Am I the Asshole?

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The original was posted on /r/AmItheAsshole by /u/Upper-Entertainer234 on 2023-06-24 13:47:11+00:00.

I (24f) have a good friend since high school (21f) and she recently became a tattoo artist under the tattoo shop she’s been apprenticing under for a little less than a year. When she was still an apprentice she had asked to use my body as a practice canvas when she was told to do some real skin. I was really hesitant at first as she still had some shaky line work but she was my friend and I wanted to help out. The first 2 tattoos she asked to do she refused money for, but I still gave her $100 for one and $150 for the other even though honestly I really wasn’t a fan, I just wanted to give her security. Her work meant something to me.

For a while after that she didn’t ask to tattoo me until she suddenly NEEDED to tattoo this tiger bleeding flowers on me. I told her sure but I knew she had been tattooing for a couple months at that point so I asked her what she would like to charge. She told me $590. I was kind of taken aback when she said that price but this was a very pretty piece, it was just weird for her to charge that much when SHE wanted to tattoo ME so much. But alas, I let it go, and the tattoo turned out okay, not my fav, but still overall beautiful.

Well finally she texted me yesterday and sent me this dragon and asked would she be able to tattoo this on me so she can add it to her portfolio. I told her yes, asked how big it was though as it would have to be in a weird spot on me and even though this design wasn’t wide, it was long and would probably take the top of my thigh to the bottom of my knee. Then she told me “I’m available at on xx if that will work for you, we can get it fitted then. This piece I’m thinking of pricing at $6,450 since it will probably take me two 8 hour sessions to complete if that works with you.” IT DOES NOT!! $6k and you’re reaching out to ME, your FRIEND absolutely not. I blew up on her, I called her out on her huge up-charge in prices, how I have really bad color fade in some parts of my previous tattoos already that she charged me $500+ on. She did not take my words well… to say the least she told me this WAS with a discount and even though we were friends she needed to pay for her art and time. It just made me go at it even more, reminding her she’s not some experienced tattoo artist who has been in the industry for years and is highly sought after, and just because her paper art looks killer doesn’t mean it translates the same on skin. She asked me if this means I don’t want the design even if we talk about prices, and I told her no this means I’m never getting tattooed by you again.

All of our mutual friends are texting me saying it’s one thing to tell her no I don’t want the tattoo and it’s another to harass her about how she priced her art. The tattoo shops Facebook/Instagram have even gone as far as posting a “friends and family don’t complain when you any paid fairly” part to their page. I won’t lie, it stings a bit and now I wanna know AITA?