Tattoos: Grounds for discrimination?
TAMPA - You could call it his body of art. Every line, every design on his body says something about Russell Parrish’s life…. “My first tattoo was after my father died,” he told FOX 13. He was 15. Over the past 14 years, he amassed quite a collection…. With a wife and dreams of kids on the way, he wants a career. He’s looked at theme parks in Kissimmee, home improvement stores down the street in his hometown of Lake Wales, even straight-laced coat and tie jobs. Everywhere he went, he said, “I got a door shut in my face.”…. Russell says in the last two months he’s applied for over 100 jobs. In almost half of them, he says he was denied because of his tattoos. He says that’s discrimination.
OK, if y’all can stop laughing, I’m going to explain why Mr. Parrish, though I sympathize with his plight, is full of crap. I understand the concept of freedom of expression, and I also understand why some people view the human body as a canvas on which to express their artistic vision. What Russell doesn’t seem to grasp, though, is that every action has an equal and opposite reaction (I think I saw that on a bumper sticker once….). If you’re going to use your body as a canvas with which to display your originality and individuality, you need to understand that there are people- the vast majority, as a matter of fact- who will be repulsed by your “art”.
Personally, I’m intensely indifferent about the whole thing, but if I were a hiring manager, and someone sat down for an interview me looking like a Maori tribesman…well, let’s just say it would be a short interview. This has nothing to do with any personal prejudices on my part. If I’m hiring people to represent my company to customers, I don’t want customers wondering if they’re doing business with cannibals. That may seem ignorant and prejudicial, but it’s also reality. Strangely enough, people hire people they like, and also people who can present the image of their company that they want to put out there. Like it or not, image, while not everything, counts for a lot.
Russell Parrish is not being discriminated against. He made choices, and now he’s having to deal with the consequences of those choices. That may suck, but it’s the same reality all of us have to deal with. Most people- rightly or wrongly- don’t like tattoos, and they don’t want to hire or do business with someone who looks like he’s giving vent to his inner Maori high priest.
I’m not saying that Parrish needs to instantly become a conformist, but if you’re going to turn your body into the walking, talking equivalent of cave art, you can’t claim to be surprised when your “art” isn’t universally well-received.
‘Course, there is one place Parrish might want to think about applying- a tattoo parlor. At least he’d be among kindred spirits…..
Maybe he could find a career as a tele-marketing representative.
This guy wants to "stick it in society's face" and yet be openly accepted by that same society once it serves his purposes. Guess what, idiot, life is a two way street and those you like to "stick it to" can stick it right back and have as much right to do so as you do. Maybe another reason no one wants to hire him is that he has no qualifications. He ran a tattoo parlor which qualifies him to work . . . in a tattoo parlor, but he is also a failed business "man", hardly the definition of a desirable employee. Go fail at the freak show in a traveling carnival.
Harsh, zippy.
Tattoos mean something different, apparently, to people under 30 than to me, and I confess they generally make me uneasy.
If this guy wants a good job, to support a family, he should think about getting some skills -- say, a journeyman electrician's license, or plumber's license, or auto tech certification.
Or get to be the world's best guru at some flavor of software everybody needs.
That's how you overcome prejudice based on looks: with skillz.
Spot on Sarah, us old folks just don't understand the youth of today, despite being former youths ourselves.
When my daughters wanted pierced belly buttons I said OK. When they asked about tattoos, I said NO WAY! and explained that it was unlikely that something important to them as young adults would continue to be important for the rest of their lives.
They weren't pleased with my decision, and accused me of being out of touch. The next week, I came home with a bandage on my arm and explained that I'd got a tattoo. There were mild accusations of hypocrisy amid their curiosity about what design I could pick that would be important to me for the rest of my life.
I think they got the message after I removed the bandage and they saw their names bannered around the big red heart on my arm.
So far so good. Older daughter is 21 and remains free of tattoos.
People will find a way to sue for the most obviously stupid reasons. Dude, you got the tattoos on purpose and they look incredibly stupid and now, part of the price you pay, is not being able to exist within what the rest of us call polite society.
You made yourself an outcast and are now crying because you have been cast out?
I'd love to be the judge on this case just so I could shred the attorney who was stupid enough to take the case.
Besides, aren't tattoos passe these days? Woops, they don't go away when they're no longer cool.
Also, he can rejoin society, he's just gotta undergo about a million dollars worth of tattoo removal treatments.
In the age of Death of a Salesman, this guy would have been SOL.
But bob and Sarah are right: today this guy can get a good job or (more likely) start a free-lance career where nobody sees him. No one cares what a home-based Java programmer looks like so long as his code is on time and works. He can even learn most of the skills online, where again no one has to see him. This is a benefit hardly ever available before. Or telemarketing (aside from that's being inherently illegitimate work). In all, the compensating cost here is that the guy will have to work by himself, where no one else will be disturbed.
And accounting for a worker's disturbance value is not discrimination, at least not illegal discrimination. Any worker's value equals the sum of two things: (1) the worker's own contribution, (2) plus the effect the worker has on other workers' contributions. This guy totally loses on #2 because he chose to make a creepy cartoon of himself. His call, his loss, as he's learning. So his best strategy is to cancel the effect by working alone where only value (1) counts. It's not the end of the world, nor even a Jerzy Kosinski *Painted Bird* scenario, however this guy whines.
This is Russell Parrish and I would like to say that I have a really good career and that I honestly am not trying to stick it to anyone.and in addition I am not trying to sue anyone I do not want to sue anyone, and the other things are that when I was searching for the jobs I was over qualified for the positions that I tried to apply for,and was trying to show what others like me go through . I am an educated individual.And 75 percent of people under thirty being generations x&y have at least one tattoo.There have been many misunderstandings concerning the articles that have been written about me and many assumptions that have been made, many were incorrect and the fact of the matter is that most of the pictures on the internet arent even me so I would be grateful to help clear up any more misconceptions. Thank you all Russell Parrish.