Tattoos on Young People

So while we were working on my sleeve on Friday, a family came in to get their young daughter tattooed. The shop doesn’t take walk-ins so they were sent away. They were also informed that you can’t tattoo minors in Tennessee even with parental consent, but they could drive to Kentucky and do it there. They wanted to get the little girl a cross. She looked, I don’t know, 12ish? My artist said she won’t tattoo minors even with consent. It’s too early to dedicate to something for life.

So I didn’t give it much thought until I just saw a girl with a Volkswagen Beetle tattooed on her arm. It was very cute. And 1,000% what I would have gotten tattooed when I was younger. Even when I was old enough. One of my dorm rooms was decorated in Beetle ads. I have a very well done painting of a Beetle. I drove a 2001 Beetle for a while.

Growing up I was just obsessed with Volkswagen Beetles and Vans. They’re just so adorable. I loved the aesthetic. Then, the very YEAR I turned 16 (woot 1998), they came out with the “New” Beetle. If that isn’t a sign I don’t know what is. So my obsession deepened. I even have internet user names with Beetle in them.

But Mrs C, you’re not a Beetle person. I’M NOT! But I WAS and I would have totally chose that as a tattoo. And then regretted it. Why? Well, I finally got to drive one.

I drove a used 2001 Dark Blue Beetle for a few years. It was adorable as I always wished it would be. It was a hatchback which was a crazy wonderful new obsession. Every car should be a hatchback. And yall, the headroom in that thing was amazing. It was a very comfortable car. And it had a little flower vase built in and I had a fun fake flower in there all the time. It was awesome… peripherally.

See, I had given my sister my old 1994 Civic when I got the Beetle. I had to eventually take the 1994 Civic back. Why? Because Volkswagen Beetles are pieces of fucking shit. They have infinite problems. Maybe if you buy it new and only drive it 3 years, you’d be fine. But mine was not new. It had issues. Once the fusebox melted. They couldn’t replace it either. Why? Because everyone’s fuse boxes melted so they were on order. SHOULDN’T THAT BE A RECALL?

To change the battery, you had to remove the headlight. God help me, putting a new bulb in my back drivers side light was a contortionists nightmare. They are not made to be a car anyone can work on. The only people that can work on them are the Volkswagen Dealership. $$$$$ I had so many problems with that car. SO. MANY. PROBLEMS.

So many, in fact, that I had to get rid of it and go back to my 1994 Civic. A car that was 10 years OLDER. And That just ruined them for me.

Never meet your heroes.

So yeah. I would have gotten that exact tattoo and I would have loved it. And now, I’d cuss about Volkswagens being a fucking piece of shit every time I look at it. Good thing I waited till I was 40 for tattoos.