u/ilovemydogbuz

What’s up Reddit, I’m coming here to either have my views swayed or concrete my opinions on how things work. I would like to hear from both sides, shop owners and the people that work there.

I’ve owned my shop for many years and am here to hear some options, the topic is booth rental VS a cut, and the business hours attached to each of them. I will give a little back history on where I’m coming from and where I’m at- sorry if it’s a tad long.

I opened up my shop 14 years ago, just a few miles outside of NYC. In the beginning it was just Me and three employees. I had everyone on a 65/35 cut and supplied everything except the machines and pigment- this includes all the furniture, all the fluids, supplies top to bottom, all of thier insurance, all the yearly licensing fees my state has and even all the drawing paper and drawing supplies in the back room- once in a while an artist would try a new stencil applicant but I always stuck with supplying the same one. This is more then I ever received in any shop I worked at prior to opening my own and those shops I was also working a 50-50 cut.
Keep in mind I was working as an employee from 06-2012 so a 50/50 cut was pretty standard then. My boss at the time had shop hours- those were 11:30-8 every day and we were required to be there for those hours, showing up at 11:30 was 30 minutes earlier then the shop opened and that was to ensure that we were all there for when the business opened and not walking in when the clients were which is incredibly unprofessional. When I opened up my own shop I wanted to see all of the flaws I saw in my first shop and run a shop free of those flaws.

After a few years of my shop being open, our group was pretty solidified, consistent and all on the same page- we would all get there around 11:30 and stay till 6 if nothing was going on, or later if we had appointments. But we never left before 6. I never wanted to hold my employees there till 8 like I used to have to do, I wanted to be progressive, and, well, maybe not full time. We all worked either a 4 or 5 day schedule and this was seamless- I bumped everyone up to 70/30 because of it.

As time when on, the shop grew- I added a few more stations, expanded the drawing room, added another tattoo room and the shop could now fit double what it did when I opened. That means more people can come on board which helps as bills and rent slowly started to climb.

Now, the shop has 9 of us. 7 of us are “full time” and 2 just come in twice a week (they are splitting time between my shop
And another shop)

The public’s business hours are 12-6 still like they always were- with most of us getting there at 11:30.

In the last two years, I noticed some employees would randomly throw on thier backpack and start to pack up around 3/4pm if they hadn’t anything going on and start saying peace to everyone. This started happening more and more with the same employees. At first it always had a reason- dinner with family, birthday, my dog, etc etc (you’ve all seen and herd it if you are in a shop) but then it started to being a norm- and obviously as a shop owner that’s providing the space for the person every day this starts to get under your skin-

I explained that I understand that everyone has their own life- we’re lucky to Tattoo to have everything we have in life and pretty much all of us work part time in someway. Yes I totally get booking appointments and drawing outside of the shop constitutes as work but like any business there’s working in the business and working on the business, and working in the business is done during normal business hours.

As I brought this up all of the employees were understanding of the business hours and how it works and why it’s bothering me that they’re leaving early except for one employee- so I explained to him that if he wants to have his own business where he comes and goes inside my business then he has to rent his station and it won’t bother me when he shows up or when he leaves.

This booth rental was 400$ a week and he happily accepted. His average cut he paid to the shop weekly for the last two years was 465, so this was a win for him, although I was making less money I saw it as a win for me because I got to separate my feelings from the way he conducted business because now he’s doing it for himself.

This lasted six months.

Just like every tattooer were seeing on here and on the Internet talking about being slow, that hit him as well. The 400$ rent was now more then he would pay me if he was leaving a cut as the 2026 summer season really slowed down for his tattooing.

He asked to go back on a cut- I told him only if he sticks to the business hours- we both agreed.

That was only a month ago.. fast forward to today: The last couple weeks when he works and I’m not there the other employees mention that he was leaving early, and today while I was working with him, he strolled into the shop 30 minutes after we opened- I bit my tongue. Then at 3:45, he throws on his backpack and starts to say peace to everyone after tattooing one person- when he got to my room I just looked at him and told him he’s not going anywhere. This immediately caused a problem.

He lets me know that he no longer wants to do walkins and hees only tattooing his people, and because of that hees comming in only for them then leaving- and staying till 6 in unfair- keep in mind this is just weeks after we had come to an agreement to switch back to 70/30 from his booth rental which granted him that freedom to run his own microbusiness within mine.

So my question is- who’s right?

I’m providing two different options for how you could work for me- pay a 70/30% cut and show up at 11:30 and leave at six, you could work one day a week or five, it doesn’t bother me as long as you’re there for those hours you choose, whether you’re busy or slow.

Or

Pay 400 bucks a week to come and go seven days a week as you please.

For my fellow shop owners, opinions?
And for the shop employees in here as well- what do you think? How would you handle this situation- I would like to see it through different eyes.

Thanks!