Normally I don't bother posting articles from local newspapers, but I thought this one was too funny not to share. The original article is in Dutch here. I have translated the article in a hurry so don't go all grammar Nazi on me. Apparently, there's an article on the Daily Mailas well about it. But the press reports in foreign media seem to be reporting inaccuracies (like the Daily Mail saying her mother tongue is French when she's obviously Flemish and spelling her surname wrong, the Sun is pulling dates out of their arse saying it happened in February while it happened last week) so I'd recommend my translation
Chav family portrait
Methinks this is excellent material for some motivational posters or photo shopping, no?
Asked three tattoos, got 56
Girl files complaint against tattoo artist after mix up
The eighteen-year-old Kimberley Vlaeminck from Kortrijk has filed a complaint against a tattoo artist from Kortrijk. ‘I asked for three stars, but that lunatic put 56 on my face without my permission.’
‘Look at me now: I’m ugly. Maimed! I daren’t go to work like this. Kimberley Vlaeminck is dismayed. She’s in shock. ‘I didn’t want this. I really didn’t’ she sighs. Last Sunday she went with her father Diego, her boyfriend and her sister to Tatoo Box in the Steenpoort in Kortrijk. ‘I always wanted coloured dots next to my left eye. My father wanted to pay those. Because everyone in our family has a tattoo.’
At the tattoo artist, the hairdresser Kimberly Vlaeminck was persuaded into choosing stars instead of dots. ‘I told the man I wanted three of them.’
According to Kimberley, the communication went wrong. ‘That man spoke French only. And that was a problem: I only speak Dutch and a little bit of English.’
When her family and boyfriend went to get an ice cream, Kimberley stayed alone in the tattoo seat. ‘That man made a drawing with multiple stars. I’d told him I only wanted three. But he kept on going. I told him to stop at least three times. Every time he told me he had a little bit more work colouring. And suddenly he asked me if he had to colour the final two big stars. I was flabbergasted, didn’t know what stars he was talking about. Just at that time my dad came back.’
Father Diego wasn’t too happy. ‘I didn’t like it myself. I think I must have fallen asleep during the whole session. I had been working since 5 AM’ said Kimberly.
The tattoo artist, an expat Parisian who has only been running a shop for a couple of months in Kortrijk, disagrees. ‘Sleeping while you’re getting tattooed in the face is impossible. Because it just hurts too much. This is a really weird story. That girl asked for those stars. And I gave them to her. That’s all there is to it. Initially, she really liked it. But that changed when she saw her father.
The tattoo artist says he can't correct the mistake himself. ‘If she really wants to get rid of those stars, she can get them removed with a laser. But I can’t. Because I don’t have that expensive equipment. And I’m not going to pay for the surgery. The only concession I’m willing to make, is a price cut. Since she’s so unhappy, she only has to pay 50 €. That’s the cost for four stars.
Kimberly filed a complaint at the police station that very night. ‘If that man did intentionally put more stars than she asked on her face, then that’s assault and battery’, says Tom Janssens, spokesman of the office of the Public Prosecutor. ‘But maybe this is about an error in communication or the girl did change her opinion when her family disapproved of the result. That’s what the investigation will prove.
The ‘stargirl’ doesn’t feel like going through a long procedure. ‘Those stars have to go. The sooner, the better. Because everybody who sees me says that I can’t go to work like this. I’m afraid to go outside. Because I’m too ugly.’
Chav family portrait
Methinks this is excellent material for some motivational posters or photo shopping, no?
Last edited by FlemishHCmaniac (2009-06-16 10:00:28)
