OK, so, for starters, I love to get piercings...so when my younger sister brought up the idea of taking advantage of Platinum Ink's $15 piercing Sunday, I jumped at the chance to add to my collection.
At A Glance Author J Contact J@bme.anon When N/A Studio Platinum Ink Location Austin, Texas Now, I had been to Platinum Ink before to get my nose pierced(about one year earlier), and though the experience was not that great, my piercing turned out just fine, so I decided that I was willing to put up with lousy customer service skills and pissy piercers to save a little money (Not always the best idea!!!).
So, my sister and I walked in, already knowing ahead of time what we wanted done: I was getting my right daith and she was getting an industrial. We waited in line for a few minutes, as they were pretty busy, then gave our IDs to the nice man behind the counter and told him what we wanted...simple, right? Well, yes. So, my sister and I waited for about 15 more minutes while people flew in and out of the piercing rooms. (That should have been my first clue to leave...people were clearly not getting the personal attention needed for a really successful piercing). Then, I heard my name being called. It was the piercer (I recognized him from my last visit). I was not very pleased. This is how our conversation went.
"What do you want?"
"My Daith."
"Do you even know what that is?"
"Um, yes."
"Point to it."
::point to daith::
"No. See, you don't know what it is. That's your rook."
"Um, no, this is the rook ::Points to rook piercing on other ear::"
"No, I know what I'm talking about. That's why you're paying me to pierce you."
Then, he walked away. And for those of you who are wondering, yes, I proceeded to let this ignorant, a$$-hole stick a needle through my ear; probably not so wise, in retrospect :/.
The actual piercing was pretty standard: clean, mark, breathe, stab, jewelry, done. Clean it, don't touch it. Check. OK.
The pain was just like any other piercing (except for my Madison, which is TOTALLY different, and my Snug, which has been the most painful so far). It was just a lot of pressure.
Then my sister went in. She was pretty nervous as she is not used to getting piercings. She has a history of passing out with piercings, shots, etc, so we told the guy that maybe she should get pierced laying down (as he did mine sitting up).
"That's what everyone says. You'll be fine."
"Well, I got my tongue pierced a month ago, and I passed out."
"No, you'll be fine."
Ok, so he marks the spot, and was about to pierce it without her even looking at it! So I stopped him and made him get out a mirror to make sure she liked how it looked, as far as positioning goes, because she was pretty picky about where she wanted it. Thankfully she like it, because we would have had to fight with him to change it since, as he was handing her the mirror he said:
"I don't know why you need to see it, this piercing can only go in one place."
Um, are you KIDDING me!? I know that there are certain places that work better than others, but I'm pretty sure you can at least ASK for it to go anywhere!!
OK, so my sister's was another basic piercing again, nothing out of the ordinary happened. But wait, what's that? My sister is feeling light-headed. She says she needs to lie down.
"No, if you were going to pass out your face would be turning blue."
"No, her face would be PALE if she were going to pass out(dumb-a$$). And it is."
My sister continues to say she needs to lie down.
"No, you be fine."
I finally told her to just lie down, and it's a good thing I did because she did pass out. As she was laying there, the only thing the piercer said was "Don't put your feet on my table." Are you freaking kidding me?!?!
After she was feeling better, we left, without tipping, of course, and I refuse to go back to that place, even if it is to save a few dollars.
Soooo, it's been a few months now, and my piercing is healing just fine. I have a small bump on the under side of it, as have gotten with all my other cartilage piercings, so I'm not really worried. It should go away on it's own when it's ready to.
Now, our piercings did turn out fine, even though the piercer really had no idea what he was doing. But that's not typically the case. I really recommend that if you don't feel comfortable with your piercer or his/her judgement, LEAVE. You are paying for someone to physically wound you, they should at least be nice about it!