Tattooed woman was shopping at Tesco when a stranger approached her — his question about getting hired stopped her cold
Having a stranger approach you about your tattoos might seem like simple curiosity. But some questions can leave you feeling judged instead. Zoe, a tattoo artist who goes by @zoe.pmu, was baffled by one such question when she was shopping at Tesco. In a video she posted on November 6, 2026, she explained that a man approached her casually and asked a question that frustrated her and made her wonder whether it would have happened if she were with a man.
Zoe said the stranger approached her while she was shopping alone and asked, "Now then, if you've got to go to a job interview, what are you going to do?" She was taken aback and told him she was self-employed and worked as a tattoo artist. When he learned about her career, he asked where her studio was. She explained that her studio in Swansea specializes in cosmetic and medical tattooing, including work for cancer survivors, people with alopecia, and those needing cleft lip reconstruction. As she put it, "None of those clients, not one, rejected me as their artist because I have tattoos myself." She then wondered whether the interaction would have happened if she were a man or if she had been accompanied by one.
She said that if she were a man, the conversation probably wouldn't have happened at all. What bothered her was the assumption that having visible tattoos could somehow make her less suitable for a job, even though tattooing was her actual profession. She also reminded people that there's no need to say every thought that crosses their mind. “Not everything that is up there needs to come out there,” she said, adding that approaching a heavily tattooed woman just to make a rude comment is unnecessary.
Many viewers related to her experience, with some saying they'd faced similar judgment themselves. @abimoholt commented, "This has happened to me so much recently, and even by older women, which really hurts!!” @deancobley wrote, "I don't have any myself, but I do like tattoos on other people; what they stand for is why they got them." @katejohnson_pmu remarked, "Hopefully you changed his views, and he will now think twice."
Some people feel entitled to make unwanted comments toward tattooed people in public. According to ScienceDirect, research on tattoo perceptions has largely focused on how people judge individuals based on their tattoos. For example, people may assume that someone with a tattoo depicting a band known for its violent lyrics is more likely to be violent themselves. However, research has yet to establish whether tattoo content accurately reflects a person's personality or whether such judgments are based on stereotypes.
For more of her content, follow @zoe.pmu on Instagram.