Issue date: 10/10/07 Section: ARTS

Glenn Johnson sat in the lobby of the Career Center, waiting to be interviewed by a major insurance company.
Johnson, a Rochester, Ind., senior, sported a gray suit and tightly knotted tie, not only to dress in business attire, but to cover something.
"I have a tattoo," said Johnson as he pointed to his arm, "but as long as I cover it up, it's no big deal."
Boasting two universities and multiple high schools, Denton is a large community with a population hovering near 103,029, according to city estimates; NT alone has 33,550 students. With this population, employers have no shortage of people applying for jobs.
"We get somewhere around 40 applicants per year, but we only have six positions available," said Sherri Faoro, an apartment complex manager. "When I look for employees, I want somebody that can hold a conversation, somebody with personality. My employees sell apartments, so they must be able to talk well."
Local tattoo artist Pat Beck, owner and main artist of Arsenal Tattoo Company on University Drive, said he has owned his own tattoo shop for more than 13 years, and does not care what other people think about the tattoo culture.
"I don't really care what people think when they look at me and all my tattoos. But you can tell when you walk into a place and get stared at pretty good," Beck said. "It's mostly the older generation that think tattoos are trashy and that I'm a bad person. I've been running my own business for 13, going on 14 years; I pay my taxes like everybody else, and just because I'm tattooed on my arms doesn't mean anything."
Beck, who is heavily tattooed, said he has never had any problems with former employers.
"I used to work for the state in College Station, and I didn't have to deal with the public, so they never cared that I had tats, but at that time I didn't have anything on my forearms," Beck said. "I'm sure if I would have had stuff on my forearms, they might have said something."
Sherri Faoro agreed with Beck that sometimes tattoos and piercings can be distracting in the workplace.
"When somebody comes in to look at apartments, I want them to focus on the words coming out of the leasing agent's mouth, the information about the property, not what's hanging out of their face, or their ears or nose or whatever," Faoro said. "I don't want their piercing or their hair-do or hair color to distract from what they're saying."
Beck said that now people can do what they want with their bodies and still be successful in the business world.
"Everybody these days wants to work for themselves; nobody wants to work for the man," Beck said, while wearing a black shirt with the sleeves cut off. "That's one of the reasons I work for myself. I worked for the state for 13 years, even while I was tattooing, and I couldn't go to work dressed like this, but now I can."

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