MovieChat Forums > Roseanne (1988) Discussion > The Bike Shop

The Bike Shop

posted 8 years ago by coutterhill
12 replies | jump to latest

I'm re-watching the episode where Dan is thinking of bringing in a tattoo artist to pay rent and space and bring in 'a lot of bikers'. I dislike how they talk about the tattoo artist. "I don't know about a guy whose body is covered in tattoos', 'he's paid his debt to society'. They probably could have saved the shop with the extra income and customers. Sad they let their prejudice about tattoos didn't allow them.

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I just want to eat in a quiet corner away from these bozos.

[–] BiffGG 8 years ago

The bike shop going under is a very popular topic here. I think that line was a throw away and I doubt Dan would really care if the scene was done more true to character. Most guys like Dan given the background could care less about ink unless it was to an extreme such as on the face. I have my doubts as to how much business the tat guy would bring. Usually such people as artists are usually contractors versus employees plus he would sense Dan's situation and not work for employee type wages. Maybe the tat guy would agree to some rent but that would be it. Further, most towns such as Lanford are full of wannabe bikers especially the younger guys who missed out on the golden age of American blue collar employment where the wages did buy Harley's. There was not sufficient demand for complete bikes where Dan could make a good profit per bike. He should have stuck with parts and service for a while and just build to order versus carry inventory. Rule one in that business or any related machine product type business is not to load up on inventory. Getting back more to the topic in particular a leather craftsperson that could do garments would create a larger draw as wearing leather got fairly close to being mainstream especially with women around 1990-1995.

[–] MrsZbornak 8 years ago

i agree. tattoo artist would bring more customers . especially from the young people that dont own motorcycles.

i also think they should have fixed cars. i know Dan knows how to fix cars and he could have hired some more people if they got more customers.

[–] BiffGG 8 years ago

Having a wide variety of friends, brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law from the same era I would still say the leather crafting would be the better way to go. These young people around 1990 were facing more stigmas in indulging their inner-rebel so to speak. It was better for a career if the biker stuff could be left at home such as wearing your leather pants than have the boss give you a funny look everytime they glimpsed your tat. I remember going to visit friends who camped during July and August and quite a few let their hair down so to speak by living a biker lifestyle. At least back then the old trope about leather pants being the domain of gay guys was not true. At the same time the cost of leather was such that guys were not going to work on their pickup truck in a pair of leather pants. To go further the custom leather business was very profitable as the same people I mentioned often had a lengthy backorder period before their preferred craftsperson could make their item. If a few of the areas large employers announced a hefty year end bonus (talk about something that has faded away from most workers) these craftspeople had so much work they were turning it away.

[–] MrsZbornak 8 years ago

you are right. they could have sold clothes too. shoot even something simple as bumper stickers for their cars

[–] Ditto-head 8 years ago

I thought the tattoo artist idea fell through because their accountant said that the insurance would not allow it. I didn't really think they had a prejudice against people with tattoos, since Dan did (sort of) get one with Roseanne's name on it. As I recall, he couldn't take the pain beyond the first four letters and ended up with "Rose", which as Roseanne said, wasn't her name it was Mrs. Kennedy's name.

[–] Honeybefine 8 years ago

He did. (I wish I saw this before I posted). I don't blame him for his affair. Jack and Roseanne deserved it. ;)

[–] Honeybefine 8 years ago

I've never caught this episode. Why were Dan and Roseanne so against tats? Roseanne has one irl. Dan had one on the show. Rose, because it hurt too much to get Roseanne.

[–] banjo-peppers 8 years ago

I don't think they were "prejudiced about tattoos", I think they were just making the same cracks about tattoos that they make about everything. And like someone else said, I thought the reason the tattoo idea fell through was because their accountant said they couldn't get insurance to cover it.

From my standpoint, I wouldn't want to get a tattoo down inside a building that sells motorcycles and motorcycle parts. It didn't sound like they were intending to have the tattoo guy be in his own closed-off area that was attached to the shop, so basically a second shop, rather than just having a tattoo chair INSIDE the shop.

[–] BiffGG 8 years ago

Most places would give a tattoo artist their own room if it was going to be done at the bike store. Quite a few bike shops wanting to avoid the entanglement of working with somebody of an unsure background simply have a bulletin board in a prominent place for associated tradespeople to sell their wares off the lot. The area Harley shop is not that far away so maybe I will pop in sometime soon to see what business cards are hanging up by the parts counter.

[–] tambourine_man36 8 years ago

Back in the early '90s, tattoos had yet to reach a real mainstream appeal. Many people associated them with the types Dan talked about. It's wasn't like it is today, with every millennial eager to brand themselves with what's current.

[–] BiffGG 8 years ago

I never got the appeal with tats in prominent places on the body like it is today never mind the piercings. Back then tats certainly were not mainstream hence the stigma of having them present and obvious outside the zone of your social circle. Some opted to tat over the original tat with a solid flesh colored tat but that far from covered up the fact a person originally had a tat.

[–] BiffGG 8 years ago

I would again reiterate that the largest problem with millennial's is the very prominent location of their tats such as on the face, neck, wrists, and back of hand to name a few. Contrast this with tats on the upper arm, upper chest, or back for gen Xer's that could be concealed within reason. Nonetheless there were those during the time Roseanne was in first run that had tats on the lower wrists and shoulder regions that were more difficult to cover.