For some time I thought that knuckle tattoos were a touch ridiculous. I liked the look of them, but couldn’t actually justify getting one myself simply because I had no idea what two, short words I would be okay with resting prominently on my hands for all to see. Then I plotted my sleeve, got the artist set up, figured out a price and a rough date, and have now been trying to save for it. Along with that, I’ve settled on the tattoos that’ll cover my right arm and am anxious to get that ball rolling on both accounts. Point is, figuring out my next tattoos has become a breeze and money is the only thing holding me back on all accounts. I’ve even settled on a knuckle tattoo that I’m pretty excited for. There’s simply one issue with the knuckle tattoo that drives me insane. Simply put, such an obvious tattoo is pretty much impossible to cover—and I wouldn’t want to regardless. Corporate america, however, wouldn’t really agree with me that having “word nerd” stamped on your fingers is professional appearance.

Return visitors to my blog will recognize the upcoming rant. To you, I would apologize but this is my blog, so I can post whatever I feel like. Newcomers, strap in and prepare to hear me complain!

Alright, workplace discrimination against tattoos drives me absolutely insane. Actually all forms of workplace discrimination do—it just isn’t right on any level. That aside, equal opportunity protects your race, gender, and religion as things that can get a business in rather impressive amounts of trouble if you’re discriminated against for any of them. Two out of those three items are things you cannot control in your life, so it makes perfect sense for them to be covered. The third, religion, is as much a choice as what color underwear you’ll wear tomorrow. Yet, that’s protected. I give far more thought into my tattoos than my daily wardrobe, yet I would have to wear long sleeve shirts on a regular basis if I desired a job at any number of businesses. Currently, my only visible tattoo (when I’m not shirtless) is a Fleur-de-lis that is roughly and inch tall and one wide. It sits on my right wrist, is barely noticeable, and covered easily whenever I wear a watch. Despite that, I had to don a long sleeved shirt every day of my employment at a daycare, ensuring my sleeves never crept up enough to reveal it if parents were around.

When I finish the tattoos I have planned for both arms, this will undoubtedly intensify and I’ll have to go to further lengths when applying for a new job to keep them out of sight. Yes, I understand that getting a tattoo is a choice and that I understood the nonsensical stigma attached to them when I sat in the chair, waiting for the buzz of the ink gun. I get that. What I don’t get is why it’s there. Your religion is as much a choice as my tattoos, yet it’s against the law to deny employment based on religion. To me, that’s completely unfair and more than a little ridiculous. I could understand if vulgar or such tattoos were the ones that could prevention you from getting a job; you wouldn’t necessarily want the guy helping your grandma at the nursing home to have a winged penis etched into his forehead, but to damn all tattooed people to lives of either finding jobs where they don’t care, or resigning to the rules and covering them up.

As a side note, if you ask what the big deal with covering a tattoo up is, I will seriously come over there and punch you in the face. Tattoos are expensive and the people who get them are pretty much always proud of them—we like showing them off because they’re part of us as much as a woman’s new haircut she gets frustrated about because her husband doesn’t notice. They’re a part of us, and it’s a shame to have to hide that.

On a side note, the above statements can also be applied to piercings. Considering I don’t have any myself, I can’t really present my feelings on the matter aside from the fact that they should also be covered.

My point is simple, I’m allowed to worship a thirty foot tall lemur who breathes fire, speaks in backwards Italian, and eats nothing but baby squid so long as it doesn’t interfere with my work too much, but having the phrase word nerd tattooed on my knuckles would deny me a job at most banks, daycares, and freaking Starbucks among countless others. How is that right?

-Rj