Oh man, will the ancient stereotypes of tattooed people never end? Just die already. Jeepers. Sure, we can sit here and tell ourselves day in and day out that tattoos are completely mainstream now and that everyone is adjusted to seeing tattooed people in the workplace. Unfortunately, as much as I’d really love to believe that, it just still isn’t true.
On one hand, yes many jobs are currently becoming increasingly tolerant of employees with tattoos, but once you cross over into jobs that are supposed to reflect some sort of imagined standard of how “civilized” society should behave, it’s a whole other ball game.
Take for example, the Lothian and Borders officers (those are police officers, by the way) in Scotland. A recent policy that governs these officers declares that all officers must cover any and all visible tattoos on their bodies. The Lothian and Borders officers are the very same officers who guard Queen Elizabeth II’s Palace of Holyrood as well as the Scottish Parliament. At any rate, a group of these officers are not taking this new tattoo ban lightly and are protesting, with plans to appeal the ruling using Scotland’s Human Rights Act.
“Until recently the Edinburgh-based force, responsible for security at The Palace of Holyrood and the Scottish Parliament, only took action against tattoos that were racist, offensive or sectarian. One tattooed officer said: “We’ll have to wear long-sleeve shirts, even in summer.”
I say good luck to these officers and their protest against an outdated and just plain ridiculous stereotype. These men are on the force, they have passed their exams, they have proven their worth and what’s more, they have dedicated their lives to protecting the Queen of England and a handful of Scottish politicians. They clearly aren’t a threat to anyone.
Hey, I’m sick of seeing the Queen’s face every time that I take a bill out of my wallet to pay for something. But I deal with it because that’s just the way things are. One would think that the same sort of tolerance could be shown for the Lothian and Borders officers and their tattoos. The tattoos aren’t going anywhere. The powers that be don’t have to like them, but they can’t force the officers to cover up. It just isn’t right. Deal with it, folks.