Where is a good tattoo shop in Sacramento?

Surprise tattoo artist at my shop? Etiquette for changing artists?

• So I made an appointment with the artist who did my first tattoo (to add to it) in the summer, but he called with a sooner opening (few days ago) & asked me if I wanted it. I said yes, but when I got to the shop, he told me he wouldn't be doing it himself, but a visiting artist would. I didn't know this new guy & I hadn't seen his work, but he came from another shop downtown & was thinking about working at my current shop. Still, I didn't know him & never heard of him. I came to my artist because I knew his style & he had done a similar tattoo for someone else & I really liked the way he did it. The new guy told me he was more "new school" & he kind of struggled with my design. My artist was there as well, doing some very simple work on another girl (so why couldn't he have done mine instead??). Anyway, it turned out really nicely, but I know the original artist probably could have done better in some ways. This is on me FOREVER & I do like it, but it was kind of a big WTF in terms of shop etiquette. Maybe my artist forgot that he did my original work & thought that it didn't matter, or that my design was simple enough for anyone to do. If I hadn't waited so long & wanted this tattoo so bad, I might have told him no way & came back another time. So what would you do if you got a "surprise" tattoo artist? Tattoo artists, does it sound like an OK thing to do or is it slightly wrong to your customers?

• Answer:

  you could have mentioned it to him that he did yours and you could wait until he was free again. fair enough you wanted it badly, but it's better to be satisfied than sorry, it would be worth the wait for what another few days?