Body art in a restaurant setting ....

[Gifted Gourmet]

Recently we had a thread on servers who touch your food as they are serving you .. which made me think somewhat further on a related topic: what are your personal feelings and reactions to a server with either piercings and/or tattoos?

Does this bother you? If so, how do you react?

Do you tend to avoid places who have servers with such things, or is it inconsequential?

How about blue hair? (or any other unusual colors?)

And an eyebrow ring or nose ring? Turn off or turn on?

[daniellewiley]

what are your personal feelings and reactions to a server with either piercings and/or tattoos?

Does this bother you? If so, how do you react?

Do you tend to avoid places who have servers with such things, or is it inconsequential?

How about blue hair? (or any other unusual colors?)

And an eyebrow ring or nose ring? Turn off or turn on?

I like it. Except for certain body mutilations, I find all of the above rather attractive, especially tattoos.

That said, in certain situations, I'm not expecting body art, so I don't know how I'd react to a tattooed water at say, Les Deux Magots while enjoying warm chevre on Pain Poilane.

[Ore]

Ciao,

I think, as long as it is presentable to that certain location, and management is cool with it being there - it's cool with me. The way the FOH acts really sets the mood for the restaurant. You can tell when they are in the weeds and service will be crap, you can tell when they are goofing off and you are just another diner, and you can tell when they are serious about the food and making you enjoy your stay where ever you may be.

I remember watching a tv show about Japanese people who have full body tatoos. One person interviewed was a school principal who wears make up on his face and covers all his body with clothing (like all other people do) when he is at work - when he is home though - he looks like one very serious piece of art - just wanted to throw that in - kinda weird why it can't be accepted.

Anyway - if you don't like it - don't go back! I think it's cool and can't wait to get written on!

Ciao,

Ore

[Carrot Top]

I wonder if the responses to this question for the most part will be determined by the age group of the respondants....

The tone and atmosphere of a restaurant setting are very much affected and determined by the criteria and style that management (hopefully) has clearly set forth for the service staff, and of course the final goal is to make the core group of customers happy and ready to come back soon.

Most of my professional life was spent in an atmosphere that catered to very wealthy businesspeople intent on fine wine-ing and dining and doing billion dollar deals over the shared table. Tattoos and piercings and any other sort of 'look' that drew attention to the server were, well, taboo. For the attention was supposed to be on the food and quality of service, and on the guests's needs, and not ever to be focused specifically on the person that was providing the service.

In many 'upscale' restaurants today, of course, there is more focus on the fun of the moment, and servers are participants and performers in hopefully providing this sense of fun.

I still prefer to have excellent service provided by someone who is more intent on showing off the food and the hospitality rather than how fascinating they, personally, are...but as I say, it could be an age thing, for I'm 47, which is old enough to be of the age group when tattoos and piercings were considered sort of tacky socially, which they certainly are not now!

This is an interesting subject...can't wait to see what the general consensus is!

[fifi]

Tattoos don't bother me much but odd piercings really gross me out. Age = 57.

[Pan]

I don't care one way or the other, though I suppose it's possible that a really weird tattoo or piercing might put me off some time. I'm 39 and live in the middle of a major piercing district. I have no piercings and no tattoos and never intend to get any, but what others do is up to them.

[Katherine]

In a funky cafe, whatever. In a nice restaurant, no giant septum rings, no safety pins in the face, no obvious split tongues, please.

[Gifted Gourmet]

This is an interesting subject...can't wait to see what the general consensus is!

I thought so as well, but thank you for finding it of interest ..

Yes, I agree with you and others that age will most definitely be a factor in the acceptance or rejection of servers who display body art ... My personal feeling is that the majority of posters will find this 'display' perfectly acceptable ... most of the people here are young enough to have grown up and accepted all manner of individuality without question and disapproval ... and I admire that!

My parents, on the other hand, would have found this idea of individuality foolish and immature and totally unacceptable .. and, even at my age, I can see their point, through the eyes of their generation ...

I don't hold their views on much of anything ... a rebel to the end ...

[whippy]

i'm not really sure it IS an age issue.

isn't it a class issue instead?

when u go somewhere cheap (i.e., "funky") we're not paying enough to care about the uniform of the servers. how many older people would go to a cheap and "funky" joint and be upset about a random piercing?

but when we go somewhere expensive (i.e., "nice") we indulge our aristocratic fantasy that the servers should display a certain uniform. isn't it what we pay for a meal that dictates the standard of servers' uniforms?

[Gifted Gourmet]

when we go somewhere expensive (i.e., "nice") we indulge our aristocratic fantasy that the servers should display a certain uniform.

Obviously the management at the Dining Room at our local Ritz Carleton is not going to be hiring too many Goth servers in black eye makeup, with spikes driven through their eyebrows ...

Edited July 31, 2004 by Gifted Gourmet (log)

[Susan G]

I don't care if my server has a nipple ring, navel piercing or a prince albert...............I'd just rather not know. Really, it's just not the place to show me!

Tattoos are fine, although I admit to wondering if the service will be professional or whimsical.............

If my server has a facial piercing (say, cheek or septum or forehead), I'm ordering a coffee instead of a meal and then leaving. I suspect the performance artist would be disrespectful of my meal: Isn't the whole point of piercings to, "epater les bourgeoisie"?

[Carrot Top]

One thing is, that every time I see a person with a nose ring, my mind takes me back to several years ago, standing in a corner of a hayfield with a couple of my neighbors....me, the newcomer from the big city being instructed by them, farmers that had grown up on the land, on How to Raise a Pig, which for some inane reason I was thinking of doing.

We stood there and discussed many things, fences, fodder, water supply...and I listened, fascinated, with the immense amount of knowledge they had and also with bemusement at the many things they disagreed upon, on a subject that I had thought would be a simple one....

One thing they did agree on, though, and they enjoyed expressing themselves about it...and I can never forget it, for they sort of sang it out, over and over, nodding their heads in unison with an occassional spit of chewing tobacco here and there inbetween....

What they were saying (after I figured it out, which took me a couple of minutes, though I nodded knowingly anyway...it seemed appropriate...) was:

"You gotta ring 'er, or she's gonna root."

Unfortunately this sentence always comes to mind every time I see a nose ring since then....

Obviously both the nose ring wearers and the farmers have enriched my life!

[Gifted Gourmet]

I suspect the performance artist would be disrespectful of my meal: Isn't the whole point of piercings to, "epater les bourgeoisie"?

Oui, vraiment, .. "amaze the middle class bourgeoisie"

and if you are able to see their nipple rings, then I am leaving, without a tip .. oops ...

[Busboy]

and if you are able to see their nipple rings, then I am leaving, without a tip .. oops ...

Dependson the nipple,I'd say.

[Pan]

In a funky cafe, whatever. In a nice restaurant, no giant septum rings, no safety pins in the face, no obvious split tongues, please.

Split tongues? Yuck! I don't want to see those anywhere, except on a snake!

[Gifted Gourmet]

Split tongues? Yuck! I don't want to see those anywhere, except on a snake!

Think I'll pass on the snake as well .... Give me the Goth server anyday .. less deadly ... maybe ...

[jackal10]

http://www.bme.freeq.com Edited July 31, 2004 by jackal10 (log)

[CtznCane]

While there may be some age biased opinions (I'm 52 with tattoos, etc.) I think it more comes down to expectations we have for the eating experience and just how pierced or tattood the server is. The real key is whether it takes our focus away from the meal and overall ambience. If it fits in within the image that's fine, if it alters our perception then it is not fine and I wouldn't be pleased. Right or wrong, good or bad is not the issue. As the diner, only what we perceive and how it matches our expectations is important.

Then again, I doubt we will really encounter that as usually the restaurant will hire people who fit their image or at least are within its outer boundaries. If the person in question isn't seen or their tats/piercings aren't, then there is nothing for us to know about anyhow.

[JennotJenn]

As long as it's not serious body mutilation (tongue splitting and the ilk) or racist/prison tatoos, I don't care. That kinda stuff, casual setting, bar, whatever, is going to have me running for the door. OK, maybe i could handle the split tongue in a bar, but hide the prison tats, please.

I'm 26, btw, and have had my share of piercings, some public, some private. My husband went through a phase where he had major piercings...'bout everything but his nose...and bright blue hair.

Anyway, something lilke dirty fingernails or greasy hair is going to turn me off more than a clean person with tats or piercings at any type of establishment. I would be more surprised than disgusted to see something like that in a nice place, though.

[docsconz]

I think it really depends on how distracting it is to the primary purpose of the restaurant and how much it stands out. I generally go to a restaurant for the food. Sometimes I go to a place for a particular ambience in addition to food. If that ambience is more casual and avant-garde and it is the case where most or all of the servers are such that they fit into the overall atmosphere of the restaurant -fine. If, however, the body art is distracting from eithe the food or my dining companions it is more likely to not be appreciated. So to me, it is not the body art, per se, although if I were at Per Se it would detract from the experience

[Carolyn Tillie]

When I was managing events at the Music Center in LA, there was a pretty strict "dress code" for servers that small, non-dangly earrings were okay, other facial piercings (eyebrows, lips, cheeks, noses) were not. It was an attempt for uniformity and in seemless service, no one should stand out other than by providing perfect, pristine service.

Every now and then, a newbie server would show up with a fresh piercing and claim they could not remove it or the hole would seal up. They were given the choice of the piercing or the job -- as these were often just one-evening gigs, they would usually opt for the job...

[jmcgrath]

How about Andy Husband's tats? That's my Klose pit he's playing with.

Jim

[Gifted Gourmet]

This is an older thread but when I read this item, it brought it all back to me:

Wyoming Considers Banning Facial Piercings In Restaurants

The Governor's Food Safety Council has recommended a ban on facial jewelry for restaurant workers who prepare food.  If the rule is adopted, Wyoming would likely become the first state in the country to enact such a prohibition.

Jon Cecil of the Cheyenne Health Department testified earlier this year before the council of reports that people were finding tongue rings in their restaurant food.

Tongue rings??

scroll down to read about Subway's policy ...

Discrete (maybe 'discreet' is a better word?) tattoos permitted 

Limited to one per ear 

Company literature specifies: "Non-dangling earrings in the ears only. Any other visible parts of body may not be adorned with jewelry."

[CompassRose]

I'm another one who mostly doesn't care. Things I don't want to see: like JennotJenn, any racist tattoos. Or hair that looks like it's going to end up in my food -- crazy dreads or giant Goth teases.

But I feel the same way about girly girl big hair, poufed and sprayed. Rather see it tied back. And long painted nails? Blech.

[*Deborah*]

I don't want to notice anything, in a "nice" restaurant.

I don't want to see your pierced navel (I don't really want to see your navel at all, actually, or your g-string, or that oh-so-individualistic tattoo that you and every other person under the age of 30 appears to be wearing these days across the lower back). I certainly don't want to be able to know that your nipples are pierced (either gender). And somehow nose piercings don't do it for me in the dining room.

It's all a matter of placement though, as none of those things would bother me in a bar or a cafe or on the street, although tongue piercings always make me think of infections, and skeeve me no matter where I see them.

I'm 38, and most of my friends have tattoos and I think I have the fewest piercings (only one in each ear) of any girl I know...