The burden and delight of one stripe

Before Leena left, I had two weeks with her not only as a cabin mate and friend, but also as a coworker! The Purser department oversees the receptionists, and while my boss is away and with Leena leaving, I am taking her job as Assistant Purser. And Purser. Yes, somehow, I'm sort of doing one and a half jobs for a total of seven weeks. And as my brother said, 'Congratulations! You're now a ranked officer!' Yes, get this - all of... one stripe. (Better count that fast, because it will slip right by you, there's just so many of them!)



Now the obvious question, what is a purser? It depends on what kind of vessel you're on. Typically, they're the ones who holds the crew salaries. On a cruise ship, they're like an events organizer. But here, we deal with immigration, crew arrivals and departures and all shipping logistics. There has to be a way for us to all enter this country and the purser department deals with immigration on that. Same with all material goods that are shipped through huge containers, we deal with customs on that too. In fact, one of our containers is in the dock right now. A view from our office:



I don't have to do shift work anymore, which means I am no longer on graveyard. I rather liked graveyard shift - it worked out perfectly for phone calls back home to friends and family. While there are new challenges and responsibilities, the downside is also that... there are new challenges and responsibilities. I've been frustrated with the amount of work that I take home in my mind. I miss the days when I had days off during the week, when I could do my job faithfully in eight hours and then call it a day.

Nowadays, I find my mind muddied with information. I haven't started dreaming about work, but I fear that will happen. The set hours of an eight to five job is not very exciting, but the predictability lends to some conveniences concerning friendships, ship events, and outings. However, at the end of the day my mind is heavy with logistics and information that I find myself exhausted, without energy for the patients. I dislike this reality very much, and hope that it changes as I grow more familiar with the job. My sense of purpose here would be so betrayed if I didn't continue seeing the patients. As much energy as they require, I enjoy them so much. When I sat at reception, I enjoyed waving hello and goodbye to the medical dayworkers as they would leave and come to work. They would chat with me briefly, bring me fruits, nuts and avocados. Now, I am tucked in an office, one of the spaces they are not allowed to enter as dayworkers. Then there are the electronic leashes of being 'on call' via cell phone and beeper, and well, I won't get into it.

With all this, one may wonder why I agreed to take the job in the first place. First there was need for the position to be filled. I'm learning that a need does not present a calling. Still, I knew it was something that I could be good at. Secondly, the extroversion required at reception was wearing me down a bit. And finally, why not? It isn't a major decision in my life in any case.

What I'm hoping to get out of this is that I receive some real life application. I know I can really work too hard at times. Especially in the entertainment business, work and play are without boundaries - they just mesh together. You may be surprised at this, but others don't look at Americans and say, 'Wow, they work so hard! Look at them go! Aren't they great hard working people?' No, they think we're pleasure-less people who spend too much time as computer screen jockeys. The person who works too hard sometimes works in vain, which serves no purpose whatsoever. And since we cannot get back time, I'm happy to prioritize my time more appropriately when I'm not suppose to be working and just work harder while I am working!

So I will take the advice of my boss who said, don't take on what I am not comfortable doing. Additionally, since he's a Brit, he takes regular tea breaks, which is a terrific idea since there's nothing that a ten minute break and a nice 'cuppa' didn't solve.