The facts: we had a special event schedule for Saturday the 16th of June, so the shop was going to be closed that day. One of the new guys wrongly scheduled Deuce for that day so we had to call two people to get them rescheduled. One appointment we were able to move up a couple of days due to a cancellation, the other we moved back a day. One day. Saturday to Sunday.

Saturday Deuce wrecked his motorcycle. He’s going to be okay, but he’s banged up and wasn’t going to make it to work the next day. Usually when something like this happens the artist will contact their client personally to handle the rescheduling. Because of what was going on that didn’t happen. Will was with Deuce when the wreck happened and had to make a lot of last minute changes to things to handle this event, since we try not to disappoint. After tattooing Deuce’s first appointment that Sunday, Will discovered his second appointment hadn’t been notified, so he called the client. The client’s name is Ruth, but we think Ruth is a guy, the current state of transgender politics notwithstanding, it becomes important later (we’re not sure if Ruth is trans or not, we just believe the person to be a dude). We know that’s a lot of information, but we’re trying to keep this short.

Will called Ruth, introduced himself as being from Lighthouse Tattoo, apologized for the late call, and let Ruth know that Deuce had been in an accident and that we would need reschedule their appointment.

Ruth didn’t ask if Deuce was okay. He didn’t thank Will for calling to let him know so he didn’t waste his time coming to the shop that day. Ruth sighed and thought it would be a good idea to bitch about having to be rescheduled again. Did we mention he didn’t even ask if Deuce was okay?

In case you haven’t heard, Will isn’t terribly famous for being reasonable, and at this point he was understandably a bit short tempered. He just muttered, ‘Well, I don’t like that.’ and hung up the phone. In Will’s mind, our business was done here and it was better than letting loose with the string of ‘motherfuckers’ that was on the tip of his tongue at the time. Knowing that discretion is the better part of valor, he just decided to move on.

Ruth called back. Will answered with a succinct ‘If you come up here I will fuck you up’ and hung up again, just in case Ruth thought we’d gotten disconnected. Ruth called back again and we declined the call. He left a message rambling about our unprofessionalism that completely glosses over his apparent disregard for Deuce’s physical well-being. Now we’re writing this. Just to be clear: We won’t be doing business with Ruth again, there will be no refunds, and there is the distinct probability of serous physical violence if Ruth decides to be stupid enough to show his face. Free amateur dental work, anyone?

The point we’re trying to make here is that we won’t be doing business with people who treat us like we’re less that human beings. Watch your attitude at Lighthouse Tattoo, or don’t come here, it’s not negotiable.