Takiap wrote:STEVE G wrote:When I was working in SE Asia, I remember one case of someone almost getting refused a work permit in one country for having tatoos on show as they're still associated with prisons and organised crime in many societies.
Yes you're correct. While things might have changed in the last 10 to 15 years, most employers in South Africa would insist that your tattoos remain covered during work hours, especially if your job involved dealing with the public. Tattoos on your hands and/or neck would almost certainly have meant you you wouldn't have been able to get a job.
While times have changed, I guess things do rub off on you because if I was an employer, I still wouldn't be keen on hiring someone covered in tattoos. Imagine going to see a doctor and he has tattoos on his hands and neck
................no thank you. 
I certainly never went to HH immigration - or Prachuab in those days for work permit business - without short sleeves. It never occurred to me that I was covering the tatt - it was just the done thing. Just as people shouldn't go into temples in shorts and sleeveless tops.
Burma visa runs however were different. It's simply often too hot for sleeves, and never a problem. But the footwear thing is ludicrous IMO. I can never understand how any farang can tolerate full shoes in Thailand, and I never owned any there.
But you're right about the tattoed doc thing! Maybe it isn't too far away in the UK. It amazes me to see 'professional' people on TV here - carers for example, with facial piercings. Those I hate more than any tatt. Especially the rings through eyebrows.....and the earrings that go right up round the top of the ears - through all that gristle - oh puke!
) about the way I dress.
