Tattoo Artists Share The Times They Had To Tell People "Hell No", And Here Are The 35 Worst

About a decade ago some scab walked into a local shop, got a Freemasons tattoo and walked out without paying.

This blew up on local social media, and made the Lodge look bad, so a few of the *larger* brothers took the matter up.

They walked into the shop at closing time and cut a deal; they’d pay for the tattoo on 3 conditions. 1) Take down all social media posts and stop mentioning Freemasons. 2) no more Masonic tattoos at that shop. 3) They paid for the tattoo, so that tattoo is now theirs; meaning if they find the tattoo and bring it back to the shop, that tattoo gets covered with whatever the artist decides, free of charge.

The deal was made, and the shop doesn’t exist anymore, but I remember walking in and seeing “no Masonic symbols” on the list of “we will not tattoo the following” years later.

They never found the scab.

My partner is a tattoo artist and the one that comes to mind is a woman who wanted "property of bf's name" in her pubic area right above her v****a. Apparently this girl was caught cheating and this was her show of loyalty to him. Suffice to say she did not get what she wanted that day.

Do you guys take tattoo removal stories?

A friend of mine works with a non-profit that will do free tattoo removal for ex-gang members. 

He once had someone come in asking to remove a hate symbol. However this hate symbol was from a fictional work (think Galactic Roundel from Star Wars).

My friend directed him to someone who does tattoo coverups instead of wasting the non-profits resources. .

My step daughter wanted a little wire hanger on her finger after Roe was overturned.

The tattoo artist that our whole family has gone to, many times, not only refused but then blocked her *and the rest of us*.

Personally I’m glad she didn’t end up getting that tattoo, but it was also real clear how the artist felt about it, that he blocked our whole family.

One time when I was getting tattooed a woman came in and wanted a tattoo to cover up the scars, from her m**h sores, where she picked her skin. Only problem was that they weren't scars yet, just open sores.

My friend’s dad runs a tattoo shop and said he’s only had to refuse two requests.

One was a guy who wanted a back piece of an old war memorial but the guy on a horse would wear a Native American headpiece while waving a confederate flag. I think he told the guy to go home with the idea and think it over. The guy came back and said that’s what he wanted and the owner just flat out said “no. Find someone else”

The other fella didn’t want a tattoo, he wanted to commission some artwork. Basically he had pictures of random girls on his phone and wanted to make them look like pinup models or something. The owner said no multiple times and kicked him out. He wasn’t sure how this guy got those pictures and if the girls were even of legal age.

I had someone ask me to tattoo a slur across their arm. i told them i don’t feel comfortable as it’s not a slur i can reclaim or feel comfortable saying in general— and they gave me permission to do it because “its a word i identify with and call myself.”

still said no because i felt really weird about it & once it leaves the shop, my name is attached to that….

Not a tattoo artist but I was in a shop getting (pre-planned) work done. This girl came in looking absolutely insane and panicky and said she needed “John Smith (I forget the actual dudes name), I really truly do love you. Forgive me” tattooed *across her a*s*. Like over both cheeks.

Obviously, not a single artist in the shop wanted to touch this with a 10 foot pole. But after she left, it became a big betting pool of wondering wtf she did to necessitate that level of apology 😂.

I got a tattoo of a potato and had to convince the artist that I wasn't a N**i. Apparently, all of the potato tattoos the artist has been asked to do in the past were for N**is. I had to explain that no, I was instead inspired by Sideways Stories From Wayside School by Louis Sacher.

My husband wanted initials on the INSIDE of his fingers. Myself and his brother (who is covered in tattoos) both tried to talk him out of it, as did the first tattoo artist he attempted to see - who also refused to do it. The second guy said yes tho. The tats lasted like mayyybe 2 weeks? Before being rubbed off completely. But to this day when it comes up my husband will say the artist did a s****y job 🫠.

Not me but husband who has several tattoo’s. He told me this story of when he got his biggest tattoo in college he went into the parlor and waited for the guy he normally got tattoos with to come get him (he was cleaning up his station from a previous client) As he was waiting a young couple came in wanting a couples tattoo. The female receptionist who also does tattoos looked at them and asked how long they were togeather. “3 days.” The girl said smiling. The lady looked like she hated her life and said to come back to her in 20 years when they were married. Guy and girl were taken a back and left quickly after that. When husband asked the guy if they denied all couples tattoo he explained his shop had a rule that the couple had to be married for at least 20 years or if their partner had passed or was terminally ill to have a couples tattoo as the town was known to have alot of college age couples try to get couples tattoos. He said his shop ever denied 3 things repeatedly: couples tattoos younger than 20 years togeather, any form of hate (neo-n**i and other political stances) and anything around genitalia areas due to safety concerns.

He also mentioned that some previous tattooers also hated doing pet memorials because some of the clients got very sedimental of their pets passing and would have a hard time finishing the portrait (full blown crying, melt down etc.) but most still went on to complete the request but for some it was a nightmare to do because clients got picky or got worked up if it was just “off”.

19 year old young man who I had done a half sleeve on previously hit me up for a full sleeve on the other arm for his second tattoo: shoulder to wrist, all ‘pro-life’ imagery. I didn’t dismiss it outright, but told him I’d need a couple days to think about it. After talking with some other tattooers with more experience than me at the time, I decided to turn it down. Coworker immediately offered to do it, which taught me an interesting lesson about integrity because my coworker didn’t share this kid’s views, either, but in his mind, the appropriate response was to essentially do the job, take the money, and move on. Dude never did get the tattoo-at least not from us-and is now taking a run at city council in my hometown, having made a name for himself as a conservative mouthpiece. And yes, he’s now got several children.

Oooh just thought of another one! I got the opportunity to work at my dream shop only four years in, and I learned a lot of valuable lessons there. One of them-though I’m still not sure what the ‘correct’ thing to do was-happened when a youngish (early 20s) girl came in with no visible tattoos and requested a butterfly choker that would start at the throat and go all the way around. After being told that we wouldn’t put a tattoo in that spot on someone who wasn’t already fairly tattooed, she left and came back with dad. Dad explained that she has some sort of profound mental defect that means that she would never hold down a job or leave the house or be independent in any meaningful sense, and that she’s wanted this tattoo for some time. After considering those new elements, we each still declined to do the tattoo and they left. I suppose the question it brings up is once again a question of integrity: should we have done the tattoo for her, knowing we’d have done it well and not harmed her ability to work and exist within mainstream society? Or should we have washed our hands of it, knowing that she’d potentially find someone who would do it, possibly not very well?
Mind you, this was back in a magical time when face, throat/neck, and hand tattoos were not trendy or cool; they really carried some weight and made a statement then. Now, I see kids in LA who only have their faces, hands, and necks tattooed.

I'm not a tattoo artist but the artist I used to go to told me about a situation that he refused to do the tattoo. He said this guy came in with a drawing of a symbol that was supposed to be a Native American symbol but it was something he had made up. It actually had no meaning or connection to Native American culture or history. The artist refused to do it because he felt it was disrespectful to the Native American culture.

I have a few friends that have several tattoos, and I more or less asked them the same question once.

They told me the artist they go to wouldn't put a string of numbers on someone. The reason being he once took a deposit from someone and it turns out they wanted their grandfathers serial number tattoo from Auschwitz.