The culture of my workplace is one that I hadn’t experienced prior. In most of my work environments, I’ve been alone for the most part, and I find that I’m in a place where I don’t really get a feel for how things are because I’m always on the move. But at Rebel Tattoo, things were different. When you enter the establishment, there are no walls besides the one in the back that closes off the rest of the place from the office in which the fridge, coat closet, and other equipment can be found. So, with this open floor plan in place, each and every one of the people present is encouraged to speak to one another. This constant dialogue and bonding create a family-like culture within the shop, making it feel welcoming and pleasant for anyone who chooses to be present or even engage in the conversations taking place. As for attire, most, if not everyone, dresses as they please, but there is an overarching theme. What’s interesting is that it’s not like the typical image of a tattoo shop that people have in their minds. Rather than the all-black attire that you might expect from the average tattoo shop, you see a range of much more vibrant and interesting colorways. Each artist expresses themselves with a different type of style that is unique to them. But it is worth mentioning that the attire worn by most, if not all of them, is clothing that could potentially be completely messed up. Given it’s a tattoo shop, none of the employees are strangers to the accidental spilling of ink on their clothes. Owen, in particular, is notorious for having black ink stains on almost every one of his pants.
In terms of lunchtime and other times to eat, we, as a whole, pretty much eat whenever we’d like to. As long as we’re not tattooing a client or taking care of something that requires our immediate attention, we can step out to a local restaurant whenever we’d like to grab a quick bite or have lunch. More often than not, though, at least one to three of us go out to eat together, which is often where I learn the most about the crew and how they came to be here. They communicate with me as if I’ve been a part of the shop for years, and it really makes it easy to learn and grow with them. A good example of this is that they’ve been really helpful in teaching me to use Procreate, the software we use to design and work through our tattoo designs. It’s been a bit of a learning curve, but I’m definitely getting the hang of it. I’m looking forward to the day when I can just know exactly what to do without hesitation, but I’m taking things one step at a time.
