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Hello all, I'm moving my family and business from upstate NY to the Charlotte area in the next 6 months or so. I know, real creative of us right? However, we love the area and have been considering this move for 5-6 years now and circumstances have forced our hand.
We love the Southend/Dilworth/Myers Park communities, however, they may not suit our needs and the needs of our children right now. We have been looking at the Fort Mill/Tega Cay area and are quite interested. But herein lies the dilemma.
My wife and I are family first folks. We work hard and spend the rest of the time around the house. We don't do drugs, drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes. We mind our own business but at the same time we are extremely conscience of our community and what's happening in it.
We are also both heavily tattooed and that is what I do for a living.
I'm not interested in opening a tattoo shop where I live, nor do my wife and I run around waving our "freak flag" as it were. And when we are dressed formally you couldn't tell us apart from anyone else. But in shorts and a polo........it's evident.
Unfortunately it's a fact of our lives that some folks get a little intimidated when they first meet me and that usually manifests itself in either fear, or open hostility. You should be a fly on the wall at a parent teacher conference, most of the time is spent calming the faculty rather than talking about our children's progress.
Anyway, I digress.........what we would like to know is if we are going to have a tougher time acclimating in the Fort Mill/ Tega Cay area. People can be close-minded everywhere, but will we run into more prejudice in a small town type community than the Charlotte metro area.
Please don't take my questions to be anything other than what they are. They are not meant in any way to disparage the communities we wish to be a part of. They are just born from the experience's, we as tattooed travelers have learned from, over the years.
You'll be fine. There's a lot of bikers in Rock Hill, right next to Fort Mill, and a biker churcher met in Fort Mill for a while, but they now meet at the Ramada in Rock Hill.
Where exactly in NY state are you coming from? Oh, and your business currently wouldn't be able to operate in SC as getting a tattoo is still against the law.
The tattoo laws have been changed in South Carolina and it is now legal to tattoo there. However the zoning ordinances and regulations make it difficult to work in South Carolina. I would more than likely be looking to open in Charlotte.
I wouldn't worry about it - I've met a lot of people with tattoos since moving down here, including in Fort Mill.
Tattoos don't have nearly the stigma that they used to. Too many people have 'em nowadays!!!
I've always wanted one, but never did it. So now I live vicariously through my 3-yr-old son. I am potty-training him and his reward when he does the right thing is a nice big temporary tattoo. He is currently sporting three - all with a pirate theme. We did the same thing with my 4-yr-old daughter - she got tattoos, too, and usually had butterflies sprinkling her arms.
Hello all, I'm moving my family and business from upstate NY to the Charlotte area in the next 6 months or so. I know, real creative of us right? However, we love the area and have been considering this move for 5-6 years now and circumstances have forced our hand.
We love the Southend/Dilworth/Myers Park communities, however, they may not suit our needs and the needs of our children right now. We have been looking at the Fort Mill/Tega Cay area and are quite interested. But herein lies the dilemma.
My wife and I are family first folks. We work hard and spend the rest of the time around the house. We don't do drugs, drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes. We mind our own business but at the same time we are extremely conscience of our community and what's happening in it.
We are also both heavily tattooed and that is what I do for a living.
I'm not interested in opening a tattoo shop where I live, nor do my wife and I run around waving our "freak flag" as it were. And when we are dressed formally you couldn't tell us apart from anyone else. But in shorts and a polo........it's evident.
Unfortunately it's a fact of our lives that some folks get a little intimidated when they first meet me and that usually manifests itself in either fear, or open hostility. You should be a fly on the wall at a parent teacher conference, most of the time is spent calming the faculty rather than talking about our children's progress.
Anyway, I digress.........what we would like to know is if we are going to have a tougher time acclimating in the Fort Mill/ Tega Cay area. People can be close-minded everywhere, but will we run into more prejudice in a small town type community than the Charlotte metro area.
Please don't take my questions to be anything other than what they are. They are not meant in any way to disparage the communities we wish to be a part of. They are just born from the experience's, we as tattooed travelers have learned from, over the years.
Thank you in advance for any input you may have.
Mike and Melissa
Hi Mike & Melissa.
We are also from NY (though not upstate as you, Hudson Valley area here). We live in York. My husband is alos very tattood (Almost both sleeves done) I have 4 myself. I would not be concerned about it all all.
Keep us posted on your move. We'd love to see your work, haven't found a good artist here yet for us. Our guy moved to Florida right before we moved here last year!!
Good luck to you!
Sounds like you have got a lot of positive response, that is great! I am too new here to really give you an honest opinion, but my experience so far is that people are very friendly and welcoming.
Hello all, I'm moving my family and business from upstate NY to the Charlotte area in the next 6 months or so. I know, real creative of us right? However, we love the area and have been considering this move for 5-6 years now and circumstances have forced our hand.
We love the Southend/Dilworth/Myers Park communities, however, they may not suit our needs and the needs of our children right now. We have been looking at the Fort Mill/Tega Cay area and are quite interested. But herein lies the dilemma.
My wife and I are family first folks. We work hard and spend the rest of the time around the house. We don't do drugs, drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes. We mind our own business but at the same time we are extremely conscience of our community and what's happening in it.
We are also both heavily tattooed and that is what I do for a living.
I'm not interested in opening a tattoo shop where I live, nor do my wife and I run around waving our "freak flag" as it were. And when we are dressed formally you couldn't tell us apart from anyone else. But in shorts and a polo........it's evident.
Unfortunately it's a fact of our lives that some folks get a little intimidated when they first meet me and that usually manifests itself in either fear, or open hostility. You should be a fly on the wall at a parent teacher conference, most of the time is spent calming the faculty rather than talking about our children's progress.
Anyway, I digress.........what we would like to know is if we are going to have a tougher time acclimating in the Fort Mill/ Tega Cay area. People can be close-minded everywhere, but will we run into more prejudice in a small town type community than the Charlotte metro area.
Please don't take my questions to be anything other than what they are. They are not meant in any way to disparage the communities we wish to be a part of. They are just born from the experience's, we as tattooed travelers have learned from, over the years.
Thank you in advance for any input you may have.
Mike and Melissa
I think you'll be fine, but I think you'd do better business in Rock Hill than in Charlotte and I think you'd do better living in SC as well. This is just my opinion being from the NE and being over 50 AND having a tattoo (only have 1got it when I was 49 in memory of a person I loved. Charlotte to me is more of a yuppie town, than Rock Hill/Fort Mill/Tega Cay.
Are people gonna stare? yes, but people stare everywhere. I'd stick to SC both business wise and residence wise.
I'd just like to thank everyone for their replies.
Merry Christmas...........
Mike and Melissa
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