Eric Rico Ortiz definitely sticks out in a crowd.
Having a huge spider tattoo on your right cheek will do that to a man.
Ortiz, 24, isn't a fan of the creatures. Just the sight of one spider creeps him out and makes him run away in fear.
But the part-time landscaper from Deltona, Fla., doesn't want his arachnophobia to be a monkey on his back, so last year he decided to confront his fear head on by having a spider tattooed onto his face, Miami New Times reported.
As you might expect, Ortiz gets lots of reactions for the spider tat.
“Everybody looks at it like, 'Damn spider,' ’cause if you’re going around your house, you know what I’m saying, you see those spiders, you’re going to jump, you’re going to jump, so putting one on my face, I say you know what, I’m going to see what people think,” Ortiz told the Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Ortiz added that some people are bugged by it, but others are less judgmental.
“Some people say, ‘Why did you get it? You’re never going to get a job,'” Ortiz told the paper. “Some people say, 'It’s cool, man. The tattoo on the face, I would never get it but that one came out cool.’”
One person who didn't think it came out cool: Ortiz's girlfriend, who dumped him shortly after he got the spider tat, Gawker reported.
Friends on Facebook don't seem that supportive, either, comments ranging from, "Your an ass cuz for real how the f*** u gonna put that on your face u gonna regret that some day we all got to grow up u a father act look u got some mother f***in sense wait tell I see u... Ima kick ya ass" to a simple "smh [shaking my head]."
Ortiz' unique appearance came to light after a reporter for the Daytona Beach News-Journal saw him in felony court, where he was dealing with a driver's license suspension. He also has charges of burglary of a conveyance, domestic battery, possession of schedule 4 substance, retail theft, violation of injunction for protection and loitering and prowling on his record.
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