I have been asked recently by many different types of clients from all walks of life, "What is appropriate for a tip?" This is a really great question for so many reasons...
Think about your experience...
That is where I would start. Did you have a good experience? Was your tattoo artist knowledgeable? Friendly? Make you feel at home? Go out of their way to relate to you?
If the answer is YES to any of those questions, wouldn't you want to recognize that?
When you go to a good restaurant and the wait staff is AWESOME...do you not go out of your way to thank them with more than a 10% tip? I know I sure do.
Now think about what it takes to do THAT job and what your day must be like waiting tables and dealing with people's food experience. It is pretty easy to put yourself in those shoes and feel for their day personally.
Now think about what it takes to be a tattoo artist...I will bet you cannot imagine that to save your life. It takes great skill and competence to put something permanent on someone's skin. People come to us from all over wanting a personal experience and a custom tattoo work of art. We challenge ourselves for 12+ hours a day to give you that experience. I, personally, believe that our position should be rewarded when we give you exactly what you asked for plus so much more!
Because as Godlike as people think that we are because we can wield a tiny machine with some ink wells and make pretty pictures on your skin...we are regular blue collar people JUST LIKE YOU! We have families to feed and bills to pay along with really expensive supplies to acquire just to do our jobs.
We don't rely on our tips to survive...its not about the money. We rely on being positive and having a positive experience doing this work for you guys, our clients. So, come on guys, show us that we are doing a good job and making your experience great!
Tip your tattoo artist more than a few dollars for a 100.00 tattoo. Make sure that at the very least you are giving them what you are giving your AWESOME bartender or waitress on that 100.00 bar tab.
Show the love yall! Because we love putting on our artist hat for you and we do love what we do. We want to have a good time with you not just for you.