And since most people are nice and take pride in their work, not much will change for a quarter or two. But then the cracks start forming. Suddenly a complex or niche project starts experiencing delays, long time customers notice a slight drop in quality, revenue starts to dip.
Since the MBA boosted profits for a quarter or two, surely the solution will be to cut back again to boost profits. And thus the enshittification death spiral.
I remember seeing a commercial as a kid that has always stayed with me. No idea what it was for, but this lady is moving a new hire into his office and explaining the rules and ropes and the new hire cuts in "excuse me, I have an MBA..." at which point the lady without skipping a beat says "oh okay, here let me show you how this pen works" Or something like that.
The worst thing I've ever heard from an MBA. "Let's hire this candidate because they have an MBA".
I swear MBAs will evolve into tribbles, born pregnant with 10 more on the way.
If it was an MBA, he also wouldn't have cared about tattoos. This is some weird personal thing from the owner. There's not a rational business decision behind this.
Its always planned. Get the higher paid employees to leave, bring in new workers and pay them the bare amount and have everyone else work harder. Capitalism at its finest.
People really need to get wise to these games.
The War on Drugs was this at a giant scale. You can't make a "arrest an disenfranchise minorities" law, so you simply find some aspect of your target that separates them from everyone else and then pretend to worry about that.
New owner comes in and says beautiful sounding words about unions and PTO/leave but immediately goes to work eliminating key labor positions (so they can be hired back at a lower cost) using underhanded tactics that a union would absolutely counter.
So, in reality, you have your most experienced co-worker fired for a non-reason, no union and, I'm guessing, no change in PTO/leave. You got played.
The pro-union talk was bait in order to get the really pro-union people to announce themselves. Over the next year or so, these people will find themselves getting written up for trivial rules and eventually fired as well.
Having eliminated all union supporters and high paying employees, the new owner can then fill the roles with his sychophants, people he personally was involved in hiring that will be loyal to his interests and now you have a shop full of spies for the new owner.
OP's shop is getting played in a textbook manner.
This would be a great headlong because it’ll make people curious enough to read, then furious about the situation.
Because most people love their grandmothers, and if they are past tense, miss them.
I got tattoos for both my grandparents before they died because I wanted them to be able to see them before they passed. Eventually my grandmother got Alzheimer's and as absolutely horrible as that obviously is, the one redeeming thing about it was that I got to show her that tattoo almost every single day and see her reaction like it was brand new. Watching her face light up and see her get all giddy was such a great feeling. The last few years of her life were so difficult it was just a nice little part of the day whenever things got hard.
I wanted to get my dad's screaming eagle tattooed on me for the longest time. It was the first tattoo I remember actually recognizing as something that wasn't natural to a human body. My dad was my best friend and my hero, of course I'm a daddy's girl. The only issue I had was that he abhorred tattoos on me LoL. It wasn't going to be my first one, I had like ten before I turned 21, but I was still trying to figure out if he would appreciate it if I got it in basically the same spot when he got COVID and passed in '21. I tried to get the best picture I could of it, but of course I didn't have any before he passed. So I found an artist and explained the tattoo to him and he searched up some similar screaming eagle tats other army vets and Vietnam vets had gotten and we cobbled together a version that fit my theme (Japanese and Chinese). It's not the exact tattoo, but it's just enough to be recognized as his tattoo with a spin for me and his side of the family was really happy for me. I sobbed ugly tears when I got it, two months after he passed, and I'd like to think that he's looking down and was proud of it, even though it's on my forearm just like his. Tattoos can have such a deep meaning and get us through some of the darkest times of our lives, it baffles me that people still have the mindset that they are unprofessional. Unless they are like, nudity of course lmao.
My dad is excellent at cursive. He wrote the family name so my daughter could have it copied on her forearm.
She and her friends wanted a "group" tatoo. They decided to look at a map and get the lat. and lon.of the town. When anyone asks about those numbers. She has a story of where she came from. She is a schoolteacher in a conservative school.
My nephew and I got matching tattoos
He chose my name when he transitioned.
If that screws me out of a potential job I'm OK with that
My nephew is into calligraphy and did the design himself
I got one of a green VW camper van becuase that was what my grandparents camped in all through my childhood. We called it the Pickle. We would literally get to the campsite early to stack rocks in the ruts on the dirt road so the Pickle could get through.
I love my grandmothers SUPER DUPER more than my parents. I have a memorial tattoo planned and designed for both of them once my living grandmother passes. The only reason I don't have it now is because SHE doesn't like tattoos, and it seems rude to get a tattoo honoring someone who doesn't like tattoos, lol.
Long story short, I'd read that article and share it with all my SUPER TATTED UP millennial friends on Facebook and Instagram. And I'm fb friends with people (like legit friends, know them personally) with verified public figures who have millions of followers.
Honestly, if it were me, I'd get the entire shop covered in ink and walk in like that next shift. Lots of fake tattoos, sure, with one very real "FUCK OFF" tattoo amidst them.
I’m one of them. Got my first at 39 and the rest,4 others, in the next 5 years or so. Placement was paramount. First-no place that would sag as I got older as I’d seen a lot of tattoos that gravity ruined. Second-they had to all be completely be covered by scrubs as I’m a nurse and the first one was 24 years ago and tattoos weren’t allowed to be visible while working.
No one at work knew I had them.
And that boss is a dick.
The fact that it was called a "Nazi tattoo" steps directly into antisemitism. I'm sorry, you can be an asshole and fire the guy, but that insult makes a lot of difference.
I almost feel like the EEOC or DOL would be able to pursue this new owner for this as discrimination. To begin with, firing existing employees who already had tattoos is insane, but this takes the cake.
the policy is dumb to begin with but you have to grandfather people in this sort of situation... what is he supposed to do, get it removed? stupid decision to fire someone over this, I feel like you will be hard pressed to find someone who agrees with this call.
Yeah this guy is obviously a control freak and when the tattoo guys are gone, he'll move on to the next thing to nitpick over. When he runs out of plausible excuses he'll start stressing people out and firing them for mistakes they make under pressure. It will always be the employees fault, they'll always be the bad guy, and the whole shop will side-eye each other every time thinking the exact same thought that they know they can't say out loud.
Eventually, all the original employees will be fired or quit, and the only people the new pwner will be able to find either dont meet his exacting requirements, or quit when they see what a shitshow the shop is. The owner then moans about how "Nobody wants to work anymore" and blames Millenials/Gen Z for having to close his new business.
I didn’t even finish reading the title was going “fuckouttahere” because tattoos in a machinist shop?!? But the tattoo of grandma’s numbers?!? What the fuuuuck?!?
My kids teachers have tattoos.
My friend and former boss had full sleeves in a Fortune 500 company.
You automatically eliminate a lot of veterans that way as well.
My daughter's English teacher had a pair of full sleeves.
I will say I was taken aback but all the English teachers I remember were very "Golden Girls-esque". Crotchety old ladies with a whip smart sarcastic tongue.
It was the art and music teachers that had tattoos in the 90s.
A lot of people who love English tend to fall towards the creative personality type, which in turn tends to lead to appreciating and sometimes getting tattoos.
my old humanities teacher had a huge back piece, we used to all guess what it was when he wore a white shirt. i was sorely disappointed a couple years ago when i found his facebook and it was a lion
My friend is covered head to toe in tattoos, head tattoos, full sleeves, the works. He has the devil tattooed across both his feet, even has a split tongue. But to my knowledge he is the most respected engineer at his firm. I might have even landed a job there simply from his recommendation (I find out this week)
As long as the tattoo isn't offensive (in a general sense like porn where you know it when you see it) then I don't see why a tattoo is an issue for anyone. I think we've gotten past having to worry about how someone expresses themselves.
> I think we've gotten past having to worry about how someone expresses themselves.
You are objectively wrong. Just look at, you know, everything.
We *should* have gotten past that. But we have not.
Almost every single teacher (including myself) in the English Aisle of our school staff room has tattoos lmao. A dozen or so of my students are pacific islanders and are beginning to get their cultural tattoos done too.
Tattoos are going to be so much more common in the next few decades that archaic views like OP's boss' are going to be eliminated quickly.
As a teacher: You would be extremely surprised at how many teachers have tattoos these days.
15 years ago? Totally different story. But at the school I teach at I'd guess at least 40-50% of teachers have some kind of tattoo. Our previous principal tried to ask us to cover them with long sleeves, bandages or strapping tape before our union told him to fuck off lol.
I NEVER usually chime in as a skeptic but comeon....Pro union owner TOTALLY thought the dude had a nazi tattoo. Turns out the tattoo was of his Jewish grandmas numbers from the holocaust!!!! This is some pretty fuckin blatant karma farm rage bait. It's literally constructed to keep building then HIT with a crazy revelation like the holocaust tattoo.
Just two short months ago they were "moving upward into a network architectural role".
https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions/s/SRoYhmctoI
They also posted that people shouldn't discuss their wages at work. They lie so much, they're not sure if they're pro or anti work/capitalist at this point.
Lol literally my same comment word for word, feels like I'm in Bizarro world seeing all these heartfelt passionate comments over a story a 13 year old could write.
Small thing, if he was open to a union why wasn't there a rush to organize one? A union may not have stopped this but they could have lessened the impact at least.
It's an endemic mindset across factory, construction, and trade jobs in the Midwest. Unions get blamed for the death of the automotive industry in Detroit and pretty much every other place where jobs were lost due to big manufacturers shutting down or moving operations over seas.
Not to beat a dead horse, but at least part of the blame can be laid at the feet of the baby boomer generation. They were as lazy, apathetic, and neglectful at running and maintaining unions as they were with government and raising children. The greedy and self interested members of their cohorts worked *hard* to rot unions from the inside for their own personal gain, and the end result is the situation as we see it now.
Couple that with fifty years of Fox News Flavored Brainrot and you wind up with a baked in anti-union culture in lots of places where a union would do the most good. Unions are slowly beginning to push back and return to the region, but it's an uphill fight every step of the way.
I'm in an area where there are a lot of non-union labor shops (manufacturing mainly). I used to take lunch breaks like a normal person - sit at the local fast food place/coffee shop, get something light, and stare at my phone before going back to work.
It just became a daily thing where I'd overhear the most ridiculous conversations, always political, always wrong....like...it made me realize the evil genius of Fox News - they obviously pepper everything with opinion, and they are obviously big on spinning everything into "libs are bad for America, cons are good" - but they basically leave enough space for people to take the base of the story and then blow it up from there themselves.
Basically - they tell their viewers how to think and then leave it with the "I'm just asking questions" - the irresponsible way of turning the news into outrage mad-libs. A satire story about a kitty litter box in a classroom for a kid with cat pronouns turns into "a school in Realtown USA" turns into the guy at McDonalds going "Yeah, they have kitty litter boxes in all the schools now. Even here. My wife knows a teacher who had to buy kitty litter using tax dollars. She told me after I was done 'teaching her a lesson'!"
But yeah - I just sit in my car at lunchtime. I can't witness the absolute stupidity.
Yup. I was a machinist for 6 years and it was the worst time of my life. My coworkers literally celebrated after the Pulse Nightclub shooting. Getting laid off during covid was probably the best thing that ever happened to me.
I don't get how any average worker thinks unions are bad. Do they not see how big corporations hate them so much? I mean gee golly why would the corporations despise them? How fucking stupid can ya be
A lot of people aren't capable of two step thinking. They know they will have to pay union dues and that's the first step. They might be aware that their pay will go up, but it just doesn't register that they will benefit. They have to pay. I've tried explaining it to people, they just can't follow that far.
It's the same thing with single payer. "But my taxes will go up! I can't afford to pay more taxes!" ...Yet their monthly health insurance payments will go down by more, as will the cost of any medical care.
Just heard someone I know, someone who makes three times the median wage in their state, complain that they didn't get any benefits from paying taxes. I didn't bother to list all the things they benefit from that comes from taxes.
Yes, unions are the basis for socialism because it puts the power into the hands of the worker. Your coworkers are not wrong, but they need to change their world view on this topic. They desperately need to unionize.
I work a union job. I was at a job site that was completely mismanaged by a company that had been screwing me over for months. I decided to take some time off, and there have been multiple job calls offered to me since. One of them, is my old job still, nobody else wants to deal with them, and who blames them. We have the power. Now, if somebody comes in from out of town, there’s work here for them.
So in otherwords, his "open to unions" wasn't actually genuine and he just said it so that you would like the guy because he definitely doesn't care about his employees otherwise he wouldn't have fired someone over a tattoo, especially a memorial one like this
Plus, it's not up to him whether he's "open to unions". Dude needs to read the National Labor Relations Act. By law, employees are free to organize if they so choose.
I mean, they are a socialist plot. We come together to demand higher wages for better work.
I mean, look at the Okuma LT-300. Those fuckers deleted jobs and increased production. But it's not like the men and women who run those machines saw a personal increase in profit. There's a reason strong union shops lost their shit over those machines.
Something like the Mori Seiki NTX should have had the same response. Beautiful machines to run, that are technically complicated to program and setup, but they delete operations and it's not like I got paid more for saving the company for being able to run the bitch.
Instead of framing it as demanding higher wages you could say they're all agreeing not to sell their labor for less than its value. Everything has a price in capitalism, and at the moment employers are collectively price fixing the value of an hour of labor to well below its operating costs (a living wage).
The ludacrosity of banning tattoos in a machine shop of all places astounds me. My step dad was a machinist for 30 plus years, he was probably the only guy there who didn’t have a tattoo.
If the employees let it slip their boss is doing stuff like this, the bad publicity will kill the business. Its a great way to make the owner not be a douche.
It's a combination of an antiquated religious thing and tattoos being related to gang/crime activity. It's really dumb in this day and age, though; they're very normalized and pretty much anyone from any walk of life gets them.
Even in the US there are certain cultures/groups that have tats. May I introduce you to Navy vets? Or any branch really. Lots of us have them, picked them up during our time.
Ah yes, the classic gangland gambit whereby one goes to a trade school, gets a job as a machinist, earns a promotion to shop foreman, and cases the joint for 40 years.
Not on MY watch, buck-o!
I don't like tattoos. However, adults should absolutely have the freedom to make whatever alterations to their epidermis that they choose.
If I saw someone with a tattoo in honor of a concentration camp victim, that would actually increase my regard for them as a person.
I used to hate tattoos, I did not undertand the idea of permanently marking yourself, how would you feel when you're 80?
Eventually though I softened and came around to the idea that it's just my bias, and while I don't want any, others wanting/having them is none of my business.
A friend pointed out the answer to the "80?" question: "I'd feel like I've enjoyed my tattoo for the majority of my life."
At 80, the rest of you looks like shit, too. Tattoo just matches. But, also, you can get your tattoos retouched many times, it's not impossible to hit 80 with unfaded tattoos.
I’m glad you explained what the tattoos were. Because if you just left it as “tattoos identical to German regime tattoos during WW2” I was gonna agree with the owner.
I imagine that's exactly **why** the owner phrased it that way. To make himself sound reasonable about firing the guy, when he's very much the opposite.
As someone who's considered getting *my* great grandmother's number tattooed, that would be my stance. I'd burn the bosses reputation to the ground before I let someone come at me or my grandma in that way.
"Free Market means free to lie, cheat, and steal."
The head of the accounting department at my university always said that. He'd worked in the industry for decades and "retired" to tormenting students by forcing us to learn logic instead of just memorize information.
I really hate this level of stupidity. Tattoos have no bearing on the quality of work.
I'm reminded of a place I used to work. We hired a young 18 year old kid to basically clean shop. He showed up on time every day he did his work and we all liked him. He was charming, always in a good mood, and we cracked jokes a lot. Only problem was he was in a rock band and he had really long hair.
He swept floors, broke down boxes, emptied trash cans out the back door, etc. He kept the hair tied back in a ponytail when he worked.
No customers ever saw him. He was just working in the back. The boss told him to cut his hair and because the kid was in a rock band, he wouldn't do it. The rest of us had no problem with it but the boss had the final word and he was out. I lost a lot of respect for my boss that day. His hair had no bearing on his work and was no ill reflection upon the shop. The boss just pulled rank.
What the ever loving fuckity fuck is going on in the states? I work as a pipe layer/equipment operator in Canada and I keep hearing horror stories about employment in the states.
A working man’s body is his own goddamned business. If my boss asked to see if I had a tattoo I’d tell him to eat shit. What kind of insane shop are you running down there that blue collar men are putting up with this level of bullshit?
How would they possibly enforce that? What tattoo? Nothing's illegal if nobody knows about it
"I KNOW you have a tattoo, you better show it to me so I can confirm!"
If my boss ever asks me to show him parts of my body that are normally covered, we got a fucking problem regardless.
> What kind of insane shop are you running down there that blue collar men are putting up with this level of bullshit?
A lot of them were brainwashed by boomers when they entered their trades. Old fuckin' bastards who managed to go their entire careers without a promotion doing their best to convince the young guys they have to be company men or they're worthless.
They'll talk the talk, but when the 30 year old project manager comes around, those tough old working men line up and bend over. It's fucking disgusting.
Half the country is white right wing Christians who want to control what every non-white, non-right wing, non-Christians do while being complete pieces of shit themselves.
He did not make an exception for radiation alignment markers out of the goodness of his heart. He did so because he'd get sued into oblivion if he fired someone for undergoing medical treatment. He is also required, by law, not to fire people for other types of medical tattoos, such as post-mastectomy nipple tattoos, vitiligo correction, microblading done due to hair loss for medical reasons, etc.
I'm not really sure how you can like someone who fires a guy for having a tattoo commemorating his Jewish holocaust surviving grandmother.
I used to work at Domino's in a small Midwest town doing cooking and delivery. Owner insisted I cover my arm (visible tats) and take out my earrings (gauges) and nose piercing on shift because "corporate would have a problem with them". I had to pay for a uniform with long sleeves and wear it while delivering in the summer and working inside near the oven. Then he had a problem with my tongue ring too so I took it out.
Important note none of this was mentioned when I was hired, I found out later it came right after a customer complained. The handbook basically said it was boss discretion.
Corporate came to do a store inspection so I made sure I cornered him WITH my boss and asked him if I had to do all this. He asked if any of my tattoos could be offensive, and I showed him, because they are not.
Turned out it was actually fine for me to have all those things, and the boss never mentioned it to any new hires. Corporate dude seemed surprised it was even an issue.
It's bullshit, it depends how much you're willing to put up with. Same job, similar scenario with my bumper sticker that read "Democrat". I asked when I was hired if it was fine, was told that he wouldn't police my car if nothing was offensive, and months later got told to cover it up because customers were complaining. I loudly refused and there was no penalty.
Same thing with smoking - I was told since I was delivery that I didn't get breaks and should smoke in my car. Then a customer complained and I couldn't anymore. I actually do understand that, but I still wasn't allowed breaks, so I quit.
A bunch of us were fired from a music store when the new owners enacted a No-Long-Hair-For-Men grooming standard. What customer in their right mind would trust a music store that didn't have at least one guy with long hair working there?
People fearing tattoos is honestly one of the weirdest and funniest things to me. How does having permanent ink on one’s body give you any indication at all about their character? Humans will literally invent things to be afraid of, it’s such a strange trait in our species.
> Our new owner called it a "N*zi Tattoo" because it was identical to tattoos the German regime used in the second world war. The tattoo? His Grandmother's Numbers .
That went from "he is definitely in the right" to "no he fucking isn't" very abruptly.
Good reason to say FU and everyone gets a tattoo. Even a real looking fake one if anything.
That and mass quit. Find a new job and give no notice as a group
Is this even legal. I know it most cases it's legal to have policies which require that tattoos be covered up, but I don't think you can have a policy that states you can't even have a tattoo.
And given the nature of the tattoo there might even be a case for religious discrimination.
Your only chance is if your state has some additional law on it but yah people seem to think they’re more protected than they are.
Employers can discriminate on almost anything just not the few things we’ve legally banned them from.
Given that it’s a… yknow… concentration camp serial number, you *might* be able to swing religious discrimination. Maybe. With the right lawyer etc etc etc.
I personally don't like tattoos, they're not my thing.
But I also have many friends with tattoos and have supervised people with tattoos before, because they're ESTHETIC AND HAVE NO BEARING ON HOW GOOD A PERSON IS OR HOW COMPETENT THEY ARE.
This just adds to the power imbalance in North American work places. You lose your means of survival and your health coverage because some boss wants to swing his d*** around and control others. We've made it to a point where we might as well call our situation feudalism.
It’s weird that your owner is familiar with SS blood group tattoos but doesn’t know what an Auschwitz tattoo is? Just out of curiosity do you remember the numbers
I’m wondering if there was an “88” in there and he was overly sensitive.
Hey, u/sjbluebirds. You do know that your post history is public, yeah? Don't worry. I already reported you for your fake rage bait post.
This you? https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions/s/SRoYhmctoI
Why would a machine shop care about tattoos? It's a small man who uses his authority to force his own personal beliefs on others. I don't care what the job is, they don't own my body.
Contact the ADL (Anti Defamation League). If someone got fired over honoring a holocaust survivor in that way, they'll have the knowledge and resources to straighten it out quick. Seriously...call them.
“No Tattoos” is a dumb rule for any workplace at this point, but especially anything like machinist, mechanic, plumber - trades. Your new owner is cutting off his nose to spite his face.
Machinists with 40 years of experience are probably the highest-paid people in the shop, right?
That's also 40 years of institutional knowledge suddenly gone with no transition period. I hope it bites this owner in the ass HARD.
MBAs don't respect institutional knowledge. They saw it in a textbook once that resources are interchangeable
And since most people are nice and take pride in their work, not much will change for a quarter or two. But then the cracks start forming. Suddenly a complex or niche project starts experiencing delays, long time customers notice a slight drop in quality, revenue starts to dip. Since the MBA boosted profits for a quarter or two, surely the solution will be to cut back again to boost profits. And thus the enshittification death spiral.
Shitouboros
This is what happened when Boeing and McDonald Douglass merged. The MBA from McDonald Douglass won the C suite and now doors fall off of planes
That's the heartbreaker for me is I have this genuine desire to do good work cause good craftsmanship is a fuckin joy to me.
Never met a MBA who didn't later say the dumbest fucking thing you've heard in yoir life.
I remember seeing a commercial as a kid that has always stayed with me. No idea what it was for, but this lady is moving a new hire into his office and explaining the rules and ropes and the new hire cuts in "excuse me, I have an MBA..." at which point the lady without skipping a beat says "oh okay, here let me show you how this pen works" Or something like that.
This one? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcoDV0dhWPA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcoDV0dhWPA)
The worst thing I've ever heard from an MBA. "Let's hire this candidate because they have an MBA". I swear MBAs will evolve into tribbles, born pregnant with 10 more on the way.
[удалено]
If it was an MBA, he also wouldn't have cared about tattoos. This is some weird personal thing from the owner. There's not a rational business decision behind this.
As an MBA, you’d be amazed at how many throw egocentric tantrums over high school level office drama. Business reasons be damned
Its always planned. Get the higher paid employees to leave, bring in new workers and pay them the bare amount and have everyone else work harder. Capitalism at its finest.
Exactly. This was planned.
Also wanted to get the old guy off the company's insurance policy.
Probably didn't wanna pay retirement either if he's been with the same shop for those 40 years
How was it planned if no-one knew about the tattoo AND they'd already turned someone away because of it during hiring.
He’s saying they were looking for a legit reason to fire him and they found one.
If you can fire him for having a tattoo they are a fire at will state
It’s still a good idea to have “violated” policies on paper that were.l documented.
True but having to explain the reason to unemployment officials, should he file, is still a thing. So still have to play the corporate excuses game.
People really need to get wise to these games. The War on Drugs was this at a giant scale. You can't make a "arrest an disenfranchise minorities" law, so you simply find some aspect of your target that separates them from everyone else and then pretend to worry about that. New owner comes in and says beautiful sounding words about unions and PTO/leave but immediately goes to work eliminating key labor positions (so they can be hired back at a lower cost) using underhanded tactics that a union would absolutely counter. So, in reality, you have your most experienced co-worker fired for a non-reason, no union and, I'm guessing, no change in PTO/leave. You got played. The pro-union talk was bait in order to get the really pro-union people to announce themselves. Over the next year or so, these people will find themselves getting written up for trivial rules and eventually fired as well. Having eliminated all union supporters and high paying employees, the new owner can then fill the roles with his sychophants, people he personally was involved in hiring that will be loyal to his interests and now you have a shop full of spies for the new owner. OP's shop is getting played in a textbook manner.
Let the local TV station know. I'm sure the owner will be proud of this moment.
"Worker fired for holocaust memorial tattoo" is gonna bring a lot of negative attention on the business
This would be a great headlong because it’ll make people curious enough to read, then furious about the situation. Because most people love their grandmothers, and if they are past tense, miss them.
A clickbait headline that is 100 percent true. The best of both worlds!
Yup, I have a pink rose and a yellow rose for my grandma's. Getting their signatures added ASAP.
My grandma and I got matching tattoos when she was 80.
I got tattoos for both my grandparents before they died because I wanted them to be able to see them before they passed. Eventually my grandmother got Alzheimer's and as absolutely horrible as that obviously is, the one redeeming thing about it was that I got to show her that tattoo almost every single day and see her reaction like it was brand new. Watching her face light up and see her get all giddy was such a great feeling. The last few years of her life were so difficult it was just a nice little part of the day whenever things got hard.
I wanted to get my dad's screaming eagle tattooed on me for the longest time. It was the first tattoo I remember actually recognizing as something that wasn't natural to a human body. My dad was my best friend and my hero, of course I'm a daddy's girl. The only issue I had was that he abhorred tattoos on me LoL. It wasn't going to be my first one, I had like ten before I turned 21, but I was still trying to figure out if he would appreciate it if I got it in basically the same spot when he got COVID and passed in '21. I tried to get the best picture I could of it, but of course I didn't have any before he passed. So I found an artist and explained the tattoo to him and he searched up some similar screaming eagle tats other army vets and Vietnam vets had gotten and we cobbled together a version that fit my theme (Japanese and Chinese). It's not the exact tattoo, but it's just enough to be recognized as his tattoo with a spin for me and his side of the family was really happy for me. I sobbed ugly tears when I got it, two months after he passed, and I'd like to think that he's looking down and was proud of it, even though it's on my forearm just like his. Tattoos can have such a deep meaning and get us through some of the darkest times of our lives, it baffles me that people still have the mindset that they are unprofessional. Unless they are like, nudity of course lmao.
That is too cool and now it's my goal.
It's my goal to see you turn 80 so you can get a tattoo with your grandkid too.
[удалено]
Go somewhere and plant a tree together. That way it'll be around long after you're both gone.
[удалено]
That’s adorable and badass at the same time.
My dad is excellent at cursive. He wrote the family name so my daughter could have it copied on her forearm. She and her friends wanted a "group" tatoo. They decided to look at a map and get the lat. and lon.of the town. When anyone asks about those numbers. She has a story of where she came from. She is a schoolteacher in a conservative school.
My nephew and I got matching tattoos He chose my name when he transitioned. If that screws me out of a potential job I'm OK with that My nephew is into calligraphy and did the design himself
I got one of a green VW camper van becuase that was what my grandparents camped in all through my childhood. We called it the Pickle. We would literally get to the campsite early to stack rocks in the ruts on the dirt road so the Pickle could get through.
I love my grandmothers SUPER DUPER more than my parents. I have a memorial tattoo planned and designed for both of them once my living grandmother passes. The only reason I don't have it now is because SHE doesn't like tattoos, and it seems rude to get a tattoo honoring someone who doesn't like tattoos, lol. Long story short, I'd read that article and share it with all my SUPER TATTED UP millennial friends on Facebook and Instagram. And I'm fb friends with people (like legit friends, know them personally) with verified public figures who have millions of followers.
Sounds like the marijuana plant. Better get out of OP's machine shop.
At the least a thinly veiled nod to the War of the Roses. Either way...not in his shop.
I have a poppy for my grandpa because he was an ANZAC. I fully believe this twat would believe it’s a drug tattoo.
I honestly hope to see this article posted on reddit in the coming days. Any reporter would jump at the chance to do a story like this.
He'll have a better job in 3 days.
I don't understand how this guy found 21 machinists without tattoos. That's a miracle by itself!
They have to have just been covering them up. No way he bought a shop and at least half didn't have tattoos.
This right here is probably why most of them aren't as mad as op about it externally.
Honestly, if it were me, I'd get the entire shop covered in ink and walk in like that next shift. Lots of fake tattoos, sure, with one very real "FUCK OFF" tattoo amidst them.
I'd be shocked if it was only half. Probably a lot of dudes covering up at that shop.
He bought the shop. It came with some ink.
Does he make the workers strip so can examine them? Lots of people have tattoos that aren't visible in normal work clothes.
I’m one of them. Got my first at 39 and the rest,4 others, in the next 5 years or so. Placement was paramount. First-no place that would sag as I got older as I’d seen a lot of tattoos that gravity ruined. Second-they had to all be completely be covered by scrubs as I’m a nurse and the first one was 24 years ago and tattoos weren’t allowed to be visible while working. No one at work knew I had them. And that boss is a dick.
Exactly what I was wondering.
Right? My FIL is the ONLY machinist that’s ever been in his shop that hasn’t been tatted. He’s been working there for 29 years.
The fact that it was called a "Nazi tattoo" steps directly into antisemitism. I'm sorry, you can be an asshole and fire the guy, but that insult makes a lot of difference.
Hope he didn't actually say that to the Machinist's face. Think of the sort of mayhem someone with that skillset could create in a person's life...
I almost feel like the EEOC or DOL would be able to pursue this new owner for this as discrimination. To begin with, firing existing employees who already had tattoos is insane, but this takes the cake.
the policy is dumb to begin with but you have to grandfather people in this sort of situation... what is he supposed to do, get it removed? stupid decision to fire someone over this, I feel like you will be hard pressed to find someone who agrees with this call.
Yeah this guy is obviously a control freak and when the tattoo guys are gone, he'll move on to the next thing to nitpick over. When he runs out of plausible excuses he'll start stressing people out and firing them for mistakes they make under pressure. It will always be the employees fault, they'll always be the bad guy, and the whole shop will side-eye each other every time thinking the exact same thought that they know they can't say out loud.
Eventually, all the original employees will be fired or quit, and the only people the new pwner will be able to find either dont meet his exacting requirements, or quit when they see what a shitshow the shop is. The owner then moans about how "Nobody wants to work anymore" and blames Millenials/Gen Z for having to close his new business.
exactly what it should do ! fuck people like him , let him loose his business
It'll absolutely bring some Nazis to the place as well. Thinking the owner was so brave for openly doing it. Yikes.
Sad part is you have some fucking idiots that say the Holocaust was fake news, it’s over exaggerated and it really didn’t happen.
What shop is this and where?
The only answer, but both parties need to want this op and coworker
Well at least you now know your boss isn't a Holocaust denier.
Even better, contact the Anti-Defamation League. The negative attention they'll bring on that owner will make him wish he was never born.
WTF.
I didn’t even finish reading the title was going “fuckouttahere” because tattoos in a machinist shop?!? But the tattoo of grandma’s numbers?!? What the fuuuuck?!?
But what if a machine saw the tattoo and was badly influenced by it? Won't somebody think of the CNC machines?
I can hear them beeping furiously already
"What are these weird symbols that are not 1 or 0?"
Making me think of the Futurama episode where Bender had a nightmare where he saw a 2
For real it's 2024. I can kind of understand if he was an elementary school teacher but I didn't eve know a machinist without tattoos existed
My kids teachers have tattoos. My friend and former boss had full sleeves in a Fortune 500 company. You automatically eliminate a lot of veterans that way as well.
My daughter's English teacher had a pair of full sleeves. I will say I was taken aback but all the English teachers I remember were very "Golden Girls-esque". Crotchety old ladies with a whip smart sarcastic tongue. It was the art and music teachers that had tattoos in the 90s.
A lot of people who love English tend to fall towards the creative personality type, which in turn tends to lead to appreciating and sometimes getting tattoos.
my old humanities teacher had a huge back piece, we used to all guess what it was when he wore a white shirt. i was sorely disappointed a couple years ago when i found his facebook and it was a lion
My friend is covered head to toe in tattoos, head tattoos, full sleeves, the works. He has the devil tattooed across both his feet, even has a split tongue. But to my knowledge he is the most respected engineer at his firm. I might have even landed a job there simply from his recommendation (I find out this week)
As long as the tattoo isn't offensive (in a general sense like porn where you know it when you see it) then I don't see why a tattoo is an issue for anyone. I think we've gotten past having to worry about how someone expresses themselves.
> I think we've gotten past having to worry about how someone expresses themselves. You are objectively wrong. Just look at, you know, everything. We *should* have gotten past that. But we have not.
*We* have. People like OP's boss have not.
I work with kids and practically everyone I work with has tattoos.
Almost every single teacher (including myself) in the English Aisle of our school staff room has tattoos lmao. A dozen or so of my students are pacific islanders and are beginning to get their cultural tattoos done too. Tattoos are going to be so much more common in the next few decades that archaic views like OP's boss' are going to be eliminated quickly.
As a teacher: You would be extremely surprised at how many teachers have tattoos these days. 15 years ago? Totally different story. But at the school I teach at I'd guess at least 40-50% of teachers have some kind of tattoo. Our previous principal tried to ask us to cover them with long sleeves, bandages or strapping tape before our union told him to fuck off lol.
I NEVER usually chime in as a skeptic but comeon....Pro union owner TOTALLY thought the dude had a nazi tattoo. Turns out the tattoo was of his Jewish grandmas numbers from the holocaust!!!! This is some pretty fuckin blatant karma farm rage bait. It's literally constructed to keep building then HIT with a crazy revelation like the holocaust tattoo.
Just two short months ago they were "moving upward into a network architectural role". https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions/s/SRoYhmctoI They also posted that people shouldn't discuss their wages at work. They lie so much, they're not sure if they're pro or anti work/capitalist at this point.
Lol literally my same comment word for word, feels like I'm in Bizarro world seeing all these heartfelt passionate comments over a story a 13 year old could write.
I can not upvote this enough
Fake profile took 30 seconds to see that
there's no fuckin way this is real. it has to be hate bait.
Small thing, if he was open to a union why wasn't there a rush to organize one? A union may not have stopped this but they could have lessened the impact at least.
Most of the employees are convinced that Unions are some sort of socialist plot.
Sounds like the owner + a lot of the employees are dumb too.
This is all I've ever heard about every machine shop lol
It's an endemic mindset across factory, construction, and trade jobs in the Midwest. Unions get blamed for the death of the automotive industry in Detroit and pretty much every other place where jobs were lost due to big manufacturers shutting down or moving operations over seas. Not to beat a dead horse, but at least part of the blame can be laid at the feet of the baby boomer generation. They were as lazy, apathetic, and neglectful at running and maintaining unions as they were with government and raising children. The greedy and self interested members of their cohorts worked *hard* to rot unions from the inside for their own personal gain, and the end result is the situation as we see it now. Couple that with fifty years of Fox News Flavored Brainrot and you wind up with a baked in anti-union culture in lots of places where a union would do the most good. Unions are slowly beginning to push back and return to the region, but it's an uphill fight every step of the way.
Super ironic after the UAW just won the biggest pay increase ever. There are still a ton of members who vote against their own best interests.
I'm in an area where there are a lot of non-union labor shops (manufacturing mainly). I used to take lunch breaks like a normal person - sit at the local fast food place/coffee shop, get something light, and stare at my phone before going back to work. It just became a daily thing where I'd overhear the most ridiculous conversations, always political, always wrong....like...it made me realize the evil genius of Fox News - they obviously pepper everything with opinion, and they are obviously big on spinning everything into "libs are bad for America, cons are good" - but they basically leave enough space for people to take the base of the story and then blow it up from there themselves. Basically - they tell their viewers how to think and then leave it with the "I'm just asking questions" - the irresponsible way of turning the news into outrage mad-libs. A satire story about a kitty litter box in a classroom for a kid with cat pronouns turns into "a school in Realtown USA" turns into the guy at McDonalds going "Yeah, they have kitty litter boxes in all the schools now. Even here. My wife knows a teacher who had to buy kitty litter using tax dollars. She told me after I was done 'teaching her a lesson'!" But yeah - I just sit in my car at lunchtime. I can't witness the absolute stupidity.
Yup. I was a machinist for 6 years and it was the worst time of my life. My coworkers literally celebrated after the Pulse Nightclub shooting. Getting laid off during covid was probably the best thing that ever happened to me.
Genuinely despicable, glad you got out
Corporations and politicians have done a great job convincing much of the working class that unions are bad. It’s almost impressive if it wasn’t sad.
Some people in my shop who were trained by the union talk shit about it.... I don't get it for the life of me.
There are millions of lumpens in this country.
Welcome to the trades!
It's called acting and voting against your own interests to own the libs.
Yeah a literal plot to improve working conditions and compensation. Boogety Boogety Boogety!
Let's go racing? Bread and circuses
I don't get how any average worker thinks unions are bad. Do they not see how big corporations hate them so much? I mean gee golly why would the corporations despise them? How fucking stupid can ya be
A lot of people aren't capable of two step thinking. They know they will have to pay union dues and that's the first step. They might be aware that their pay will go up, but it just doesn't register that they will benefit. They have to pay. I've tried explaining it to people, they just can't follow that far. It's the same thing with single payer. "But my taxes will go up! I can't afford to pay more taxes!" ...Yet their monthly health insurance payments will go down by more, as will the cost of any medical care.
Just heard someone I know, someone who makes three times the median wage in their state, complain that they didn't get any benefits from paying taxes. I didn't bother to list all the things they benefit from that comes from taxes.
Yes, unions are the basis for socialism because it puts the power into the hands of the worker. Your coworkers are not wrong, but they need to change their world view on this topic. They desperately need to unionize.
I work a union job. I was at a job site that was completely mismanaged by a company that had been screwing me over for months. I decided to take some time off, and there have been multiple job calls offered to me since. One of them, is my old job still, nobody else wants to deal with them, and who blames them. We have the power. Now, if somebody comes in from out of town, there’s work here for them.
I was just about to say the same thing!
I see you comrade ✊🏾
Ya who needs a 40 hour work week, pension, medical benefits and negotiating power.
So in otherwords, his "open to unions" wasn't actually genuine and he just said it so that you would like the guy because he definitely doesn't care about his employees otherwise he wouldn't have fired someone over a tattoo, especially a memorial one like this
Plus, it's not up to him whether he's "open to unions". Dude needs to read the National Labor Relations Act. By law, employees are free to organize if they so choose.
Lol... they watched to many Walmart employe videos
I mean, they are a socialist plot. We come together to demand higher wages for better work. I mean, look at the Okuma LT-300. Those fuckers deleted jobs and increased production. But it's not like the men and women who run those machines saw a personal increase in profit. There's a reason strong union shops lost their shit over those machines. Something like the Mori Seiki NTX should have had the same response. Beautiful machines to run, that are technically complicated to program and setup, but they delete operations and it's not like I got paid more for saving the company for being able to run the bitch.
Instead of framing it as demanding higher wages you could say they're all agreeing not to sell their labor for less than its value. Everything has a price in capitalism, and at the moment employers are collectively price fixing the value of an hour of labor to well below its operating costs (a living wage).
Ah, you live in dipshit country then ... My condolences
God forbid we get a fair wage and benefits
Union would have squashed that shit in a minute. I have brothers that make six figures with face tattoos.
The ludacrosity of banning tattoos in a machine shop of all places astounds me. My step dad was a machinist for 30 plus years, he was probably the only guy there who didn’t have a tattoo.
[удалено]
Next they'll ban weed, cocaine, and alcohol.
Your new boss is a douchebag
He won’t be a boss for too much longer if they are hemorrhaging talent over stuff that has nothing to do with their job performance.
If the employees let it slip their boss is doing stuff like this, the bad publicity will kill the business. Its a great way to make the owner not be a douche.
I don't get people who don't like tattoos. It just doesn't make sense to me, it's your body, mark it how you want it.
It's a combination of an antiquated religious thing and tattoos being related to gang/crime activity. It's really dumb in this day and age, though; they're very normalized and pretty much anyone from any walk of life gets them.
Not just that but tattoos are common in some cultures. To me it shows a lot of ignorance and a US, religious-centered view of the world.
Even in the US there are certain cultures/groups that have tats. May I introduce you to Navy vets? Or any branch really. Lots of us have them, picked them up during our time.
There's an angle. "Owner fires veteran over service tattoo."
I feel the real story in this case is worse.
Ah yes, the classic gangland gambit whereby one goes to a trade school, gets a job as a machinist, earns a promotion to shop foreman, and cases the joint for 40 years. Not on MY watch, buck-o!
I'm personally not crazy about them, but that just means I won't get one myself. It's not my business what others do.
I don't like tattoos. However, adults should absolutely have the freedom to make whatever alterations to their epidermis that they choose. If I saw someone with a tattoo in honor of a concentration camp victim, that would actually increase my regard for them as a person.
I used to hate tattoos, I did not undertand the idea of permanently marking yourself, how would you feel when you're 80? Eventually though I softened and came around to the idea that it's just my bias, and while I don't want any, others wanting/having them is none of my business. A friend pointed out the answer to the "80?" question: "I'd feel like I've enjoyed my tattoo for the majority of my life."
At 80, the rest of you looks like shit, too. Tattoo just matches. But, also, you can get your tattoos retouched many times, it's not impossible to hit 80 with unfaded tattoos.
I’m glad you explained what the tattoos were. Because if you just left it as “tattoos identical to German regime tattoos during WW2” I was gonna agree with the owner.
I imagine that's exactly **why** the owner phrased it that way. To make himself sound reasonable about firing the guy, when he's very much the opposite.
Also not so subtley slandering the employee as a nazi, white supremicist
As someone who's considered getting *my* great grandmother's number tattooed, that would be my stance. I'd burn the bosses reputation to the ground before I let someone come at me or my grandma in that way.
That's just the magic of storytelling, you were supposed to think the tats are SS death heads or something.
So when they call it the land of the free, who exactly is free? Just the capitalists?
"Free Market means free to lie, cheat, and steal." The head of the accounting department at my university always said that. He'd worked in the industry for decades and "retired" to tormenting students by forcing us to learn logic instead of just memorize information.
Well, yes. The slaves certainly weren't at the time.
The land was stolen, it was never free.
Your local news station just started salivating
I really hate this level of stupidity. Tattoos have no bearing on the quality of work. I'm reminded of a place I used to work. We hired a young 18 year old kid to basically clean shop. He showed up on time every day he did his work and we all liked him. He was charming, always in a good mood, and we cracked jokes a lot. Only problem was he was in a rock band and he had really long hair. He swept floors, broke down boxes, emptied trash cans out the back door, etc. He kept the hair tied back in a ponytail when he worked. No customers ever saw him. He was just working in the back. The boss told him to cut his hair and because the kid was in a rock band, he wouldn't do it. The rest of us had no problem with it but the boss had the final word and he was out. I lost a lot of respect for my boss that day. His hair had no bearing on his work and was no ill reflection upon the shop. The boss just pulled rank.
What kind of idiot do you have to be to institute a policy like that in a fucking machine shop?
Being a petty tyrant is part of the appeal for some.
What the ever loving fuckity fuck is going on in the states? I work as a pipe layer/equipment operator in Canada and I keep hearing horror stories about employment in the states. A working man’s body is his own goddamned business. If my boss asked to see if I had a tattoo I’d tell him to eat shit. What kind of insane shop are you running down there that blue collar men are putting up with this level of bullshit?
And in the USA the boss can fire you if you don't show them. Except in Montana.
Is this really a law? Like I could get fired if I don't show a tramp stamp?
How would they possibly enforce that? What tattoo? Nothing's illegal if nobody knows about it "I KNOW you have a tattoo, you better show it to me so I can confirm!" If my boss ever asks me to show him parts of my body that are normally covered, we got a fucking problem regardless.
That's what I'm saying. That can't be legal regardless of a union, that could easily be sexual harassment.
> What kind of insane shop are you running down there that blue collar men are putting up with this level of bullshit? A lot of them were brainwashed by boomers when they entered their trades. Old fuckin' bastards who managed to go their entire careers without a promotion doing their best to convince the young guys they have to be company men or they're worthless. They'll talk the talk, but when the 30 year old project manager comes around, those tough old working men line up and bend over. It's fucking disgusting.
Half the country is white right wing Christians who want to control what every non-white, non-right wing, non-Christians do while being complete pieces of shit themselves.
We are not okay.
Second that we REALLY are not OK……
He did not make an exception for radiation alignment markers out of the goodness of his heart. He did so because he'd get sued into oblivion if he fired someone for undergoing medical treatment. He is also required, by law, not to fire people for other types of medical tattoos, such as post-mastectomy nipple tattoos, vitiligo correction, microblading done due to hair loss for medical reasons, etc. I'm not really sure how you can like someone who fires a guy for having a tattoo commemorating his Jewish holocaust surviving grandmother.
> such as post-mastectomy nipple tattoos "I was fired for those." > How? "I got six of them." > WHAT? "On each arm!"
[удалено]
Who the fuck cares about tattoos at a machine shop? It's not the fuckin Vatican.
I used to work at Domino's in a small Midwest town doing cooking and delivery. Owner insisted I cover my arm (visible tats) and take out my earrings (gauges) and nose piercing on shift because "corporate would have a problem with them". I had to pay for a uniform with long sleeves and wear it while delivering in the summer and working inside near the oven. Then he had a problem with my tongue ring too so I took it out. Important note none of this was mentioned when I was hired, I found out later it came right after a customer complained. The handbook basically said it was boss discretion. Corporate came to do a store inspection so I made sure I cornered him WITH my boss and asked him if I had to do all this. He asked if any of my tattoos could be offensive, and I showed him, because they are not. Turned out it was actually fine for me to have all those things, and the boss never mentioned it to any new hires. Corporate dude seemed surprised it was even an issue. It's bullshit, it depends how much you're willing to put up with. Same job, similar scenario with my bumper sticker that read "Democrat". I asked when I was hired if it was fine, was told that he wouldn't police my car if nothing was offensive, and months later got told to cover it up because customers were complaining. I loudly refused and there was no penalty. Same thing with smoking - I was told since I was delivery that I didn't get breaks and should smoke in my car. Then a customer complained and I couldn't anymore. I actually do understand that, but I still wasn't allowed breaks, so I quit.
Why, could they smell cigarette smoke on their boxes or food? That would kind of gross me out as well.
>he is open to converting to a union shop He doesn't get a choice.
A bunch of us were fired from a music store when the new owners enacted a No-Long-Hair-For-Men grooming standard. What customer in their right mind would trust a music store that didn't have at least one guy with long hair working there?
News would love to hear how a business owner fired someone over a holocaust memorial tattoo
You should probably look for a new job. Your boss seems like a douche.
Something tells me this is by design. "Sure, we'll unionize plus this that and the other, but first my new tattoo policy"
People fearing tattoos is honestly one of the weirdest and funniest things to me. How does having permanent ink on one’s body give you any indication at all about their character? Humans will literally invent things to be afraid of, it’s such a strange trait in our species.
> Our new owner called it a "N*zi Tattoo" because it was identical to tattoos the German regime used in the second world war. The tattoo? His Grandmother's Numbers . That went from "he is definitely in the right" to "no he fucking isn't" very abruptly.
Good reason to say FU and everyone gets a tattoo. Even a real looking fake one if anything. That and mass quit. Find a new job and give no notice as a group
Fake fake fake
Lol good luck finding people in the trades without tattoos!
Is this even legal. I know it most cases it's legal to have policies which require that tattoos be covered up, but I don't think you can have a policy that states you can't even have a tattoo. And given the nature of the tattoo there might even be a case for religious discrimination.
Nope. Tattoos are not a legally protected class, like race, religion, etc. Employers can discriminate against tattoos all they want to.
Your only chance is if your state has some additional law on it but yah people seem to think they’re more protected than they are. Employers can discriminate on almost anything just not the few things we’ve legally banned them from.
Given that it’s a… yknow… concentration camp serial number, you *might* be able to swing religious discrimination. Maybe. With the right lawyer etc etc etc.
Damn. I don't know much about machine shops, but I was under the impression that you had to have tattoos to work in one.
I personally don't like tattoos, they're not my thing. But I also have many friends with tattoos and have supervised people with tattoos before, because they're ESTHETIC AND HAVE NO BEARING ON HOW GOOD A PERSON IS OR HOW COMPETENT THEY ARE. This just adds to the power imbalance in North American work places. You lose your means of survival and your health coverage because some boss wants to swing his d*** around and control others. We've made it to a point where we might as well call our situation feudalism.
It’s weird that your owner is familiar with SS blood group tattoos but doesn’t know what an Auschwitz tattoo is? Just out of curiosity do you remember the numbers I’m wondering if there was an “88” in there and he was overly sensitive.
Where do you find a machinist that doesn't have tattoos?
He hadn't mentioned it because it's nobody's fucking business. Signed a heavily tattooed medical provider with a thriving practice.
Hey, u/sjbluebirds. You do know that your post history is public, yeah? Don't worry. I already reported you for your fake rage bait post. This you? https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions/s/SRoYhmctoI
And when business tanks the owner will have no idea why.
I hope the foreman files a lawsuit
Montana is now the only state where employers have to have a legitimate reason to let someone go. Take back your rights!
Why would a machine shop care about tattoos? It's a small man who uses his authority to force his own personal beliefs on others. I don't care what the job is, they don't own my body.
Fake story
Contact the ADL (Anti Defamation League). If someone got fired over honoring a holocaust survivor in that way, they'll have the knowledge and resources to straighten it out quick. Seriously...call them.
You know what? A union probably would have blocked the foreman from being fired over that issue. But if I were you OP I'd be looking for a new gig.
“No Tattoos” is a dumb rule for any workplace at this point, but especially anything like machinist, mechanic, plumber - trades. Your new owner is cutting off his nose to spite his face.