I recently wrote a short article for a local free newspaper. The article was to go with an advert for the piercing studio where I go, I could write an article about anything related to Nala (piercing studio) or myself. I decided to write about getting a job and how difficult it can be with body modifications.
At A Glance Author Brad Porter Contact [email protected] IAM issueskid When N/A My second short editorial is about a customer complaint I received at work recently. I decided both short editorials tied in with each other, part 1 raises my point and part 2 just goes to show how people will discriminate against you if you have something that they are unfamiliar with, they become scared and instantly want to be locked away in there little world free from all this change. I hope you enjoy.
Part 1 � Tamworth editorial
Tamworth, its current state the same as ever and the same as everywhere. Most people are not accepted in society because of the way they look, dress or simply there way of life. I happen to be one of those people but society will not change me.
My name is Brad, I will be 20 in a week and I go to college and work in a supermarket, the same as a normal 20 year old boy I guess except I have to hide the way I look at times. Getting a job is not simply turning up for an interview and showing them I have good grades and that I am capable of doing the work. I have to take some of my 14 piercings out and hide my tattoos. Although I don't regret any of my body modifications it's sad that people like me are discriminated against purely because I am into a certain culture which most people find "freaky" or "offensive".
I am in fact just like most other people of my age, I get along fine with people once they get to know me, many people at work always tell me that if they were to walk past me in the street they would be shocked, but because they work with me and see me in uniform with less visible piercings I become acceptable to them. This is very frustrating but I guess that's the judgmental world we live in?
Cultures like this should not be hidden away, people like me should not be judged so quickly, after all what has our generation got to be proud of? What do we have to be remembered by? Maybe this cultural boom of body modification should be embraced and remembered for years to come as a positive means of self expression.
Part 2 � The disgust of humans
As I talked about in my newspaper article, piercings are generally not accepted, especially in the work place. A classic example of this happened on Sunday 28th December 2003.
I was working on the produce department and due to the fact that I now have a surface piercing in my arm, I am in fact the vilest disgusting piece of shit on earth and I physically make people sick. Why am I saying this about myself? Well I leave a few piercings in while I am at work, mainly new piercings that I cannot take out such as my surface piercing.
Later on in the day, towards the end of my shift I found out that a customer had made a complaint about my surface piercing, this was an old woman claiming that my arm was disgusting and that it made her feel sick. Im sure many of you reading this feel such hated for these kind of comments, how dare she complain that my body art makes her feel sick? Do I complain about her haemorrhoids, varicose veins and false teeth? Ok so im being a little harsh, I didn't even see the woman but you get my point. She has complained about something which shouldn't concern her, why can't she get on with her shopping and leave me alone, im doing my job and im not interfering with her life.
Im sure she's probably had her ears pierced or wore false earrings, and if not im sure she doesn't look down on everybody with ear piercings, but just because I choose to have a piercing in a less than ordinary place she feels sick? Come on, what is the world coming to when people feel sick because of somebody else's own means of expression. Im not harming her or anybody else, I have to clean and deal with my piercing, not her so why should she be so bothered about my arm that she has to make a complaint?
Our society is in a shitty state, instead of complaining about real issues this woman has to fill her meaningless existence with shit that she feels is big concern, the fact that "the boy on produce has a bar in his arm" is obviously more important and a greater issue to the world than say the people on the doll sitting in their house taking money off tax payers?
It makes me so angry that the bad ones get praise because they fit in with the rest of the world but people like me and probably you get discriminated and told that were less deserving of a job because we have a piece of metal in our skin or ink on our skin?