Sabina Dik (NL), Creative Coordinator, Amsterdam

“I think it’s funny, the tattoo-taboo is gone, but some preconceptions are clearly still there. Like when people expect me to party all night and know every cool bar in town, but really I prefer spending my nights watching Netflix under a snuggie.

I do get confronted with other preconceptions that tend to annoy me more. I meet a lot of different people working as a coordinator in a not-so-typical hotel in Amsterdam. Nine out of ten, those people don’t care about my appearance, but there are times when I feel stared at. And I don’t mind people looking, but you sense when they’re doing it in that other way. They don’t even realise how small-minded they sound when they tell me they’re surprised how nice I turned out to be. What do they even mean by that? As if me being tattooed has anything to do with me being a nice person… Or a good worker… Or anything for that matter?

To be completely honest, I’ve been disliking people more and more lately. That might sound dark, but it isn’t. It made me choose my friends wisely. And I love those people I call friends more than anything. Except maybe my cats, I fucking love my cats!”