| "Two buckets full of blood," laughed the man who seemed to own the shop and claimed to have a collection of almost 20,000 tattoo designs to choose from. |
| Of course, when it came to choosing the tattoo and its placement, I received no suggestions from the expert except a demonstration of pain. And so, inside the tattoo shop, I first had my waist pinched, as a measure of the pain a similar pinch would generate on my lower back. |
| I had so many questions. Would I be administered some local anaesthesia? "Of course. We have a huge stick there that we'll hit with on your head so you go numb," came the reply, followed by an explanation that the pain would be comparable to that of waxing. |
| Every question I threw at the tattoo man first won a sarcastic (yet witty) answer, followed by an honest one. And then there was the one that demanded a roar of laughter from him "" if I were to get a tattoo on my arm, and then gain or lose fat, would my tattoo stretch or wrinkle with it? |
| Recovering from his laughing binge, he offered a convincing explanation of how that would happen only if I had the sagging skin of an 80-year-old. Phew! Not likely...just yet. |
| Friendly, funny and not a bit snobbish, the tattoo man was very forthcoming with his answers. I assume he deals with similar ones on a daily basis and is probably just friendly by nature. That would explain the reason for a returning clientele, one of whom I was introducted to at the shop. |
| The tattoo man came close to making me revolt against my mother's refusal to allow me a tattoo, except that I would have liked a little more personal attention... probably some voluntary ideas and suggestions on styles and designs, placement and size and suitability. Ah well! |
| SCORE: Friendly when probed but oblivious to the customer's needs "" 7/10 |
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