Here's a story about a person exhibiting true creativity in the workplace: My 17-year-old daughter Laura wanted to get a nose ring and needed me to go with her, as she was underage. I was OK with this (my line in this particular instance was drawn at lip piercings and tattoos), and so we agreed to meet at a reputable tattoo parlor in Dallas' Deep Ellum neighborhood.

Once there I was faced with the unexpected problem of proving to the shop's proprietor that this was actually my daughter. It hadn't occurred to me to bring her birth certificate! And drivers' licenses were no help -- we don't have the same last name, and the same address proves nothing. It turns out that many tattoo places don't really like piercing and tattooing minors, parental permission or no -- they can get into too much trouble with the health department to make it worthwhile. So the proprietor seized the opportunity to refer us down the street (lots of tattoo shops in this neighborhood!).

It was the same story at the shop down the street. Just as Laura was about to break down in tears, though, the proprietor of the second shop offered a solution.

"Do you have cell phones?" he asked. "Good. You," he said, pointing to Laura, "show me the listing in your phone's address book that says 'Mom.' Now, call that number and if her" -- pointing to me -- cell phone rings, you're getting your nose pierced!"

On a slightly different note -- while waiting for Laura, my husband and I browsed the tattoo designs and got into a long discussion about Chinese character tattoos. We agreed that it would be silly to get a word tattoo in a language you didn't know. What if the tattoo shop was wrong?! What if the Chinese character they said meant "sexy" really meant "dumbass"?!!

So today I was delighted to run across an NPR interview with Tian Tang, whose Hanzi Smatter blog tracks misuse of Chinese characters in Western culture, mostly in tattoos. Here's an AP article on Tian Tang as well.

Those of you in marketing and branding should take a look at Hanzi Smatter -- interspersed among the photos and stories of tattoos gone wrong are a few stories like this one, about a wall hanging with the Chinese character for "tranquility" seen for sale at a Bed Bath and Beyond store. According to Tian Tang, the character actually "has many meanings including 'catch; receive; suffer', 'to make known; to show; to prove; to write; book; outstanding"' and 'plan; settlement; to wear', but none of them means 'tranquility'."