Close Call

Close Call

25^th August 2011

These one week cruises seem to be flying past. It seems like yesterday the team were shooting embarkation. Today it’s the sea day before the guests disembark.

Sandra and I were both working at 13.00. Before work, I went and sat on Back Deck for a while with my netbook typing up my blog updates. It gives me a break away from everything and allows me to drift into my own world.

Meeting Sandra we went up for lunch before going to work. This week we didn’t bet anything but the competitive streak was still there. Fabio, Sandra, Zoran and I were still competing with each other to sell the most. I got off to a great start but it was nothing compared to Sandra. She was steaming ahead selling everything in sight! She really was on top form. 

We kept checking who was in the lead and by how much. The places were constantly changing. It wasn’t long until Sandra and I had a clear break away from the lads but we knew it wouldn’t last long. Both were due back in the gallery for the busiest period. Fabio and Sandra have the obvious bonus of speaking Italian.

At the end of the night we checked the results. I’d come in 3^rd place but it was a very tight call. Zoran was the overall winner for the night selling $3,387.28. Sandra came in 2^nd with $3,258.29. I’d sold $3,028.29 while Fabio came last (just) selling only $2,995.80. Comparing it to last week’s results, you can tell not much was sold if the best sellers didn’t even get to $4,000. We were worried about how our wages would be affected.  When the competition is so tight that literally any of us could win makes the whole thing a lot more fun and the time flies.

Although I came third overall, I didn’t do badly compared to the rest of the team as a whole. Out of ten photographers, six didn’t make it past $1,000 which is and should be a piece of cake. It was only 50 pictures. Speaking to Paco he wasn’t impressed with the results. In total we’d sold only $17,700 but needed at least $25,000.

Picking up the schedules I was due to work both morning sales which meant getting up at 06.15 – great. Tomorrow was payday which was a good thing, but like I said, we were all worried in case we earned less than the previous cruise which has been happening lately. We were losing money and rankings fast! 

Popping over to David’s cabin I needed to pick up the lab key from him. What came next was a true shock. David had been pick pocketed while walking around Las Ramblas. He wallet, keys and sea pass card were all in his back pocket and the entire lot had disappeared.

That night during the gallery an American lady was asking a series of questions about cameras. It turns out she had her bag snatched in Park Güell. Everything had gone from her money to camera. The lady said she wasn’t so bothered about the camera as she can simply bUy another one. It was the memory card inside the camera that she wanted. Her photos from the entire cruise. I felt sorry for her. I’d be mortified if my memory card was stolen or lost. In the end she didn’t want to buy a camera on board as she thought we were too expensive. Instead she bought a disposable camera to make do with until she got back home.

It seems the more we go to Barcelona, the more we see through the silver lining. In a way, we’ve kind of gone past the tourist stage and starting to see things for what they really are. Quite frankly, it is a real turn off. We’ll all have to be more careful when we are out and about in Barcelona. Especially if we take our SLRs.