Tattoo artist made fun of my social anxiety
This happened in Septemberish, but it still bothers me. I was getting my second tattoo, and I was nervous as hell, as anyone would be, on top of my social anxiety and having to spend 2 hours with someone I hardly know. I was playing with my hair, which is one of my nervous habits, and the first thing he does is point out that I must be nervous because I’m playing with my hair. He yelled it out across the studio, so everyone can hear, and his tone wasn’t friendly, it was clear he was making fun of it. I should have backed out of the appointment there.
I stopped playing with my hair, and we discuss what I want and the placement of it. I wanted my tattoo to be on the back of my shoulder. I have my reasons for wanting it there. I like the placement and how it kinda peaks out underneath some shirts, but it’s not always visible like my other one. He didn’t like the placement and tried to convince me to get it on my ankle. I said no.
He then noticed my finger was bleeding from picking at the skin around my nails, which he pointed out and said, “that’s weird”.
He also judged my taste in music, saying “oh you’re one of those.”, commented on how quiet I was (“are you dead? Or just not going to talk?”) Etc. it was torture.
The art is REALLY nice and I like the placement, but I think of that appointment every time I look at my tattoo, and I always wonder if the placement is weird and if people judge me for it, despite getting compliments on it. I hate that something I have on me forever brings me back to such a horrible anxiety inducing situation. It was a social anxiety nightmare.
(Edit: another one of his comments was “you can fucking smile. Jesus fucking Christ” that one upset me too.)
tl;dr: I got a tattoo and the artist made fun of a number of things, including my nervous habits that I have as a result of social anxiety