Dress code,tattoos, and scarification

You did, Ben. We are one and the same.

MrScott

Hey scooter - just as an FYI - BMI is a giant load of bull****.

According to BMI, I am morbidly obese and going to die at the age of 30.

here's a picture for reference.... http://img277.imageshack.us/img277/3877/meatcp2yt.jpg

I'm around 6' - 195 lbs and have a moderately low body fat percentage. I could stand to lose another couple of pounds, but that's all in the toning process now and my BMI will ALWAYS place me high because I have muscle. Also if you look at the picture I'm by no means huge - I wear a 33 waist and a Medium Shirt.

I guess I am putting myself at risk and "not taking care of my body" even though I've been following a (mostly) healthy lifestyle of eating (mostly) good foods and working out on a regular basis.

So, being that I'm over my reccommended BMI, I guess I should take a good hard look at what I'm arguing against because apparently I am going to die of simultaneous diabetic shock, liver failure and heart attacks.

idiot.

-Josh

ooh this got interesting..... I had to take out most of my piercings when i went to work for CP. But then Im increasing my #'s again.

I think some of what has been said here is so stupid. That's just MY opinion. I would have to say that I am in the body mod scene because I am piercer myself and love my job. Some people say that you have to have had mental issues to get any sort of genital piercing (well, really any piercing), Scarification, or ANY tattoo.

I used to cut myself when I was a teen, I have a tattoo, and 21 piercings. I worked at CP for 2 seasons.

Yes, scarification is self-mutilation, but why is it that people assume these people to have "issues"? I like it, it makes me happy, and I lead a "normal" happy life. I do not have severe emotional problems or whatever it is that you think is wrong with "people like me".

It totally infuriates me when people judge me based on the small pieces of metal in my body. Some people don't want piercings/tattoos, and that is thier choice. I couldn't imagine my life without them, and can't imagine why people wouldn't want them, but I don't think people without them have some sort of problem. They are different from me, and that is fine. This is more or less a case of intolerance and closed-minded people.

I worked at CP, and had to take out a lot of piercings. I think the policy is wrong but I don't blame CP for it. I blame the general opinion on what a body mod truly means to the person who has it. People need to wise up and realize that a scar or a piece of metal or some ink doesn't change us as people they only allow is to express ourselves in a beautiful artistic way. No two piercings/tattoos/scarifications are alike, and that makes the whole world of body bods a unique and wonderful expierience.

Not to nitpick.. but no two Human bodies are alike either. Which makes each person unique anyway. *** Edited 7/24/2005 5:50:20 AM UTC by James K.***

What's your point?

Hmmm. Interesting thread, especially to someone who was at CP in the mid-70s. I have kind of a different take on the whole thing.

If you're interested, here's what I think. I think this current marketing schtick of "who-can-be-most-family-friendly" is a loser game. CP, being what it is -- a really, really cool old funky place, not a pre-fab McPark -- oughta bow out of that game *now*, while it's the top, top, top park.

Look at it this way: Sandusky is in the serious heart & core of "flyover country," right? In order to separate itself from the McParks in the wider public eye, it might be useful to tone down the "we're-squeaky-clean-all-American-kids" thang and let the funk rip.

Let employees wear tats, colored hair, etc. Design "uniforms" that are individually modifiable, but still ID the employees for the ani... uh, guests. Amp up the oddity. CP is weird, and believe me, people are beginning to remember that weird is *way* more fun than "normal."

And never forget the words of the late, great Hunter S. Thompson:

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."

The Point lost it's amateur-weirdness standing decades ago.

Wrong. Most of the people in 'Flyover' country don't want to see that crap. They are the families who are "all american".

While I don't think it would be a good business move at all, I can see his point. TGI Friday's certainly made it a part of their culture for years, and these days it appears Chipotle does the same thing (it's where all of the cool pierced kids work).

Personally, I don't think the public is quite as stupid and ignorant as we might think, at least not the customers of Cedar Point, but I have to keep in mind that people prove me wrong in that regard almost every day.

We have an ice cream store and for a while had an employee with blue hair. Everyone who came in the store had something to say about it and most were just humored but then everything started revolving around the employee instead of the product - the ice cream.

That ain't good for business.

It is a quick slope between a piercing or two and the carnie look and there is a reason people don't take their kids to carnivals anymore.

The kids need to get used to the fact that when they are working at Cedar Point they are just a few years removed from the real world and appearance matters. Maybe not in every job...but in most.
*** Edited 8/2/2005 8:50:01 PM UTC by Chief Wahoo***

I personally do not see a problem with any think in the "body mod" catagory. When you think about it, hasn't tatooing and piercing been around since decades before any of us? I believe so, considering National Geographic and the Discovery channel of done shows about ancient african tribes and how there tatoos symbolize something. IE being a warrior or a man. It shows straangth. (you try sitting there for an hour or more while being stabbed with a tiny pulsating needle.) and the piercings show rank and order. Nose bones, ear and lip disc, neck stretchers (dont know the technical term) do they not all get bigger as the individaul grows older?

The Public has seen an image of "normal" for to long. and personally being normal is no fun. I enjoy spazzing out, and wearing the dark, worn clothes. (no im not goth.) Why would I want to a be carbon copy, or something near it, of everyone else in the nation? Being who you are is what makes this America. If you think tatoos and scars and piercings are cool. Then so be it. Lets not call them mental or strange. Lets call them individuals or excentric. They dont want to be you, thats why they do it. Just think of it as a modern, portable art museum.

As with anything,moderation is the key. No one wants to see someone with 15 rings in each ear and another 10 on their face. I don't see a problem with a eyebrow ring or a couple earrings in each ear but too much just invites trouble. Yes,people may be narrow minded for letting a piercing or tatoo bother them,but you are not going to change the millions of people that go to CP each year in a quick fashion.

If people gradually try to blend in with a few piercings,etc, the park may eventually start being a little more leniant with the policy. It's the people that have more metal on their body than bone mass that cause the policy to be so strictly enforced.

I didn't even read this entire thread, because the first page made me pretty angry. Bear with me, I'm not trying to be ignorant. As far as body modification goes, I don't feel that all should be covered. I have some extensive celtic work done of both shoulders, but are covered in a t-shirt. I don't feel for one second that my tattoos are invading anyone's right to enjoy a theme park. Scarring yourself is stupid, but if one does it for artistic means, then it's art. as long as it's TASTEFUL, there should be no problem.

And what kind of people are so derailed by a visible tattoo that their trip is ruined and their kids are scarred for life? It's not the 1930's when only criminals and sailors had tattoos. Wake up and realize that just because you guys took the new BMW to the park, the 'scary' lookin' college kid with a tattoo of a cross or a scar of his initials isn't out to ruin society and corrupt your brainwashed children.

Sorry if I sound livid and didn't make sense, but I hate when people are judged by the outside. I'm a 22 year old medical school student and my parents still rag on me about it like getting inked means I'm going to end up in jail.

peace~Jayme

Of course, you're right---tattoos are so mainstream that I'm surprised when I see someone "of a certain age" without one.

That said, the kind of people who are derailed by the sight of a tattoo are the people who pay to come to the park, and I'm here to tell you that the vast, vast majority of them drive Oldsmobuicks, not BMWs.

Unlike Jeff, I'm not as optimistic about the average parkgoer's ability to see beyond to the person underneath. This doesn't make the average parkgoer right, but it is what it is, and CP has a business to run.

The sad and unfortunate fact is that people really DO judge others by what's on the outside. Get used to it. Should you forgo ink because of it? No. But you do need to accept that there may sometimes be consequences of your decision, however unfair or unreasonable.

Exactly, the majority of people still see this stuff as freakish. CP has a business to run and if people feel threatened by things like this,like it or not,they will try to keep it off of their employees. Branding and scarring is simply not a family oriented activity for most people and most parents don't want their kids seeing this sort of thing and coming home at 12 years old from a branding party with a bunch of burns. No one takes responsibility for anything nowadays,everything is either the fault of a video game,music or a tv show. The parents would like to blame it on the person the kid saw at CP if it ever happens and the park simply doesn't want to display that sort of thing.

Tatoos are becoming more mainstream as most every young female has one over her rear end nowadays and very few tatoos are actually offensive,some are very pretty in fact. I don't even think people have problems with a few piercings. I think the biggest problem would be posed by the scarring/branding thing.

Again, sorry if my post was all over the place and biased, but what I was trying to say is that nine times out of ten you're going to get complaints from the people who feel that seeing a tattoo or whatever they see is going to have an adverse outcome on their day. These are the people who are don't get out much, or older, successful families with richy-rich parents and spoiled kids. Every park has them. I know that this is as well biased, but anyone with anything done knows that this still happens anywhere.

They might see a tattoo that is a memorial to a deceased friend or family member, but they won't see it and go, "Wow, that's beautiful."

Understand that I'm trying to say? I know I probably sound more and more like a nut, but my point is that if people just respected others more, then this message thread wouldn't exsist, lol.

Time to go watch another episode of Miami Ink, lol...

peace~Jayme

How many amusement parks or theme parks can you name which allow multiple piercings, tatoos, or scarifications to be visible to guests?

Let's just say, for arguments sake, that CP allowed visible tatoos. Then they are going to need a whole new set of rules about what is an acceptable tatoo and what isn't. Do they really want to open up that can of worms? I don't think so.

Hey, I'm all for people having the right to have a tatoo. I'm also for a company having the right to portray a certain image and, as the most visible faces of the company, their front of line employees complying.

MFJedi2 said:
No one wants to see someone with 15 rings in each ear and another 10 on their face.

That's a stupid generalization. Of course some people want to see that. It's not a majority, but it isn't "no one" either.

Appearance in this country is a funny thing. I for one do not, have not, and don't plan to own a suit. Ever. I'm 32, and I make more than most Americans anyway, without the nice threads. I haven't had a tie on an interview in ten years. I personally push that boundary because that's me. I've pissed off a lot of people. As such, I wouldn't work at Cedar Point either, because I can't believe they make their full-timers wear ties.

I don't think White Bread America is ready for body mods as a cultural norm yet, but we're getting a little better about it. I always tell the story about the moron woman that wouldn't talk to my wife when she worked at CompUSA because she had a nose ring, indicating that as a woman with a piercing she didn't know what she was talking about. That's ironic since she was in grad school at the time, and probably had more education than anyone in the building. But I honestly feel that situations like that are rare now. Opinions are slowly changing.

My wife wanted a Tshirt withe the phrase "Coaster slut,any coaster any time" on it.The operator said that she couldn't wear it at the park,yet I see hundreds of girls with their B...s hanging out, some with wet T shirts and there seems to be nothing against that.To me,that lacks consistency.