How strange that someone should come on this forum to share his experiences of how his borstal dots have impeded his career progress only to find the over-entitled sit-down-pissers of STW trying to turn the thread into a left-wing right-on-athon! The man has had first-hand experience of why it’s better not to have tats like this, and is trying to do something about it – probably one of the better decisions he’s ever made, and as I said before, good luck with the removal!

Appearances count for an awful lot, and the overwhelming majority of people, whether they care to admit it or not (or even if they’re conscious of the fact) make judgements on people based on how they look. If a person carries a physical marker that suggests they may not be an upstanding, law-abiding pillar of the community, they will form a judgement on that basis. Any businessman who fails to understand this, or chooses to make a stand against it, is quite frankly, a complete idiot!

It doesn’t matter if the owner is a bona-fide wrong-un or just some immature pillock trying to impress the ruffians in his class. The damage has been done at the very first glance.

Sure, in certain market sectors, the right sort of tattoos might help portray an image and strengthen a brand, but for every hipster barista with bang-up-to-date ink, there’s someone who didn’t get the job because his 1990s tribal sleeve and Chinese takeaway menu just doesn’t fit the company image.

In 10-15 years time, that hipster will probably be wondering why the best job he ever had was serving skinny lattes for minimum wage plus tips!

CountZero
I find myself overwhelmed by the desire to punch you in the face, just to remove the smug, self-satisfied sneer.

Comments like this reinforce my opinion about people who support tattoos and who are too thick to recognise how and why they will impede career prospects. I also find it rather worrying that you feel compelled to make implied threats of physical violence to someone you’ve never met, simply because they share a perfectly valid opinion about tattoos! I think this suggests you have far bigger problems than any you might think I have.

It’s probably a good thing you’re highly unlikely to find yourself hospitalised in North Wiltshire, otherwise you might find yourself in the care of my quite heavily tattooed sister-in-law, who’s a highly experienced anaesthetist.

And I wonder how your sister – or indeed Avon & Wiltshire NHS Trust – might feel at your suggestion that a highly trained medical professional might bring harm to someone or discriminate against them based on their beliefs and opinions.

Can’t report any problems on that score Chubster… :p

Bloody happy to stand up and be counted at least I didn’t vote for the present government who think fairness means giving to the rich and forget the poor!

As I said, beautifully appropriately named… How ironic. :roll:

I think all you tattoo-huggers are missing the point. Self-inflicted knuckle tattoos are NOT art, they are not symbolic or esoteric, the only ‘symbolism’ they could possibly claim would be to show that the owner is ‘a bit of a thug’.

Very well put Steve. I wouldn’t even consider employing anyone that couldn’t present a professional, approachable and respectable public image.

So no tats, ‘flesh tubes’, visible piercings other than ears on ladies, no obese, no ugly, no sinister-looking, or those with a propensity for excess perspiration, no goths, no shifty people, or those with a predominantly melancholy countenance. Oh, and no Scottish and/or ginger.

Seems to be working rather well for me…

They’ve got my vote… At least they weren’t stupid enough to tattoo themselves!

You are absolutely correct in this and you should be commended in your stance, I wonder how many able, knowledgeable and talented staff you’ve refused employment too simply on the basis of them being inked. Your business, your choice and ultimately your loss.

I can tell you exactly… I keep a tally of them by tattooing a dot on my knuckles for every one. ;)

A tattoo doesn’t define the person, narrow mindedness perhaps does.

Utter hogwash. I wouldn’t employ someone with self-inflicted tattoes across his knuckles, simple because, at some point in his life, he was stupid enough to make a ridiculous error of judgement and injure/deface him self in the most moronic fashion! You can’t even blame a misguided notion of aesthetics, or some sort of hackneyed commemorative gesture; this is just idiocy.
Again, no offence to the the OP – you’ve clearly now seen the error of your ways, but what on earth possessed you to do that in the first place?

What do you think “Leftyboy” means? It’s my STW name because I rode a Lefty fork way back when they were first out.

I understand exactly why you go by the name Leftyboy, which is why I pointed out the irony of you spouting such lefty nonsense. Do keep up…

The real issue is your employer, I’m not a fan of tattoos but frankly telling an employee that a promotion hinges on those dots is very poor IMHO.

Don’t you think it says a lot about a person that they would be mindless enough to self-inflict tattooed dots on their knuckles??

No offense AST, but your experiences with your potential employer are EXACTLY why it’s such a dumb idea to do something like this.

Getting all hoity about narrow-minded employers like the beautifully appropriately named “Leftyboy” won’t pay the mortgage!

Good luck with the removal…

FFS guys, can we have a spoiler alert???

Hardly worth me watching the ******g Ten O’Clock News now, is it!?!

Oh, he’s back again…

Has he flounced again? How many is that??

How funny that when you put McGowans TKD club in Google, this thread comes up! :lol:

I love a thread when someone flounces, then flounces back in again, then flounces again, then flounces back in again, then flounces, then fl……….. etc

If they’re unable to use their garden, fence it off, deprive them of access and in 12 years, it’s yours. Adverse Possession, innit.

Bill is in the post,
Regards,
Gatsby & Gatsby Solicitors.

Dawn has dramatically and unilaterally reduced the times that I can see my children…

Look on the bright side, only another week or so to go before the mornings start getting a bit lighter… ;)

All well and good if you’re the one giving the opinion. Asking the question (possibly over, and over, and over, and over, and over to try and get the answer you want) would be a completely different teapot of frogs.

Based on some of your posts on here (and making an educated guess as to what one of your emails might be like), I would guess being wankmylung’s solicitor would be rather challenging.

My loaders and beaters get a sloe gin and a mince pie. The driver gets a half bottle of Grouse. You have to keep the buggers in their place!

I bought a friend one of these tablet stands from John Lewis on the basis that I’d quite like one myself…

I’ve bought my wife a fridge for Christmas… Can’t wait to see her little face light up when she opens it.

Another chance for the media to bash cyclists.

Don’t be silly, it’s another chance for the media to bash abusive, bullying bellends. That’s all.

I’ve been trying to grow willow in an existing wood for the last 3 years, with zero success. Unless you clear fell all of the existing trees, I don’t think there’s enough light (and possibly water) for them to grow. I’ve tried whips directly in the wood, and starting them in pots in the garden (they grow fine until transplanted).

I had the same experience. I terraced steep escarpment and planted rows of Flanders Red (Salix Alba Vitellina x Fragilis) with a view to building spiled banks along my brook. 3 years later and they’re just lanky, spindly whips that have grown very little.

In a well irrigated open field, they grow like the clappers, but not much good in shaded woodland.

Black poplar goes quick and can be pollarded very easily. It’s not bad for burning. Alder is also very quick.

Ash is a slower option but a nice wood to cut, split and burn.

In my experience, the quicker it grows, the worse it burns and the nastier the trees… Poplar and Alder have huge leaves making an impenetrable canopy that makes the ground uninhabitable for anything else – I’m in the process of clearing all the alder from my wood and replacing with ash and birch for a lighter canopy. It is paying dividends for ferns, grasses etc and the hazels grow much better…

The power light is flashing on the dead monitor, just nothing at all on the screen…

More worrying though, the Mac keeps switching itself off… No warning, just trips out completely.

Any ideas anyone? It’s a twin 2.8gHz Quadcore (intel)…

That’s a good point Somouk… It’s a bloody good monitor so definitely worth fixing.

I woudn’t know where to start myself, do people still fix these things?

Meat in a plastic bag… Especially if it’s any kind of offal…

And propelling pencils… I like to click them, draw with them or just generally fondle their deceptively ample heft.

I’ve tried it every way, tried swapping the power, USB and firewire leads in turn to try and isolate it. The only constant is that the l/h monitor won’t work…
Looks like I’ll have to replace it. :(

I loved my matching pair of cinema displays, looks like I might have to try fleabay…

Thanks Iolo, I’ve tried that and the l/h monitor won’t come on at all… The power light blinks but nothing on the screen – not even the grey or blue screen…

I think my monitor is cooked… :(

When I plug in monitor No.2, it works but the Mac thinks it’s monitor 1…

I’ve dated a few girls with enhanced baps, I don’t mind the way they feel and they do look good if they’re well done.

However, the last one fell into the “mentally damaged” bracket, she never missed an opportunity to proclaim how she had had the boob job “for herself, not anyone else”… to the point that me thought she protesteth FAR too much…

The other side effect – which I quite liked – was the permanent “peanut smuggler” look…

Seriously, she had raspberry ripples like a fighter pilot’s thumbs 24-7! Whatever the weather!!

I can only see it appreciating in value – Wiggo will always be the first British TdF winner, so his stock will continue to rise as time wears on.

What if someone was now selling Greg Lemond’s mountain bike? Or Eddie Merckx’ BMX? It would be worth far more than any other 20 or 30 year old bike…

That’s a nice bike, and looking at the values of other bikes with heritage, if you can prove it’s one of Brad’s bikes, it will certainly add some value. It might not be a huge anount now, but in 20-30 years time, it’ll be a real collector’s item.

And knowing that Wiggo is big mates with Terry, there’s no reason to doubt the provenance if it came from Dolan.

If it wasn’t coming up to Christmas, I’d be tempted to make you an offer!

Wow, that’s some detail!! Thanks for posting that, I’ve followed her on Facebook – she’s not far from me… :)

The camper van won’t turn the colour of old chewing gum after one wet ride… The paper cut might though! Any pics Binners?

Oh, just clicked ‘buy’ on a dehumidifier… Rock and roll… :(

I can be a dick sometimes.

I think that’s one of those nail/head interfaces right there…

…And here’s my last impulse purchase that just arrived from the States – an Aaron Horkey print from the Gilded Age exhibition…

I was rather disappointed that they only had one cup…

The visor definitely makes it feel more aero, but it can get quite hot in there… And covered in snot!

But most importantly, it makes you look a bit “Robocop”, and that’s more important really… ;)

Isn’t the Balista an aero race helmet like an S-Works Evade? If so, I’d only consider one of those if you could only have one helmet that you used for all road riding.

They’re a bit of a half-way house… TT lids are hot and uncomfortable but they’re as aero as you can get. If you’re spending money specifically to get faster, I’d go the whole hog and get an out-and-out TT lid.

Having said all that, the Bambino is pretty comfy and surprisingly well vented compared to others.

I quit racing a couple of years back and started TTing, I was coming back from a long illness and needed a sense of competition as well as an accurate way to benchmark my recovery.

Started on my spare race bike with clipons and loved every minute of it. I love the scene, the fact that everyone is so helpful and pleasant – not like races where it feels like some sort of stand-off!

I like that you’ll always find your level, and then even if you’re not going to place in the top 3, you know who you’re competing against and you can have a proper good tussle with with the lads that finish in your time bracket.

I bought an Argon 18, some Chinese wheels and spent less than 1500 quid. I get a free skinsuit off my old racing team who like to see me flying the sponsors’ flag at events, and I bought a Kask Bambino when Ribble were knocking them out cheap.

So in a nutshell, I can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s accessible, fun and a bloody good workout!

Comes from Latin I think; Moliri (to construct) so there sort of is…

But we don’t specifically have the word “molish”, which is a shame, because it’s nice.

I’m going to go and molish a sandwich now… And them demolish it.

Why do we have the word “demolish” to knock things down, but don’t have the word “molish” for building them back up again?