DEAR ABBY: This may be an unusual question for your column, but as tattoos have become more mainstream, what is the proper procedure for tipping the tattoo artist? Would it be different than a hairdresser, as many tattoos run into the hundreds -- and sometimes thousands -- of dollars?
I'll be starting a back piece soon, and I think $125 an hour is plenty when it will take 20 hours to complete. -- DOESN'T WANT TO GET "STUCK" IN MICHIGAN
DEAR DOESN'T: I Googled "tipping for tattoos." The Web site I went to stated that "between 10 and 20 percent" is an appropriate gratuity.
However, according to the several tattoo parlors I checked with, tips for tattoo artists are not necessarily calculated by a percentage of the cost. Tipping for a work of art -- and that is what a tattoo is considered to be -- reflects the customer's satisfaction with the result, the time required to apply it and the intricacy of the design. (To me, this implies that the amount could be larger than stated on the Web site.) Sometimes, rather than money, gifts are given to the artist, such as art books, spiritual artifacts, jewelry, etc.