Let's paint a picture together, shall we?
It's a Friday night and you just saw the most awesome tattoo online. The itch overcomes you and you just know it: you have to get it. Tonight. So what do you do? Of course, you call one of your local tattoo shops to see if they've got time. They answer with, "Come on in and we'll see what we can do for you." YES!!! You grab your keys and wallet and rush out the door.
You arrive at the shop and see that every chair is full and there are customers waiting on the couch for service. As you are greeted and asked what service you would like, you show the employee your super sick nasty tattoo idea and they nod excitedly. Then you tell them you want it tonight and they respond by telling you that they are booked for the evening. A multitude of thoughts race through your mind and you are given a multiple-choice series of potential responses to this.
"Why would they lie and say they had time if they didn't?" Well, they can't read your mind and see a picture of what you want over the phone. The shop may have had some time for a very small tattoo, but what you want simply requires too much preliminary work to squeeze you in without keeping you until 1:00 AM. Even if you are extremely articulate and can describe your idea really well over the phone, the truth is that some people lie about what they want to try and pull a fast one (i.e. saying they want a "small" tattoo when in reality, they want a pie plate-sized piece). It puts us in a very bad position to definitively tell you that we have time for your tattoo when you haven't even come by and we're not really sure exactly what you're asking us for. Why not just say we're booked up in this instance? The simple answer is that we really may be able to fit your appointment in before we close.
"I called an hour ago and they had time. Why don't they now?" Most shops perform walk-in tattoos on a first come, first serve basis. We get a huge number of calls every day asking if we have time to do a tattoo for someone and only about 1/4 of the people who call actually show up. We can't reserve you a time slot if there is a huge likelihood we may not ever see your face.
"That sucks, so I'm going to call other shops while I'm here to see if they have time." Just don't do this. In a short phrase, it's a dick move. Typically, you go to a tattoo shop because you've looked at their work and usually glowing (if not, hilarious) reviews and you want the best quality work you can get. We treat every customer who comes in as if this is why they have chosen to come here for their tattoo. It really puts a bad taste in our mouth when you take that pleasant assumption and twist it into an "I don't care who does it and I'll actually show you I want to take my money elsewhere" attitude. It is not a malicious thing for a shop to be fully booked up. It means the artists are doing a good enough job that they are in demand and they booked themselves up so that they can know they're going to make money. That's the long and short of it. It is, however, malicious to act like the artists have personally offended you by not having time for your tattoo and being openly petty toward them about it.
"Ah, I get it. It's a busy night of the week for most businesses, so I'll set up an appointment." This is the best possible response if you want to get tattooed. Any type of leisure activity is most in demand on weekends and spots can fill up quickly if you want to have fun. It's like getting to the movie theater only to find out that the midnight premiere of the new Marvel movie is sold out. The best way to avoid disappointment is to plan ahead. You can, of course, come back every day and ask if we have time to see if you'll get lucky, but that's just going to be frustrating for you in the end. You could always make a big stink about it, but that's a great way to not get tattooed.
The long and short of it is this: If you want a tattoo, do a little research first, deciding who you want to be your artist, then swing by the shop and set an appointment. We've had a run of people coming in recently who cop a bad attitude when they find out they can't get tattooed immediately. That isn't a good way to get what you want, but it's a great way to get asked to leave.
