Oy!

July 28, 2012

“Oy” is simply a great word. It can denote a wide variety of emotions. By the end of my lunch on my first day back, that word was banging around in my brain. It was a very informative lunch with my new HR Manager, Peter, and Lavern, our Crew Admin. They caught me up on all the changes on the ship in the last two months. There had been complete turnover of the senior management on the ship. Change is always hard, and not all of it was perceived as positive. So, many of the crew were adapting to the change. The mood was definitely not as uplifting as it was when I left. Peter was here only as a vacation coverage between Tim and soon to be HR Manager, Becky. But now we were hearing that Becky was not even going to be permanent and a new HR Manager would join in late October. The net result was that significant transition for our HR department was still in the offing. Add that Lavern would be leaving for vacation soon and we didn’t know who her replacement would be and that our Crew Welfare Specialist was quite new . . . well, you get the picture.

Then there was the question of my uniforms. When I left, I asked that they be put into the laundry and then returned to my wardrobe to await my return. When I returned,  only one set of ‘days’ was left and no evening shirt, tie, or jacket. This would be a scramble as I had to acquire those uniform pieces in the right size, cleaned and pressed, or I was not able to enter a guest area after 6pm. As I explored this during the day I found that since I was off the ship they were returned to ship’s stores to be kept, but no one could now find where they were. A small problem but not one you wish to face when you need to hit the ground running.

When anyone else has been doing your job for the past two months you will also need to put things back into an order that works for your style. When someone has lived in your ‘home’ the same applies. There was no time to simply stop work and do this type of housekeeping as the pace of ships doesn’t allow. So, in between accomplishing the daily demands all of this reordering had to occur. As I explored I also discovered some ‘gaps’ in what had been accomplished, so catch up mode was going to be the order of the next couple of weeks.

Wouldn’t you know that tonight was Dancing With the Stripes. I had hoped to ease back into the routine of the ship and certainly had no intention of jumping into the most visible of officer and guest events. But my phone starting ringing two hours into being on board with the Activity Manager requesting my presence.  When I tried to defer he stated that he was seriously short of officers to participate and really needed me. So, the scramble to replace my uniform intensified. I was now seriously ‘on the clock.’ Before I knew it the clock had spun madly and it was 9pm. I had, in fact, retrieved sufficient uniform pieces to fulfill my evening obligations. We headed to Ocean View Café for dinner and then without much further ado, I presented myself to the poolside where Stripes was to be held. Without question, I really didn’t want to be there. However, this bizarre duty called, and I answered the bell. I will only say that I fulfilled my obligation, making it to the semi-finals, but there was not joy in Mudville that night.

Thirteen hours back on Silhouette and I was exhausted. Welcome back to ships!

And the adventure continues . . .