A cover up

Torus Tammer

You walk into Mother’s Market to get a half-pint of tabbouleh and see

that the woman behind the deli counter has her forearm wrapped in

bandages.

Third-degree burns?

No. Tattoos.Mother’s Market in Huntington Beach has started enforcing

a policy prohibiting employees from displaying their tattoos during work

hours. The company policy was initiated three years ago, said Geri Polk,

president of Mother’s Market, a local chain of four health food stores.

“We introduced this law at a time where tattoos were really peaking in

popularity, and a lot of people, including employees, seemed to have

them,” Polk said. “For us, this brought on complaints by customers [who]

were offended -- so we decided to make a policy.”

However, management said the policy was not really enforced at the

Huntington Beach store, which had more of a laissez faire attitude until

complaints by customers caused them to clamp down on the employees --

most of whom are tattooed.

For Vanessa Bernstein, the employee serving up that half-pint of

tabbouleh, that meant wearing a bandage to cover her arm from wrist to

elbow on a day when she did not have a long-sleeve shirt available to

cover her tattoo.

“I was aware of the tattoo policy when Mother’s interviewed me,”

Bernstein said. “But when you’re moving a lot, you get hot and irritable.

We should be able to be comfortable.”

Bernstein, who has been working at the health food grocery for four

months, said although the store is air-conditioned, it gets hot working

near the kitchen.

For many at Mother’s, the problem is not so much the rule itself but

how strictly it is being enforced.

Cashier Letty Hana said she was told by a manager to put a bandage on

the inside of her upper left arm to cover a small part of a tattoo that

peeked out from under a short sleeve when she raised her arm.

Caleb Cuningham, 25, said he has had trouble with the heat he endures

because of the long sleeves he must wear.

“I think it’s more offensive when people are not well-kept or their

breath stinks,” Cuningham said. “I happily comply with all the rules

here, but I just don’t think it looks good when it’s hot outside, and

[we] are doing physical things while dressed in long sleeves and long

pants.

“I’m always moving boxes, and [I] sweat while doing it. I’d like to

take the long sleeves off, but at the same time I don’t want to be

written up.”

Polk said each store has a management team responsible for day-to-day

operations and that they aren’t trying to be unreasonable.

“If the management at the Huntington Beach store enforced the policy

that firmly, then maybe they were being a little too strict,” Polk said.

“We certainly don’t instruct them to be that strict.”

Cuningham, who has worked in the vitamin department for two years,

said he was aware he would have to wear long sleeves at most jobs when he

had his tattoos done.

However, he said he believes the success and popularity of the

Huntington Beach store is largely due to the store’s uniqueness and that

of its employees. Because many of the customers are of an eclectic

variety, they find Mother’s in Huntington Beach a comfortable place to

be, he said.

Customers reactions have been mixed.

Some regular customers, such as 18-year-old Victor Murphy, were

curious.

“I was in there, and I totally noticed that Vanessa was wearing a

bandage on her arm,” Murphy said. “I asked her what happened, and she

said that it was to cover her tattoo.”

Mark Evans, 32, said he doesn’t know if the policy is right or wrong,

but having tattoos means getting judged all the time.

Evans, who has been shopping at Mother’s for nine years, has tattoos

covering a large portion of his body. His solution is to wear the long

sleeves and avoid the hassles.

“I clean pools for a living, and I have to wear long sleeves. So I

understand why they are having to cover up,” Evans said. “Ultimately,

tattoos are scary to people who don’t understand that it’s just art.”

Fountain Valley resident Herb Frers, 70, has been a regular customer

at Mother’s for many years.

“Being a Christian, I believe that tattooing is disfiguring of the

temple,” Frers said. “But it’s not offensive and seeing the staff’s

tattoos doesn’t offend me, just as in most cases bad language doesn’t

offend me.”

Although Mother’s does not plan to change its policy, Polk said the

company strives for fairness and consistency within their organization,

and it may try to find a compromise for its employees.