Cabin inspections are a thing of life out here; your space is only partially your own. Every so often you get a nice little card under your door informing you that a group of stripes will be coming around to inspect your living quarters. You can be in the room, but not asleep or in the shower etc…
When I was on the flagship it was usually the head of department that did this, and often on my morning off; he would poke his head in – see me contentedly watching TV and working on embroidery in a cabin that looked more like a tidy little apartment than a cabin – ask me if there was anything amiss and then go off to the next cabin.
You see, my cabin? It’s somewhat…zen. I pack my own sheets, warm fuzzy comforter, posters, throw rugs, electric candles, water features (though the pump on the fountain is louder than the fountain itself), throw pillows, laundry hamper…heck I even got a shower curtain this season! I take pride in my living space. It’s my safe space, where I do my embroidery and occasionally shut out the world. And as such I have become a bit of a neat freak with it; especially since it is a very tiny room, particularly when you have two people living in it!
While it’s true that this particular contract I may not spend as much time in my room as usual, I do tend to like to spend a lot of time there at during the day. I mean, everyone needs a little slice of space to call their own, no matter how close you are to your loved ones.
Most roomies that I bunk with appreciate and respect this…except the one I had just this cruise prior. If there is a word stronger than slob than this girl was it…clothes everywhere – most of which were never worn; bed never made, you could barely walk in the room. It was a disaster; it looked like a war zone. I couldn’t even bear to be in there much of the time, being around that much clutter somehow stresses me out.
And she didn’t clear any of it up for cabin inspection, even though she was leaving in San Diego and therefore could have simply used the opportunity to pack.
As such, when I pulled open the ‘result of crew cabin inspection’ file that comes around as a follow up I was mortified to see the following next to ‘my’ cabin number
Cabin #Alpha – Youth Staff/Librarian – Cabin Messy – Occupant responsibility
Needless to say, I am EXTREMELY glad that my new roomie is Tolerance (and yes, I gave her that nickname for a reason), Tolli and I have roomed together before, and we’re actually good friends. And she appreciates my shower curtain
It’s the little things…