I have so many problems with Island Ink, it's hard to figure out where to begin.
Okay. First of all, it used to be a great shop. Really, a wonderful shop... Friendly artists, a great environment, well lit, clean, etc. I could go on and on about how it used to be. But it took a nosedive a while ago, when the shop was sold to a mainlander who looks at it strictly as a cash cow. He brought in a super douchebag named Frankie to manage it. Frankie and his super-snobby girlfriend quickly and irreversibly alienated every good person in the shop with their stuck-up attitude and shifty ways. They turned the shop into a really uncomfortable place to go, insulting potential clients and cherry-picking their tattoos. I say "their" and i mean frankie, who has been tattooing for i don't know how long, and his girlfriend who "apprenticed" under frankie for a couple of weeks. WEEKS!!! So go to her for a really crappy tattoo from a person with a couple weeks of experience. Wunderbahr!
I personally have friends who suffered agony at the hands of the scratchers who have moved in, recieving a harsh lesson in choosing your tattooist wisely.
I have been physically threatened by uber-douche frankie and have gotten a mean stink-eye from his girlfriend on numerous occasions.
As of now:
Frankie and said girlfriend are currently living in the shop. This means they sleep and do god knows what slimy-else on the couches in the waiting room.
They employ a crackhead who has stolen equipment from others on the island and does such horrible tattoos that he keeps other island artists busy correcting his screw ups.
Their "piercer" is a no-good braindead hippy who has NO TRAINING WHATSOEVER.
They have completely alienated the shops' loyal clientele and the majority of the tattoo community on maui.
They are having frankies no-talent girl tattoo people FOR MONEY (an apprentice tattooing for money? Twilight zone? Bizarro world?) and are ADVERTISING SUCH SERVICES IN THE COMMUNITY!!!
What was once a marvelous and harmonious place to go is now an ugly and unsanitary place where you can pay top dollar for a crappy prison tattoo.
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