Tattoos, piercings, and business professionalism

There are many different thoughts on tattoos and piercings showing in a job.  So what happens when the generation we are in now loves getting tattooed and pierced and doesn't really think to much about the placement being able to be covered.  I have piercings and a tattoo, but i have them in places that I can hide and if needed be I can take the piercings out, but what about the people who have sleeves?  Depending on the job they have they might always have to wear long sleeve shirts to work so no one can see them.  My opinion is that I believe people should have the right to express themselves, but to a point.  There are some people out there who have inappropriate tattoos that I wouldn't want showing in a company that I owned or managed.  Don't get me wrong I love tattoos and looking at them, but I believe that in certain circumstances they need to be hidden.  I used to work for a restaurant that was a family restaurant and they had strict rules.  Those rules included on one set of piercings aloud on your ears, no facial piercings and no tattoos showing.  From that job I worked at other restaurants and businesses that didn't care how many piercings you have as long as they were clean and we didn't play with them while at work.  They were also fine with some tattoos as long as they were huge or distracting.  People like my parents or relatives don't like that people who are at a job have a bunch of tattoos showing and one my relatives even has an employee who does have sleeves but he has to cover them when he comes to work.  Business professionalism is all about how you present yourself so it makes sense as to why some businesses want you to cover up your tattoos and not have facial piercings in.  The down fall though is that sometimes when you go in for an interview and they see all of your tattoos and piercings they automatically start judging you.  Instead of listening to you in the interview they are now distracted by all the things covering your body.  So when getting a tattoo or piercing realize that there is a possibility that you will have to take them out or have them covered.