THIS PLACE IS UNLICENSED AND UNSANITARY, THE OWNERS ARE RACIST, HOMOPHOBIC, AND DISRESPECTFUL!! PLEASE READ THE REVIEWS OF THE SHOP BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO GO IN!!! I CANNOT STRESS THAT ENOUGH!!!!
I worked here, and the owners Cali Martin (real name Issac/Wayne) and Jasmine Hernandez/Barnes are husband and wife. They live in Hartsdale, NY and Cali will not stop bragging about how he lives in the top 1% crime rate neighborhood, and how Jamaica, NY (the location of his establishment) is the "ghetto" and home to "hoodrats". When someone would complain though, his response is "This is Jamaica Ave, what did you think you were going to get?"!! Cali knowingly set his business up here to take advantage of poorer predominantly Black communities, all while being a Black man! He knows that his business would never thrive outside of this community, he knows he is able to get away with it because "This is Jamaica Ave", and that is why he believes he is able to say these things to the customers. I think what Cali needs is a reality check. He needs to figure out why he became such a hateful sad human being, who thinks that he is entitled enough to speak like this and act like this toward people in general, and correct himself.
Not one day went by without him throwing a tantrum at the customers. His main SCAM!! was to make sure front desk/him receives the payment upfront and then when the tattoo/piercing was bad or you found a problem with either him (because he was the "professional experienced" piercer) or the sanitary conditions (he did not own an autoclave nor did he sanitize the clamps/jewelry (I often saw dried blood on the clamps!!!!) he would not give you your money back and would point at the sign that said no refunds hidden away in the corner of the shop with a smirk.
If you decide to argue for your money back the cops would be called and you would be called slurs and he would also call you broke, (funny since he's unable to operate a business without scamming people out of their money) as well as brag about how he owns a supercar, how much money he makes, how much he hates black people, all in a condescending tone. For example in his words these are just some of the insults he would spew on a daily basis: "Black people are dirty monkeys that need to be hung, this is why we are at the bottom, we should have never been allowed to be freed, we deserve to be enslaved, Black people are pigs, Black people are ghetto trash, the reason why nobody likes Black people is because they're broke and they're so stupid, black people disgust me and I want to burn the color off of my body, etc."!
For an example of how easily Cali will snap into a tantrum, a Black woman was getting a piercing, and she was understandably scared and wanted a break to prepare, but Cali did not give her a word of warning and wanted to do the piercing right away, and repeatedly told her "Let me do my job." again and again increasing his volume every time he said it. When she kept saying no, give me a second he started the whole insulting speech of how much he hates black people RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER FACE!! You will be getting disrespected right to your face even if the simple reason is just that you're scared and need a second to compose yourself!!
I did not get paid for 2-3 weeks of work. It is New York law that you are supposed to be getting paid for training as well. It was 3 days of training where Cali promised to pay for transportation and lunch ONLY. I worked full days during training. He promised $100 an hour OFF THE BOOKS so he could avoid taxes and legal issues (but made it sound like he was doing it for me) I just wanted to work in a tattoo shop. I stayed because I wanted to get my pay and leave. On the day I was supposed to get my pay Cali said he wasn't going to pay me. I was already tired of the shop by this day and had made up my mind to receive payment and not come back. I knew he was lying about there not being enough money that day to pay me, and I had already read the other reviews about his workers not being paid. He has a track record. I just wish all the customers who came into the store would have read reviews of this place and avoided it. It's so sad how this establishment still gets customers and business, even worse that it's mainly from the Black community despite him being racist toward them! read more