The first sea day of the cruise was also the first formal night and the front desk had a very hectic day, although nothing major had happened apart from Leah misplacing 300.000 dollars that took her the entire afternoon to find in the middle of bundles of notes and spreadsheets and left her in a horrible mood. Of course Leah knew there was no way she could have really lost that much money and that it was just a mistake somewhere, but until she found it, she was beyond nervous.
Denise loathed back office meetings but she couldn’t afford not to go, so there she was with the rest of the team listening to Leah, who started with some practical issues concerning cash handling which was very appropriate, especially for her, but nobody dared to remind her. All the receptionists agreed to what she said and she was happy and finished her intervention quickly.
Tania gave the team some information about the new procedures for disembarkation and Alice and Denise passed, since they didn’t have anything new to add. But then it was Kate’s turn and she had a lot to say. While she was talking, the first purser arrived. After Kate gave her speech Elaine took her turn and talked to them about schedules, the amount of hours that each of them was expected to work, and then used Rebecca as an example not to follow because the cruise before she had exceeded the number of hours the company allowed. Everyone looked at Rebecca who turned pale and speechless.
Not happy enough with the embarrassment she had caused, Elaine gave Rebecca a written warning for working too many hours, which everyone found indecent and unfair, but no one dared to say a word to the first purser. She had so much power onboard that going against her would be professional suicide.
Rebecca read the paper quickly and as her eyes started to fill with tears, she left the room without signing. Her surprise was so great she didn’t even know what to say. Denise and Tania both gave Elaine a killer look that she ignored and went after Rebecca who visibly needed some support.
They found her in the corridor in tears and took her to Tania’s cabin where she spent a good time crying before she could get herself together and say a few words.
“I worked so hard…” She claimed between sobs.
Tania hugged her. “I know you did. We all know you did.”
Denise handed her a glass of water with sugar. “Is that legal? Can she give Rebecca that written warning?” She asked.
“I don’t know. Being the first purser I guess she can. Maybe I should talk to the human resources manager and see what we can do.” Tania suggested.
Rebecca stared at them looking for answers in their eyes.
“You’re just forgetting one detail. The HR manager is friends with Elaine. Do you really think she’s going to do something about it?” Denise asked skeptical.
“Friends or no friends, she has to follow protocol. Let me page her.” Tania dialed the number and the phone rang a moment later.
The conversation was short and Tania explained what happened in brief words. When she hung up her face was not a happy one.
“So?” Denise asked and Rebecca waited for them to give her an idea of what to do.
“She said Elaine has the power to issue the written warning. Rebecca did exceed the hours she was supposed to do. But it is her choice to sign or not.”
“I only did those hours because it was the only way to get the program implemented on time.” Rebecca justified, halfheartedly. “What does she think? That working sixteen hour days is fun? I wasn’t showing off, I was only doing my job. I haven’t been out of this ship in weeks, I haven’t had a proper night of sleep since we receive orders to have this new system up and running and it fell on me to do it.”
“What an incredible ungrateful cow!” Denise chided and Tania nodded in agreement.
“Yes, but she has those stripes on her shoulders and we have to do what she says, right?” Rebecca concluded with a mix of resignation and disgust.
“Are you going to sign?” Tania asked.
“No. I didn’t do anything to deserve it. Some people come to work late and hangover, sometimes still drunk and they don’t get written warnings. Some of them are rude and can’t speak English properly. Two of them lose money on a regular basis, at least three don’t understand the concept of sending the uniforms to laundry before they change colors and I can think of more than one who frequently sleep with passengers. We have people who shouldn’t be here to start with and then she tells me off in a meeting in front of everyone and says I’m a bad example because I work too much…?”
Denise agreed that she shouldn’t sign the warning. It was unfair and out of purpose.
“I just feel like going to the crew office, get a resignation form and go home.” Rebecca affirmed.
Denise sat in front of her and looked at her in the eyes. “Listen Rebecca, I’ve wanted to do that since they took me out of the crew office, but I didn’t, you know why?”
She nodded negatively.
“Because then they win.” Denise explained. “If you leave you will lose your job. They will keep theirs. The company will send another person to replace you and they don’t give a damn about you and the reason why you left. Don’t let them win.”
“And what do you suggest me to do then?” Rebecca asked, her brown eyes filling with tears again.
“Do your job as well as you can, but make sure you don’t work one minute more than what you are scheduled for. The next time something comes up, let them sort it out.”
Tania agreed and after a bit of talk, Rebecca felt better and decided to continue onboard. They stayed in the cabin a bit longer and Denise went to the crew office to share the news with Amy and get her own rage off her tight chest.
After listening to Denise, Amy was mad, while Diego and Benjie were simply shocked.
“How does she dare? Rebecca was my assistant last contract and that girl is brilliant, she’s a responsible hard working professional and a lovely person.” Amy said angrily.
“It’s Elaine. She does whatever she feels like.” Denise replied.
“I have to hear her unpleasant comments because she doesn’t seem to find anything nice to say, but this goes over the acceptable. There must be something that we can do to stop this woman. Doesn’t she have limits?”
“Sorry Amy, but I don’t think so. I was here last contract and I know her well. Elaine is not the kind of person you want to mess up with. She always gets her way.” Diego clarified, breaking his silence.
“Tania called the human resources manager and she said the only thing Rebecca can do is not to sign the warning.” Denise added. “She can take it up further with head office but we all know that’s likely a dead end. There were no rules infringed, only ethics if we look at it from a professional point of view. Unfortunately we can’t legally punish people for being heartless and bitchy.”
After venting everything she needed to vent, Denise went to her cabin. She lay in bed watching television, trying to keep her hanger away. Diego hadn’t arrived yet and she didn’t need to ask where he was.
There was a movie on TV that got her attention and Denise watched it, although she had already missed the beginning. At one point one of the characters died in a car crash and as the camera captured his face on the screen in the middle of the rubble, Denise’s mind flashed back to some years earlier when one of her best friends had died in a car accident. The dead character looked a lot like Louis, and suddenly she felt big tears rolling down her face. When she started having difficulties breathing all she could think of was to page Diego and she sounded so bad that he came running.
As soon as he entered the cabin, he found Denise struggling to get air into her lungs and crying compulsively. He asked if she wanted him to call the medical center. She didn’t want him to and managed to tell him it was a panic attack while gasping for air. Diego read somewhere that when people have panic attacks it helps to give them a paper bag to help them breathe inside. He couldn’t find a paper bag anywhere and the only other thing that occurred to him was to sit with her on his
lap, her back towards his chest and try to breathe with her.
It took a few minutes for her to calm down but it worked and she started breathing normally again. Diego held her in his arms and turned off the TV that she had left on.
“Are you sure I shouldn’t call Sofia or Albert?” He wiped some tears out of her face.
“Don’t call them. I’ll be fine.” She murmured.
“Denise, people don’t have attacks like that out of the blue. And no, you’re not fine. What’s going on?”
“I was watching a movie and then I couldn’t breathe.” She said supporting her head on his shoulder and leaving out the memories the movie triggered.
“Have you ever had this before?”
“Yes. But it happens very rarely. The last time was years ago.” She replied. It took an extreme situation to set her off like that.
“All right.” Diego said, not sure if there was something else he should do.
He put on a CD playing ambient lounge music and Denise lay in bed staring at the ceiling.
“Do you want to talk about it?” He asked.
“About what?”
“Whatever is bothering you so much.”
“No.” Denise said. “I don’t want to talk about anything at all. Can we just stay like this?” She asked with her arms locked around his neck.
He held her back and kissed her forehead. “Sure. We can do whatever you want.”
“No, we can’t.” She whispered.
Diego suspected that his girlfriend’s panic attack had something to do with the afternoon’s events. He knew she had been tired and stressed most of her contract but things hadn’t been that bad until that moment. The fact that one of her team members had been treated so unfairly really affected her deeply. He admired the way she cared so much about other people but at the same time wished she could be more detached. He couldn’t imagine Denise surviving onboard much longer if she took everything so personally. He wished there was anything he could do to help her see that it was better for her to let go of the things she couldn’t control.
Experience had taught him that what happens on the cruise ship should stay on the cruise ship. It was easier that way. He was well aware that if he hadn’t learned to separate his feelings from the circumstances out of his control, he wouldn’t have made it that far.
After a number of issues that nearly had cost him his job, Diego had learned his lesson. He saw his fellow crew members as temporary companions. He cared for them and appreciated their company, but he had no intention of allowing for deep feelings. He wanted to stay with the cruise line for some time longer and had no intention of getting hurt again. He wished he could teach Denise to defend her heart but she seemed drawn to do the exact opposite.
She fell asleep in his arms and he brushed his fingers through her hair and her face very softly. She was beautiful. He wondered how things would have gone if they had met under different circumstances. Part of him wished they had. The other part liked the freedom to be able to let go without remorse.