Two Against One

Two Against One

24^th August 2011

Today is our penultimate trip to Palma de Mallorca. It’s unfortunate we haven’t been able to see more of the country as it’s always formal night meaning we get very little time off. For the past two weeks Sandra and I have been on the gangway together as Spanish Flamenco dancers. Today it was Camila and I. Leandro and Hernan were shooters but weren’t assigned to a costume. It went without saying who was teaming up with who.

Once I was ready, I walked out into the corridor where Camila and Leandro were. Camila looked at me and said “oh, that’s my flower you have in your hair. I need it”. What? The plastic red flower in my hair was hers? It came with the dress! I had another in my cabin. For some reason we had a spare flower. Looking at it she said “This is mine too. I need the flowers”. “No, the flowers come with the dresses. I’ve got one in my hair and one’s for yours.” Hernan gave me a look to say she’s nuts. He's right! 

Leaving the corridor Hernan and I walked up to the Savoy Theatre. The place was dead. We were fifteen minutes early. Turning around Camila and Leandro were there too. We all knew that there was no point in having two costumes in the same place. Especially if they were the same costumes. So not to cause an argument Hernan and I left. Gangway wasn’t open yet so we quickly went up to the Mess for breakfast.

Hitting gangway and La Bruja (M and R) was there to remind us all that there was to be no smudging and we had to stand no less than 15 metres from the gangway. Luckily enough she retreated back into the ship fairly quickly. Great! We got down to work and soon enough we started racking up counts. The tours soon started coming out. Camila and Leandro came out onto the gangway. Why were they out on gangway for at this time? The tours didn’t finish coming out until 10.00. They should’ve been up in the Savoy getting their counts. You can easily get 200 images there.

Coming out onto the gangway Camila and Leandro tried to situated themselves in front of me and Hernan which didn’t work. Security told them to move back and they had to stand 2^nd in line. If you’re in the Savoy, when you come out onto gangway you stand second in line. It gives the others a chance to get their counts up. The Savoy Theatre provides a huge amount of images within a short period of time while gangway is a little slower.

Hernan and I were darting from side to side, grabbing and smudging people left, right and centre. We were doing a great job and the counts were rising. Because people had their photo taken with me very little people wanted their photo taken with Camila. It’s not just because they’d had their photo taken with me, I am a much better smudger than she is. Hernan and I have more experience. Plus I don’t ask people to get their picture taken. I put my arm around them and tell them they are getting their photo taken. “Let’s get your picture” “Gimme a hug and get your picture” etc.

Camila came over and demanded that Hernan and I move into second place. No chance if she was going to be so rude so we carried on where we were. We had also managed to get a rhythm going so it would be stupid to break it as it would cause a stampede and we’d lose a huge amount of images. As I was taking photos with the guests she barged past me but I carried on. 

As I stepped back to put my arm around one guest she pushed me forward. I still grabbed the guest and got my photo taken with her. Camila started shouting and swearing at Hernan and I. At one point I had a family of 5 people surrounding me getting their photo taken. She came and stood right next to me and shouted “Are you listening to me?”. I kept smiling while Hernan took the photo as if nothing was going on. The guests were wondering what the hell was going on! Turning to her I said quietly “No, I’m not. I’m working, now fuck off.” She stormed off into the ship with Leandro following her like a lost puppy.

As guests were coming out they told us they’d already had their photo taken. It turns out Camila was taking photos inside the ship, just before they go through security. That didn’t go down too well. She was soon sent outside by security. 

Ritesh later came outside and Camila went running to him about what was going on. He stood around watching me and Hernan. The guests were standing in line, queuing to get their photo taken. My arm was aching from putting it around so many waists and shoulders.

Leandro and Camila came out from another break and asked how many images we had. When Hernan told them, both jumped down his throat about going in second in line. OK, they wanted to be first. Fine! We had surpassed our target by 155 shots so we left gangway completely. Camila for some unknown reason was nearly in tears. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.

Originally I was going to go out to the shops but this time I was so tired I hopped into bed. Within no time I was sound asleep and didn’t wake up until the alarm went off. Hearing the alarm going off, knowing you have to get up for formal night is enough to make anyone cry and jump overboard!

The night went slowly, the place was dead and all our image counts were low. During the meeting Jomar told us we only needed 2,000 images to hit the target. It might sound like a ludicrous amount but don’t forget we are working for the McDonald’s of photography. After all, it’s only 200 photographs each which most of us surpass or get very near to during one Ressi session.

Packing up we all headed down to the lab. As soon as I walked through the door Ritesh called me over into the store room. He asked me if I had a problem with Camila. I won’t go into details of what happened but she put in a complaint about me on gangway. Apparently I was being rude and nasty to her by not letting her go first in line. When I tried to explain what happened Ritesh said he didn’t believe me because Camila’s friend (Leandro) was there to back her up so it was two against one. When I said to ask Hernan what happened to it’ll be two against two. He refused adding, he didn’t need to. Fair enough. So much fpr “there are two sides to every story”. With Ritesh it’s more like you’re guilty until proven innocent.

Everyone was going up to play football. I was fuming. There was no way on this Earth I’d have been able to go up to Deck 13 to play football or ping pong. I couldn’t set eyes on the girl. If I did, I’d have been sent home the very next day!