Oakland piercing shop not for faint of heart

In a small room surrounded by her closest friends, a fidgety teen sits in a blue chair that… In a small room surrounded by her closest friends, a fidgety teen sits in a blue chair that looks like the kind found in a dentist’s office. She watches closely as the tool tray is brought out and set beside her.

The medical tools, which include a needle, pliers and clamps, have all been sterilized. As the latex-covered hand brings the needle closer and closer, she becomes quieter and quieter. At the precise moment when the needle is forced through her ear, she purses her lips and tightly squints her eyes.

It’s all over now. What remains is red, swollen cartilage with a silver hoop dangling from it.

This is what Hot Rod Piercing Company on Oakland Avenue specializes in. The only piercing company in Pittsburgh registered by the Association of Professional Piercers-the next closest is in Philadelphia-Hot Rod knows what they are doing when it comes to body piercing.

This smoke-free, piercing-only company has been around since 1993.

Hot Rod is located on the second floor of 115 Oakland Ave; loud “screamo” music pounds in the shop. Leopard-patterned carpets cover the floors of the halls and the lounge-like waiting area.

The yellowish-orange, sponge-painted walls are boldly decorated with tribal masks, artistic paintings and pictures of indigenous people with heavy stones hanging from their ears.

The small spotlight strips along the ceiling don’t provide much light. Instead, they rely on the sun for light. A sleek, deep-seated black leather couch and black chairs are placed neatly around the room, facing the counter. Encased in the glass counter are shelves filled with earrings, navel rings, nose rings and gauges of all sizes, textures and colors.

Some are various kinds of metal, while others are made of wood. Brochures and photo albums are displayed on the counter, inviting the customers to check out what Hot Rod has to offer.

Decked out in black, Gino Maione, a Hot Rod employee with piercings and tattoos galore, brags, “We’re really knowledgeable, all of us. We’re personable. We’re nice guys.”

“We take a lot of pride in what we do. We give you the top quality,” said Tim Girone, the 35-year-old creator and owner of Hot Rod. “We got love for your holes!”

Tim has always been interested in piercings, even as a child. He used to take needles and stick them in his fingers when he was little.

His parents use to call him “The Acupuncture Kid.”

Now he and his Hot Rod employees get to stick needles in other people for a living.

On this particular day, Jay Obstarczyk, a 19-year-old Pitt student, is willing to be one of their so-called victims.

He wants his lip pierced. He is first asked to show ID to prove he is at least 18 years old. Afterward he is told to fill out and sign a waiver.

Then Nick Willcock, a Hot Rod employee, reads him instructions on how he will clean his new lip piercing. With a nod to show he understands, Obstarczyk and two female friends follow Willcock into the small room where the piercing will take place.

Obstarczyk calmly takes a seat and waits while the tool tray and sterilized jewelry is brought out. His friends are constantly chattering with each other, waiting in anticipation to see how Obstarczyk reacts.

“I’d probably puke by now,” the shorter friend said.

“He must be nervous,” the other said.

As the two continue talking, Willcock clamps Obstarczyk’s lip so he can pierce it easier. A long needle is then thrust through his lip and is left there for a couple of seconds.

“He didn’t even flinch, did he?” the shorter friend thought aloud in amazement.

The needle is then removed and a slim sliver hoop replaces it.

“I felt like a fish for 3 seconds,” Obstarczyk blurts out with a kind of lisp. “It was cool!”

Willcock checks out the piercing to make sure everything looks good, then sends Obstarczyk on his way, reminding him that if he has any problems to just call or stop by and they’ll be happy to help.

Girone remembers when a woman called because she was having problems with her navel piercing.

She said it was infected and wouldn’t get better, so Girone told her to stop by.

“It was the biggest, largest swollen mass of jewelry I have ever seen.”

When he asked her what she was doing to clean it, she said that she would let her dog lick it for about half an hour a day because she thought that a dog’s mouth was clean enough to help heal her navel.

Totally shocked, Girone told her that the solution is to immediately stop letting her dog lick her navel.

“We deal with the stupidity of people a lot. They come up with the most asinine stuff.”

When there aren’t any customers to pierce or infections to deal with, the employees just chill and talk, waiting for someone to walk in.

Girone lounges on the couch and Maione leans back in one of the black chairs.

A friend of theirs stops in to say hi and they begin to gossip about a friend’s ex-girlfriend.

“She’s pregnant again?!” Girone asks in shock.

“Yep,” their friend replied. “Now she has two incomes to live off of. She doesn’t need a job.”

“She is a bad news girl.”

Shortly after, another friend, Shawn McCarthy, shows up. He is still looking for his lost Australian Shepard, Bandit.

“He should be easy to identify. All you have to do is look at his eyes. One is blue and the other is half blue and half brown,” McCarthy said.

Despite any of the negative aspects of working in Oakland or being a piercer, Girone loves his job.

“I get to work with my buddies and hang out with them. Plus, we get to talk about our balls and shafts all day!”