Love them or hate them, you're likely to spot tattoos on more and more people these days than ever before.

The Washington Post has an interesting report this morning that  explains how tattoos have outgrown the renegade image and have become very mainstream.

In fact, as the Post reports:

 

Tattoos are still not for everyone, but they cover a lot more people than they used to. According to a 2008 Harris poll, nearly one in seven U.S. adults has a tattoo, and a 2006 Pew survey claimed that nearly 40 percent of adults under 40 had one.

Women get inked at least as often as men, according to most tattoo professionals interviewed for this story. "

I got my first experience with a tattoo late last year. Our son, who is 18, waged a long and vocal campaign for a tattoo. After much (too much, my son would argue) discussion for more than a  year, we agreed to let him get a tattoo.

It was a Christmas gift. We agreed in advance what it would be, where it would be (easily covered by even a sleeveless T-shirt) and that it would be the only one for a good long while.

My colleague Steve Giegerich reported in August on how tattoos in the workplace have become more accepted.

Strictly anecdotally, I've seen plenty of people who get one tattoo and then go back for a second and third. We've all seen or heard about people who got a tattoo and quickly regretted it.

Do you have a tattoo that you love or wish you'd never gotten? Does the idea of one tattoo seem okay, but more a little extreme? Or do you believe in the "your body, your tattoo" school of thought?

When it comes to customer service, does it bother you if your restaurant server is heavily tattooed or pierced? What about a cash register clerk? What if it was your doctor or dentist?