I have a little Shadow who goes in and out with me
And what can be the use of her is more than I can see
Actually that’s not true, it was just too good an opening quote to pass up. In truth, Shadow has made this contract so much easier (and this contract was running silk-smooth to begin with) – she’s technically still a trainee, but in reality I sort of graduated her from training about a week ago. She has so much shoreside management and hospitality experience that it was really just a matter of showing her where everything was and teaching her the computer system (which is actually working on this ship – hurrah!!), and she was set on her own. Every so often we run into an event she hasn’t done yet, and those we do together, but we’ve pretty much settled into a rotation.
The upshot? Every other morning/evening off for both of us, more time off in port, more flexible hours overall and a ton more coverage of the library in general – something that the management is pretty happy about as it means better service overall.
As I’ve said before, it’s a world cruise schedule without all the extra responsibility that comes with being on the flagship. That said, if I didn’t know that Shadow has her sights set on an EM position eventually I wouldn’t hesitate to request her for my flagship partner. She and I work extremely well together, we have the same work ethic and the same basic attitude, the same wish for a drama-free existance and the same desire to hold ourselves away from ship-board politics. She’s more outgoing than I am, but in some ways that’s a good thing as I often need a foil for my own over-seriousness.
Training someone to follow in your footsteps is a really odd thing. Like I said when I first found out she was arriving, this is something I’ve never done before. I’m once again surprised by how compressed time is ship-side, only three years with the company and I’m considered a ‘veteran’, another half year and I’ll likely be labeled a ‘lifer’, and perhaps by that point it will be true, I really don’t know. All I do know is that somewhere along the line I’ve become someone the others rely on, and I’m not quite sure how that happened, because I really don’t think of myself as any better at the job than anyone else, I’m at best quite competant, but my so-called skill is really nothing more than common sense and a stubborn refusal to let technology (and sometimes reality) beat me. It’s true I’ve worked hard to get where I am, but I’ve accomplished nothing that anyone else couldn’t do with a little bit of effort.
And yet – three and a half years in – here I am. I suppose that just goes to show that you never really know where life is going to take you with all its bizarre twists and turns.