24/7 Access

Recently, I had to have a filling replaced. A normal part of the aging process. I experienced some temperature sensitivity in the days following, and one night I made a note to call my dentist the next day and see what was going on. My dentist was out of the office and called me back the following day to chat. After a haircut and color touchup, I noticed there was a spot where the color didn’t take that was still bleach blonde. I messaged the studio, but it was my stylist's day off. She got back me to me two days later about correcting it. And when I message my doctor on My Chart, it usually reminds me that responses can take 3-5 days to come through- please be patient! In all of these situations, I don’t particularly see anything wrong. Folks are busy; they have office and salon hours, and they have other things in their day to do. A few days with a pale spot in my hair or a few hours being gentle with my tooth are truly not a huge deal. But despite this, I have noticed a trend in the piercing community in the nearly 14 years I’ve been doing this, where many, many clients feel entitled to a piercer- 24/7. Without fail, I see colleagues come online and discuss clients who demand their time. And this isn’t someone having a piercing emergency who needs help. No, one of my peers recently needed emergency surgery and was out of the studio for a week and a half. In that time, one of their clients called, emailed, and messaged dozens of times- she had decided she got the wrong color gem for her ear piercing and wanted the piercer to swap it. When my peer was back at the studio, the client was there right at open, and told them, “If you need to take this much time away from work, maybe you shouldn’t be a piercer! I needed this gem switched, and where were you!!” Mind you….emergency surgery.

I see peers regularly complain about clients who will double and triple-message them if they don’t respond within 15-20 minutes of getting a message. And again, if there is a genuine emergency with your piercing, I do understand the urgency. But these messages will be about booking an appointment to buy new jewelry, or a new design they saw that they are interested in, or the next piercing they want to get 6 months from now. And when they don’t get a response, they’ll message again, and again, and sometimes call, disgruntled that they weren’t responded to right away. Never mind that the piercer may have been working with other clients or dealing with an emergency….or maybe it’s their day off!

So why is it that we expect piercers to be accessible to us 24/7? When we don’t have the same expectations of our doctors, government systems, or office places? We don’t bat an eye when the DMV is closed for holidays, but when the studio is, often folks return to irate messages that they couldn’t come get their nose pierced on Christmas Day.

To be honest, I don’t think this is an issue unique to the piercing industry. I have seen peers in hair, nails, massage, and even mechanics lament the same struggle. In today's day and age, when we are used to getting an immediate answer on Google and a next-day delivery from Amazon, we have become used to instant gratification. We have begun to expect it from everyone and everything. And in the piercing industry, many of us feel obligated to provide this level of service, either to stand out from the competition or because we care, and we want to be accessible to our clients. But this always-on access has deeply detrimental effects on mental health in the industry.

The body modification industry as a whole has a major issue with burnout and overwork. It starts in the way we format apprenticeships and continues with this desire to be constantly accessible to clients, regardless of our own schedules and lives. I know far too many piercers who are too scared to take vacations and days off, and who feel guilty for even being sick and needing to be away from the studio. It’s perpetuated when clients demand constant access to piercers, even so far as disparaging them for being sick, having emergencies, or taking time for themselves, their families, or their lives.

To the amazing clients and regulars who respect that we are human too and sometimes need sick days and time off, we appreciate you so much. And to the rest, I encourage you to slow down, to remember that we are all only human. To consider a life that is less focused on consumption, in all its forms, and more focused on connection, on the human elements of what we do, and to have some more grace for service providers in your life. We promise we aren’t ignoring you when you don’t respond right away, and we feel plenty guilty when we have to miss a day or call out. We take care of ourselves, so we are rested, healthy, and able to best take care of you when you are in our spaces. We can take care of each other by having some extra patience and grace.

<3

Lynn