Howdy!! I often forget how many tattoos I actually have until the warm weather hits and shorts and T-shirts are appropriate again. It’s so easy to not even think about a majority of my tattoos when they are consistently covered up with jeans and hoodies all fall and winter long! This past week, we enjoyed eighty degree days in the good ol’ A-K-Rowdy and I was excited to finally break out shorts and a T from Misny Merch. I am used to a lot of the usual comments when my tattoos are out… “How much did those cost?”, “what hurt the most?”, “why do you have so many?”, and so on and so forth. However, I never experienced anything quite like what I did when I was job coaching at work.
While I was on site on Tuesday, I had not one, not two, not three, but FOUR people in under an hour grab me to get a “closer look” at different pieces. This made for a grand total of SIX times in two days, but I had never had that happen so many times in such a short period. This is my PSA to PLEASE DON’T DO THAT. It is an absolute invasion of personal space, shows no respect for a person’s boundaries, and is simply insane that adults don’t know how to keep their hands to themselves.
As this was all happening, I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone because it just kept happening lol. I don’t know about all of you, but I have never grabbed a person’s hair because I liked it and wanted to learn about the color and cut. I have never grabbed a person’s shirt because it was adorable and I wanted to know the brand. It is shocking to me that such an easy concept to grasp just flew out the window when my tattoos were involved. Body modifications do not give anyone permission to touch you. Nothing gives anyone permission to touch you without your consent. And just for good measure, I repeat: No one should touch you without your consent!!!! Get it together, people. Je-sus.
Word to the wise, if you would like to get a closer look at someone’s ink – just ask. Ninety-nine percent of the time, we are happy to accommodate, but don’t take lightly to being grabbed out of nowhere. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk!
What is a weird situation you have encountered in public? What is one of your biggest pet peeves? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
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