I’m a tattoo artist – entitled ‘Karen’ customer demanded FREE cover up of ink I did 12 YEARS ago
AN “entitled Karen” who got a matching tattoo with her husband 12 years ago has demanded the Scottish artist cover it up for FREE – simply because they’ve split up.
David McKinlay assumed he was taking a normal request to ink over an unwanted design when a woman, known only as Jane, contacted him on Facebook on Friday.
Screenshots shared by the 46-year-old show her explaining the couple got tattoos of both their names, the date of their wedding and a heart one week after their big day in 2011.
However, in response to David discussing a quote she asks ‘what do you mean?’ before bluntly stating that since he did the original tattoo and they were no longer together ‘then it should be free to replace the original’.
The no-nonsense owner of Archangel 1608 studio in Glasgow, hit back asking ‘why the f**k would it be free?’ and explained ‘It’s not on me to amend the tattoo at my own cost’.
Undeterred Jane claimed she wants a portrait of her mum to replace the tattoo she’s ‘no longer happy with’ and even brazenly questioned ‘does customer satisfaction mean anything to you?’.
Enraged David tells her she’s been ‘rude, arrogant and entitled’ so he won’t be helping her – to which Jane replied he can ‘shove [the tattoo] up his a** in that case’.
Jane bizarrely refused to send a photo of the tattoo and David believes her assumption he’d remember it, despite completing around 7,000 inkings since, shows she ‘thought she was special’.
The dad-of-two says he thought she was ‘winding him up’ when she claimed it should be free and he’s since branded her ‘entitled’ for making the demand.
David’s Facebook post containing the exchange has been liked almost 900 times, with users branding the customer a ‘Karen’ and ‘downright dense’.
Some even suggested David should find Jane’s former partner, who she describes as a ‘wk’, and cover his tattoo for free just to annoy her.
David, from Maryhill, Glasgow, said: “For a tattoo she’s not had an issue with for 12 years old, them breaking up isn’t a reason for me to cover it up for free.
“A third of the tattoos we do are cover-ups or reworks so I just treated it like a normal enquiry until the price was mentioned.
“She got a bit nippy but I thought I’d misunderstood her so I gave her the benefit of the doubt. When she said it should be free I thought she was winding me up.
“As the messages went on she got more aggressive and I realised it’s just an entitled person who was ultimately wasting our time. That’s when I got a bit sweary.
“She thought she was such a special person that I’d remember doing her tattoo.
“If we do a tattoo and it doesn’t heal well or a customer doesn’t like it we’ll do our best to rectify it – sometimes at our own cost and sometimes for an additional charge.
“I wish I could remember where on her body her tattoo was so I can know how much of a threat [to stick it up my arse] was.”
David was hosting a comedy night when he first replied to Jane backstage and the messages continued the following day.
The dad-of-two says the price of cover-ups start at £100 and price of portraits start at around £400 so the requested work would have been costly.
He insists he’ll give customers ‘the benefit of the doubt’ if they appear rude and will always be ‘polite and courteous’ when possible.
His post said: “Been a while since we’ve had one of these. I did a tattoo for a woman 12 years ago. She doesn’t like it anymore and wants it covered… for free. I’ve been told to shove it up my a**e.”
One commented: “Kinda feel for the bloke. She’s clearly a delight. Different if she came back a day or two later and really didn’t like what had been done but WTF.
“12 years and because her relationship fell apart. Should do a Facebook campaign to find the ex-hubby and do his cover-up for free.”
A second agreed and said: “Sounds like the ex-husband made a lucky escape! You should find him and do his cover-up for free.”
A third said: “OMG, how can anyone be that entitled, demanding and downright dense – all in one body! We all know her name already – Karen!”