come from [name of German youth magazine], did it?". I guess he was trying to be clever. I said "Actually, I draw this on every day." :D

Most times though, I am surprisingly patient with people asking me these questions, touching my arm with or without asking, or, as it happened to me while I was passing a butcher shop in Old Town Nice (France) just recently, literally getting dragged inside the shop and shown around to coworkers and customers. That was actually pretty funny :D.

[Chris aka Creepinbean]

lol one time a teacher saw my backpiece because i had showed it to a friend in class. She called me to her desk and asked me to show her It was the funniest thing because when i did the class broke out in laughter because of the face she had put. After i showed her she started asking me a million questions. She even asked for a picture.

[Black is the new Black]

Sorry to inundate this thread.

My favorite WTF question I get is "how much did it cost". That doesn't really fit your a, b, or c but I still think it counts.

I'm always amazed by this question, it strikes me as terribly gauche. I'm also unable to answer it accurately as I spread the work accross several years and each session I was charged a different amount based on how productive the artist felt he had been that day. I've tried out a myriad of different answers to this quesiton such as "I lost track, but alot" or "thousands" or "I never kept a record and since it took three years can only guess" but none of them ever seem to meet the expectation of the person asking. I have noticed that the people who ask this question tend to be people I would characterize as "douchebags".

I get asked this, plus the ubiquitous "how many hours did that take" so often that I've actually started to wish I had kept track so I could give people an honest/simple/direct answer.

[JD LaRish]

i get asked "how much did that all cost" a lot too.
i usually just say "more than i wanna think about" while shaking my head & smiling and walk away.
i really have no idea how much it's all cost over the years and of course whatever the figure it is more than worth it but i honestly don't wanna see that big number all tallied up.
might make my head explode.

[Jess]

OMG you don't keep track of the time? Maybe I'm just a nerd, but I have a pretty fair idea of how many hours I've spent in the chair. It's right around 62 now. ;)

[Black is the new Black]

You're a nerd. ;)

I paid attention to how much time I spent on the table for the first year, but I eventually lost interest.

I did, though, keep track of how long I could stand to be under the needle. I was very proud when I reached the point that I wore out my artist rather than him wearing out me. If he was doing interesting stuff he'd go for 9 hours or so (the head and fins were a single nine hour session as I recall) but other stuff like the waves and scales would wear him out and he'd throw the towel in after about six hours or so.

The trick, for me at least, to lasting on the table was to go in a little hungover. It was the strangest thing, and I tried everything else (drugs of all kinds, alcohol, etc.) it all made the pain worse. In the end I found that if I came in just a little hungover that somehow instead of fighting the pain and tensing up I would sort of "give in to the pain" and relax much quicker. An hour or two into it, once I relaxed, I found I could read, play video games, or shoot the breeze with the other guys in the shop much in the same way I would be if I got a hair cut. It still hurt like hell, but I sort of learned to not care about it.

[JD LaRish]

mmmm ... i have a very rough estimate (200 hrs or so).
i used to keep track but when i was working at a shop in DC (www.TattooParadiseDC.com) some of the folks would work on me when they had a chance so the time thing slowly got away from me.

[Chris aka Creepinbean]

I always get that question along with what does it mean? and why did you do it? Oh and the famous one did it hurt? I dont know would you like to be stabbed over and over by a tiny needles i didnt think so.

[Black is the new Black]

I love that "did it hurt" question.

That really is a WTF. Of course it god damned hurt.

[TS]

Years ago when I was doing my research, people tell me it was just an "irritating" sensation, but now I realize they just had tiny tattoos.

[JD LaRish]

yeah, i don't trust folks that say it didn't hurt. and you're right, it usually is folks that have some small little tattoo that probably took 20 minutes tops.

[TS]

Even my very first 20 minute tattoo HURT (it was over the ankle bone)!

[JD LaRish]

ha, ha, ha ... yeah but at least you're honest about it.