Appearance - Beards, Tats & Piercings

[rennigade]

You looked up a stranger on Facebook? That comes off a bit creepy to me.

Just another reason to not have facebook imo. Apparently future employers do this too...they'll interview you then dig up as much dirt as possible. I cant believe people willingly use social media for personal use.

[disneysteve]

You looked up a stranger on Facebook? That comes off a bit creepy to me.

You've never looked anyone up online? Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, a plain old Google search?

Anyway, this wasn't a "stranger". We met him and his wife on a cruise we took in December. We were sailing with a group of a couple hundred people. They were part our our group but we didn't know them prior to the trip. We got friendly with them during the week and have continued to stay in touch since. And yes, we are all friends on Facebook now.

[disneysteve]

Just another reason to not have facebook imo. Apparently future employers do this too...they'll interview you then dig up as much dirt as possible. I cant believe people willingly use social media for personal use.

You can't dig up any dirt on me by looking at my Facebook page. Unless we are friends, you can't see my photos. You can't read my posts. You can only see my profile and there's certainly nothing in there that I wouldn't want others to see or else it wouldn't be there. If you want to know where I work or where I went to school, that's on there, but that's also called networking, which is a good thing.

[rennigade]

You can't dig up any dirt on me by looking at my Facebook page. Unless we are friends, you can't see my photos. You can't read my posts. You can only see my profile and there's certainly nothing in there that I wouldn't want others to see or else it wouldn't be there. If you want to know where I work or where I went to school, that's on there, but that's also called networking, which is a good thing.

Facebook may have been at one time a place to network...I think thats all but dead now. Seems more like a place to rant or sell things like those dumb leggings and that pink drink plexis crap. I guess linkendin picked up the networking slack that facebook lost.

All too frequently you see people losing jobs over a facebook post/picture or someone tweeting. Even pictures that we consider non offensive or mild gets people canned all the time...especially teachers. Oh you were at a bbq over the weekend and you wore a tank top that exposed too much cleavage and you're holding a beer...you may not have a job next week. If you're a teacher and use social media you're asking for trouble.

[PeggyHefferon]

You've never looked anyone up online? Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, a plain old Google search?

Anyway, this wasn't a "stranger". We met him and his wife on a cruise we took in December. We were sailing with a group of a couple hundred people. They were part our our group but we didn't know them prior to the trip. We got friendly with them during the week and have continued to stay in touch since. And yes, we are all friends on Facebook now.

Only a home nurse who I hired to stay with my mother when I had to go out of town for a few days.

In the situation you described, no I would not think to snoop into their personal life.

[james.hendrickson]

Tattoos and body art are statistically associated with risky behavior, including drinking and drug use. If employers want a healthy workforce who will be safe and show up for work, they would be at least somewhat justified in taking a closer look at applicants who have tattoos and body piercings.

Here is the evidence:


Tattoos and body piercings in the United States: A national data set
Anne E. Laumann, MBChB, MRCP(UK)'Correspondence information about the author MBChB, MRCP(UK) Anne E. Laumann∗,Email the author MBChB, MRCP(UK) Anne E. Laumann , Amy J. Derick, MD
From the Section of Dermatology, University of Chicago
∗Current affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Northwestern University; data collected while in the Section of Dermatology, University of Chicago; analysis started while at the University of Chicago and continued while at Northwestern University.
Chicago, IllinoisSee commentary on page 422

Background

Little is known about the prevalence and consequences of body art application.

Objective

Our aim was to provide US tattooing and body piercing prevalence, societal distribution, and medical and social consequence data.

Methods

Random digit dialing technology was used to obtain a national probability sample of 253 women and 247 men who were 18 to 50 years of age.

Results

Of our respondents, 24% had tattoos and 14% had body piercings. Tattooing was equally common in both sexes, but body piercing was more common among women. Other associations were a lack of religious affiliation, extended jail time, previous drinking, and recreational drug use. Local medical complications, including broken teeth, were present in one third of those with body piercings. The prevalence of jewelry allergy increased with the number of piercings. Of those with tattoos, 17% were considering removal but none had had a tattoo removed.

Limitations

This was a self-reported data set with a 33% response rate.

Conclusion

Tattooing and body piercing are associated with risk-taking activities. Body piercing has a high incidence of medical complications.

Link: http://www.jaad.org/article/S0190-96...831-0/abstract

[disneysteve]

In the situation you described, no I would not think to snoop into their personal life.

I wasn't snooping into his personal life. I was going to his Facebook page to send him a friend request. I did the same for his wife. We are all friends now. While at his page, I did look at his info which is when I learned about his education background and occupation.

[disneysteve]

Conclusion

Tattooing and body piercing are associated with risk-taking activities.

What a bunch of crap!

People doing studies need to take a statistics class first. There is a well-known saying in statistics: Correlation does not imply causation. Just because a lot of people who use drugs have tattoos does not mean that one causes the other. Sure, you can probably find a lot of people in jail who have tattoos but that doesn't mean that everyone who goes out and gets a tattoo is, or is going to become, a criminal.

[PeggyHefferon]

I think there is some truth to the study, although the risky behavior of alcohol and drug use comes off more of a stigma than reality. The majority of people I know that have tattoos are more adventurous. Sometimes those adventures include activity deemed risky. Not a bad thing unless the adventure puts others at risk.

[disneysteve]

I had a patient, an older man, who once told me he was getting a tattoo. I asked him why he had decided to do it at that stage of life. He said he had always wanted one but his mother was strongly opposed to them so out of respect for her, he didn't do it. His mother, who had also been a patient of mine, had passed away the previous year and with her no longer there, he finally felt it was okay to go ahead and do it. So this 60+ year old guy went and got himself the tattoo he had always wanted. I think he was already retired at that point so it didn't affect anything employment-wise. It just made him happy.

[bennkar]

What a bunch of crap!

People doing studies need to take a statistics class first. There is a well-known saying in statistics: Correlation does not imply causation. Just because a lot of people who use drugs have tattoos does not mean that one causes the other. Sure, you can probably find a lot of people in jail who have tattoos but that doesn't mean that everyone who goes out and gets a tattoo is, or is going to become, a criminal.

*** Statistics major chiming in here ***

DS, I have to straighten you out on this one. You're right that correlation does not imply causation, but correlation does imply correlation, which is all I see mentioned with that study. The phrase Correlation does not imply causation would be saying that once you get a tattoo you are now more likely to do risky things than if you didn't get the tattoo, which of course you can't say. What this is saying is that as a group, people that get tattoos are more likely to do risky things even before they got their first tattoo, which you can say. Its a slight difference in understanding, but an important one.

[disneysteve]

What this is saying is that as a group, people that get tattoos are more likely to do risky things even before they got their first tattoo, which you can say. Its a slight difference in understanding, but an important one.

Makes sense. Although I'm still not sure I agree with their conclusion.

[hamchan]

Facebook actually helped me get my current job. After I sent in my resume, my employer looked me up on Facebook and found that we had a mutual friend, who I both went to school with and had worked with for a year. He asked our mutual friend about me and she had only positive things to say about me. By the time I went in for an interview he had pretty much already decided to hire me.

And to circle back around, he absolutely loves my tattoos and thinks they are beautiful. I realize sometimes people are in a position where they don't have a lot of other options, but I for one have no desire to work for someone who has strong negative opinions about tattoos, or would not hire someone over a picture of them holding a beer on Facebook. I cannot imagine I would be happy working for someone who micromanaged me like that. There are a handful of employers in my field who have that reputation and I wouldn't even apply there. It's not as if they offer better pay, so why bother?

[Outdoorsygal]

Tattoos no doubt, are related to riskier behavior and criminal behavior as well. Mutilating your body with ink via needles isn't clearly very smart, in most instances.

We had two tattoo shops in the town where we sold our home.Strategically placed where the criminal activity occurs otherwise I doubt they'd have any business.
One shop was owned by a lesbian couple, a lady we later learned carried the AIDS virus. HPV? Can't recall now but they were arrested for dealing drugs on the side.
No surprise if you saw them

They would cut thru our neighborhood. You just knew to make sure everything was locked up.
Lots of crime around there. Something we do not do here, it's so nice....
I noticed the shop isn't there anymore but in the years since we sold, many working class mexicans moved in so a higher class people of sorts
Our son is trying to buy a home on that side of town and it looks much nicer than it did a decade ago.
The crime in the complex he lives in is much lower than years ago.

When I am old, I may get a tattoo. It will list my health issues as a reminder of sorts.

[disneysteve]

All too frequently you see people losing jobs over a facebook post/picture or someone tweeting.

Most of the stories of that sort that I've heard have been because the person in question did something stupid. Often times it was something that clearly violated their employer's internet usage policy.

There will always be people who think that when they are not at work, they can do and say whatever they please and it won't impact their jobs, but that's not how life works. Employers have the right to manage their company's reputation and if one of their employees is doing something publicly that mars that reputation, they have the right to let that employee go.

We have always drilled into our daughter's head (as a member of the internet-native generation) that anything that goes online is there forever and must be assumed to be public no matter how you actually post it. If you don't want the world to see it, don't put it on the internet. If you'd be embarrassed or ashamed if your mother/father/grandmother/boss/priest/rabbi or whoever saw it, then you shouldn't be posting it.