Riverbend Campground - Pigeon Forge, TN

I have a lovely new tattoo on my left arm. I’ve been swallowing swords for going on 5 years now and had yet to have a sword tattooed on me, so we looked along the strip for a shop to handle my request.

The first shop we stepped into was shiny and slick, covered in awards and framed photographs and articles featuring the shop’s owner. On speaking with the two artists who were in the foyer it became clear in about 8 seconds that they had certain expectations of their clientele, namely that they not be us. I am always amazed by the utter unfriendliness prevalent among tattoo shop employees. You would think they would want to put folks at ease, to encourage them to spend time, to spend money, but most of them really couldn’t care less. We left after being ignored for close to 20 minutes and headed down the strip to find another candidate or our business.

We found Jess’s Fine Line Tattoos, a tiny street shop nestled in a small strip mall, and were immediately greeted by the artist who was sitting outside, who took a moment with us even though he was on the phone. Once inside, the greetings continued from another pair of artists. After jawing for a while I’d made up my mind to get the work done here. I felt at ease and listened to, appreciated for stopping in.

<rant>This was and is a BIG deal to me in a world where customer service is seen as cliched and outdated. If you are interested in retaining customers, be genuinely interested in them from the start.</rant>

My artist, Erock, the one who had been on the phone, took an idea for a sword and fit it into an available space just above my giraffe. It’s amazing and I couldn’t be happier with it. If any of you from H Street are reading, he did my little H Street tattoo also.

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