Well, I am happy to be back on board the HQ.
I returned Wednesday and found it good. A few days away somewhere shitty and it made our home away from home look and feel that much better.
We had some visitors come aboard yesterday. Newer hires, an old friend, all moored at the same lay berth as the HQ.
All who came politely mentioned how nice the quarters are here on the HQ. I only got one 'must be nice' from one of the new hires. He's been on a barge with dirty, shitty quarters for about 6 months.
'Must be nice' is one of those phrases that can set me off. The guy being new, maybe with just a year here, I was polite and chose not to be vocal about it.
It IS nice. And anyone who wants nice quarters can have them... the company will absolutely buy galley furniture, quality chairs, paint, brasso, ceiling tiles, shelving, appliances, even new antifatigue deck tiles and new cabinets... for guys who they know and who will put in the labor to intall all that in their free time.
Thing is, the HQ's pleasant interior was done by us. DIY. Spearhead the project, do the labor, plan it out with the shoreside guys to budget it, etc, but the salient point here is that our HQ's quarters was a dump when we got here, as B and I replaced two dirty old bachelors who ruled the roost like Oscar The Grouch... and now, it's nice inside. Gleaming black decks, tasteful hardware, homey. Functional and workmanlike, but painted a classy colonial blue with gray cabinets and varnished wood trim. Soothing.
Must be nice. Yeah, it is. I have at least 100 hours of unpaid labor in it myself, and big E and B have some too.
That's the sand in my vaseline, the discounting of effort and exercise of will. Easier to complain I guess, than to put your head down and work.
