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June 19, 2006
The needle and the damage done
[Edited to add the outcome; see the end!]
Arrgh.
Instead of getting drunk tonight, I thought I'd cheer myself up by doing something I've been wanting to do for months now: get my left tragus pierced.
Grrrrr.
I went to Venus Modern Body Arts, where I'd had a lovely time getting my right eyebrow pierced. I've recommended them many times since then. But no more!
Ed, the gruff guy who'd answered the phone when I called about hours, was there when I got in, minding the shop by himself. He was brusque and impatient and thisclose to insulting, but I hadn't realized he was the piercer (and there by himself) until I'd already paid, and I figured I'd make the best of it. He talked me into getting a larger ring than I wanted (3/8" instead of 5/16") because he said that it's hard to do the piercing in such an enclosed space, and "it might hurt more" if he used a smaller ring. Didn't want it to hurt more, so I opted for the larger one.
Someone else came in for a piercing after he'd already set everything up for me, and he took care of getting her squared away (checking ID, since she was a young'un, starting to sterilize her jewelry, etc.) before getting back to me. I was a little annoyed, but not seriously. Not yet.
After we went in the piercing room, he'd forgotten something, and he was agitated about it, and then when we were bantering about the piercing itself, he mentioned both that he'd done "a couple hundred" traguses, but also that he'd done lots of piercings where it was his first time doing that particular piercing "and the customer never knows." I didn't really love hearing that. He was irritable and coarse while dealing with me, but I felt like this would be over soon, and so I didn't complain. He marked my ear and we agreed on the spot, and then he clamped my ear while I laid on the table. The phone rang, and HE ANSWERED IT. I'm lying on the table, with a fucking clamp on my tragus, and HE ANSWERS THE PHONE.
I must have looked upset, because he tried to mollify me by saying he certainly wouldn't answer it again, and he wished it had been his boss, so he could complain about being there by himself. The piercing itself went very smoothly; he was totally competent at that, but I do have one complaint: He started the needle *before* I breathed out (I was supposed to breathe in, then breathe out, and he'd pierce me on the out-breath). It didn't make a material difference, but I think this was also disrespectful.
*Then*, after the needle was in and he started putting the ring in, he said, "Oh, huh, your 'antitragus' is really high up, well, this ring is just going to rest there then," and I'm all like "What?" and he explains that he *could* have used a smaller piece of jewelry, that because that other part of my ear is "higher up than almost anyone else's would be" (which he kept mentioning, as though I was responsible for my anatomical quirk, if it's even true) the larger ring will rest in my ear, but I don't have to worry, I can totally come back in after it heals and get it swapped.
He keeps telling me the latter, as though he is doing me some huge favor. When I asked if he could fix it now, he treated me like I was a dumbass, explaining that it would never work because of the layers of skin, cartilage, blah blah blah. But I didn't have to worry, I could just come back in a month or two, and they'd swap it.
Well, I don't have to worry. *He* had damn well better worry. Because I'm calling his boss tomorrow, and I'm explaining that Ed, at 199 E. 4th Street at Venus Modern Body Arts, was a jerk and a creep and I'm really unhappy with how I was treated.
Fucker.
----
7/12/06 -- Happy ending to my tale of woe! I called Venus the next day and spoke to a manager. She was wonderful, just a perfect example of what you want to hear when you cal someplacel with a complaint. She listened attentively, asked lots of questions, and was conciliatory without being obsequious or weird. It was made clear to me that they would take my complaint *very* seriously, that it would be brought up in a management meeting, and that he'd probably be spoken to. She also assured me that I could come in and get the ring switched out and that she'd be happy to help me.
I went in today (after giving the ring a few weeks to heal up sufficiently), and I got Kelly, the manager I spoke to before. She was terrific--polite, professional, kind. I asked her what had happened with Ed, and she gave me the good news: I hadn't been the first person to complain, and so management decided to talk to him, which then led to them suspending him. She said they figured that for every person who's willing to pick up the phone to voice a complaint, there are five or six more who didn't bother, and that it just wasn't tolerable for them, in a customer-service industry, to put up with that sort of thing.
So, in short, I feel completely comfortable recommending Venus once again, without hesitation. You might want to go to the shop on Broadway, though; it's much nicer than the one in the East Village. Happy piercings!
Posted by Rose at June 19, 2006 09:33 PM
Comments
damn, rose, i'm sorry to hear about this. what a jerk. be sure you mention the "customer never knows it" comment, that sounded especially unprofessional. bleah.
Posted by: gotcha at June 21, 2006 11:49 PM