If you can't say something nice, don't say anything.

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That was one of my mother's favourite sayings. But what if someone insists on trying to get a reaction out of you and you don't want to lie and you know the truth will cause offence? A person of my acquaintance had a tattoo done when they were sixteen. This is illegal in England so you can imagine the quality of the work done by a tattooist who doesn't age check. She's been saying she wanted a cover-up tattoo for a long time but wouldn't put her hand in her pocket to pay a good tattoo artist for the work. A mutual friend has had some very beautiful work done locally but the only comments she ever made on it were about the cost. Call me nutty if you like but when you are getting permanently inked you want a good artist. You think she might have worked that out given the one she got at sixteen. Anyway, she happened to meet someone who is an aspiring tattoo artist but who has not done an apprenticeship and is not registered. This is someone who, so far, has practiced on herself and her boyfriend. I wasn't overly impressed with the work but that's up to them if they want home-done tattoos that LOOK like home-done tattoos... An unregistered tattooist is known as a Scratcher and you shouldn't let one near you - they work from home rather than a proper studio. The quality of their work can be variable. Okay so some studios aren't that good but if I were getting a tattoo I'd spend some time finding a good artist and discussing the design and making sure they were clean, registered and reputable. None of this was going on here. You don't need to guess what happened next. The acquaintance with the dodgy tattoo starts to befriend the Scratcher and asks her to do a cover up of the old tattoo. She's posted pictures of the work all over facebook and keeps mentioning it when I see her, looking for compliments and comments. The new tattoo is not nice either. The design she chose to start with wasn't good and the work that's been done is poor quality. I can't find anything nice to say about it and keep changing the subject. It's also BIG and hard to miss whereas at least the old one was small and faded. If she wants to hide this one it means long sleeves and thick/dark-coloured fabric. If I DO say what I think it will come across as "you're an idiot" - probably because that's exactly what I do think. I'm hoping she'll take the hint and stop asking soon because if she doesn't I will probably end up saying something. Especially after she was critical about what the other friend paid for his tattoo. How long do you think I can be diplomatic for, Mylotters?