jobstopper

plural jobstoppers · alternative job-stopper · alternative job stopper

1. derogatoryslangA large prominent tattoo; a tattoo that makes it difficult for the wearer to secure employment.

   Dylan had a yellow rose tattooed on the back of his left hand. “A job-stopper,” he chuckled when he pulled back the bandage and showed it to me.

   2021 October 12, Becky Parisotto, The Tattoo Widow, FriesenPress, →ISBN, page 216

   2 more examples

   Call to ban face tattoos for under-21s after rise in youngsters seeking extreme 'jobstopper' inkings made fashionable by celebrities including Justin Bieber

   2019 November 18, “Tattooists' group calls for ban on face tattoos for under-21s”, in Daily Mail

   These tattooers sometimes called hand, finger, neck, and face tattoos job stoppers, even as this phase and its related significance seemed a bit out of touch among younger tattooers.

   2024 February 27, Dustin Kiskaddon, Blood and Lightning: On Becoming a Tattooer, Stanford University Press, →ISBN

2. colloquialA problem that totally impedes a project.

   In the final pre-launch phase, in which a car is tested to destruction, any breakdown is a "job stopper."

   1991, Peter G. W. Keen, Shaping the Future: Business Design Through Information Technology, [Boston, Mass.] : Harvard Business School Press

   1 more example

   But, in fact, with one hand they said they wanted that, and then not too long thereafter they said, however, you do understand that it is impossible to have and we will not let you have, direct on-line, system-to-system connectivity between the Fine Center systems and the Department of Justice systems. That is a "job-stopper" right there.

   1996, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs, Criminal Debt Collection Efforts: Hearing Before the Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, One Hundred Fourth Congress, First Session, July 19, 1995, page 19