Skint

Skint

25^th February 2012

What a day!

This morning I was working in Shutters at 6am for morning sale. It wasn’t as busy as last week, but the queue still reached the opposite end of the photo gallery. Kate was on morning sale too but swapped embarkation with me as I needed to get some shopping. By doing both embarkation and morning sale, Kate got herself the night off in return.

Straight after morning sale, which ended at 9.30am, I was out on land and in the fresh air. My mission: get to WalMart, grab the shopping I desperately needed and jump into bed for a snooze, before working at three.

The only problem I had with going to WalMart, was that I was skint, broke, penniless. Day one of the cruise is always rotated here on Disney Magic. One week you’re on morning sale, the next embarkation where you won’t have time to get off the ship. So, needless to say, morning sale is shopping day. As I was desperate for necessities like detergent and mouth wash. I shamefully had to ask Kate to loan me some money. I had my credit card but I wanted the cash with me just in case, as the hotel in Orlando said my card had been declined.

The crew shuttle bus from Port Canaveral took you to two places, WalMart and the Mall for a round trip price of $8. Private taxis were ushering large numbers into their cars for $5 each for a single fare. We were docked with Norwegian Sun and Carnival Dream, so there was an abundance of crew milling around.

Slinking onto the bus and slumping into a chair I nearly fell asleep straight away. Boy, was I shattered after four and a half hours sleep last night. I just couldn’t drift off.

Wandering around WalMart, I managed to get pretty much everything I needed as well as making the biggest cock up you can imagine! I couldn’t for the life of me find the envelopes and had walked around the stationary section a couple of times – as you do.

Seeing a member of staff bent down, sorting out the shelves, I went over to ask where I could locate the envelopes. “Excuse me, Ma’am” just as the woman with thick, shoulder length, wavy hair looked up, I realized something looked out of place. My mouth dropped open. The woman had a beard… it was a bloke with long hair! My horrified face must have been a picture, as the guy laughed and said “don’t worry, it occurs all the time”. I wished the ground could have swallowed me - whole! Shuttering my way through my question, he pointed to the aisle where the envelopes could be found. I made a runner for it with a bright red face. Oh, the shame!

A little later on, again I was searching for detergent. Running out of time, I asked another member of staff for help. This time I made sure of the person’s sex before making an assumption. “Ma’am, what aisle is the detergent in”. The lady turned around, cross-eyed and bucked teeth. Staring at me, the lady pointed her hand and declared loudly “groceries”. “Ok, brilliant, thank you but which aisle?” “Groceries” her voice getting louder and more shrill. At first, I thought she hadn’t understood my English accent “Thank, erm, but do you know which aisle”. She looked at me as if I was a complete retard, before shouting, in a pitch so high that it would almost be impossible for the human ear to hear “GROCERIES!” Okay, I was obviously asking the village dipstick for directions!

I made a hasty retreat and started looking around the grocery section. Previously I didn’t bother looking there. I thought the word “grocery” was “food”. I was proved wrong. My American-English to English-English translating failed.

At the counter I handed over my credit card. “Sorry Miss, you’re card has been decline. Do you have another?” I tried my other credit card. Declined. I feared this embarrassment. Both my credit cards were tried again and failed. Thank Christ I’d borrowed money from Kate, or else I’d be walking away completely empty handed!

Sitting at the bus stop with my three bags of shopping I was nearly over-come by a wave of frustration and anger. I had borrowed money from a team mate, had four dollars to my name, my credit cards, which were for an emergency were declined, I wasn’t due to get paid until St. Thomas in five days’ time (being able to get off the ship in that tendering port is doubtful).

Finally, I couldn’t touch the money in my bank account as my poxy debit card had expired. Why hadn’t I remembered the expiration date sooner? Not that it mattered; to renew my debit card, due to "security reasons" I must "visit my local branch" in England. Considering I spent my vacation in Punta del Este, Uruguay, it's a little far to travel! I suppose this is one way to save money.

Things really haven’t been going my way recently and just the thought was getting me down, no matter how much I tried to stay positive.

Back on board and in the cabin, I sat around talking to Cookie, my Thai cabin mate. In the Mall there’s a lot of discount shops she wanted to show me. The clothes are all designer brands and really cheap compared to your average store. Unfortunately I am too broke. When you’re skint or simply window-shopping you always, always, always find something you want. Maybe another time when I’ve finally been paid.

Cookie picked up some nice bits and pieces though and at really good prices! Her best buy were Shiseido products which cost her $50 each in the U.S. back in Thailand the items cost around $200. My best buy was a small box of PG Tips (English tea bags)… $3 for a box of tea bags and I was a happy little girl!

While speaking to Cookie, I told her what had happened at WalMart. She was intrigued to know why I didn’t want to go clothes shopping at the Mall. She was gobsmacked that I hadn’t been paid, or more to the point, that I wasn’t informed that I wouldn’t be paid until nearly a month into my contract.

Not happy with just leaving things the way things were, Cookie offered me $100! I refused point blank. Cookie insisted I took the money, even if I didn’t use it. Reluctantly, I took a small percentage of the money, promising I’d pay it back while handing back the rest. I couldn’t accept $100. Cookie wouldn’t have it and put the remaining $60 in my drawer, telling me to top up my Crew ID card for internet and crew shop purchases, while keeping the rest in case I need to buy anything. “I understand you need to call your Mom and Dad often. It’s okay, take it and give me back when you have. I don’t need, so it’s okay.” She kept telling me.

I’m incredibly grateful. Words can't describe just how grateful and lucky I am to have another great cabin mate, but I feel ashamed to have to borrow money off other people. Maybe I’m too proud, but I feel as though I should be able to stand on my own two feet, even if things are beyond my control.

After a thirty minute sleep, Aniko, Inna and I were having to shift four pallets of boxes to the lab, all printing paper and chemicals. It wasn’t long until my knees and wrists were paining. I’m so glad I didn’t put the jar of Glucosamine Sulfate back on the shelf! Forty five minutes later we were done, I couldn’t believe how quickly we shifted through it. Mark coming over to help after embarkation sped things up, too.

So for the rest of the night we were swaying to and fro in Shutters due to increasingly rough sea. Aniko and I were “surfing” the waves in the gallery, causing some laughs with the guests. It’s always funny to watch everyone walking straight, then all being forced one direction before heading back into the other. It’s just a sea of heads rushing in and out like waves.

I shot Palo, the ship’s top quality restaurant, before heading into the lab to print. Once there, Diva told me there was nothing to print. My job for the next one and a half hours was to put inserts into the Get The Picture! CD cases. Fun times. An hour later, Diva told Mark and I to finish up what we were doing and go. We were done for the night and the team meeting at 23.10 had been cancelled. Bonus!

Back in the cabin, settled in my pyjamas, I’m completely shattered but taking some time to relax and separate work from rest time. I’m having some down time in other words.

Tomorrow is formal night, so I’m going to need all the energy I can muster, especially as we are one man down. That’s right! Clarita left today and Image haven’t sent anyone as a replacement. Dave doesn’t have any idea as to when someone will be coming. Until then, we’re just going to have to step up a gear and pull a little extra weight. Hopefully it won't be too long until Image send someone else.