I WAS TREATED AGGRESSIVELY HERE!! I had an appointment with George on July 5th for the first time. In email communication prior to the appointment, I asked if at that time he would consult on my unfinished chest tattoo, which he was fine with. I sent a photo of the piece to the general email (which contained no nudity).
On the day of the appointment, I came a little early to say hello to Julia and popped my head into her room like I always do. She greeted me very coldly, turned me around to the waiting room and told me to sit there and wait for George. My feelings were hurt, but whatever. My appointment should’ve started at 1:00pm, not noon. George doesn’t even walk into the shop until noon.
When he finally gets to the tattoo, he speaks barely a word to me, which is fine - some artists need music - and I busied myself with a book. Not 15min later, a woman with her coat on comes in, George asks if his girlfriend can watch (I don’t care (he doesn’t even introduce her though)), except she’s not watching him work, she’s leaning on the counter glaring at me. This is when I finally clued in to why Julia was treating me like a second-class citizen. The gf says nothing to me… all she said to George was, “I thought it was going on her shin.” George noted a tattoo on my arm (Julia’s work) that was in desperate need of a touch up which he said he can do. We couldn’t finish the tattoo on my thigh within my budget and booked to finish on another day. The whole appointment was super awkward and generally uncomfortable. The gf kept walking back and forth past the door of the room, stayed at the shop the entire time I was there, and never took her coat off. It was weird. I was being treated like someone with loose morals. It was totally insulting.
They charged me a second deposit to finish the tattoo. I’ve never been charged two deposits for the same tattoo and I have a lot of tattoos. Julia’s never once even asked me for a deposit before… that’s the kind of relationship we had. I paid it anyway. At that point I just wanted to get out of there. For $185/hr I expect a pleasant shop experience, not to be treated as a philanderer. Tattoo artists get a bad rap for being rude, but as I look around at all my tattoos and think of all the shops I’ve been in, they’ve ALL been good, fun, and totally exciting experiences. This was not.
I sent an email the next day with a follow-up question and George didn’t respond. I had to keep texting Julia to get him to respond. The only time he responded, he told me he doesn’t check email, only fb (I don’t use any social media). He didn’t answer my question either. I texted Julia again because George was still ignoring me and she (seriously) told me he was too busy with his gf to return my email. The next time she said shop email can only be checked at the shop on the desktop (she claimed (seriously) that outlook has no app), and that she (as owner) has no access to George’s schedule. No one ever answered my question and it was a very simple one. I went back to get the deposit I shouldn’t have been charged. I told Julia explicitly that I wanted to be in and out, no talking because I was upset. George came out when I got there and tried to engage me in a shouting match (which I wouldn’t) with other clients in the shop. Julia, without permission, started rolling up my shirt sleeve to look at the tattoo on my arm. When I moved out of the way and told her not to touch me (I have bonafide diagnosed Asperger’s, I don’t do unplanned touching), George yelled at me, saying I was being abusive; he told me he refused to finish my thigh tattoo at all, and basically kicked me out of the shop. He’s a huge man and was acting like a bouncer kicking a sloppy drunk out of a bar.
I have it all 100% documented in texts and emails. I’m still shocked.
