Recently my family had the wonderful opportunity to take a marvelous vacation in Europe on a river cruise. It was the trip of a lifetime! Ah, but few things in this world are perfect and our delightful trip was no exception. The region had just experienced some severe flooding, they had record temperatures the week we visited and the air conditioning on the boat had some issues. OK let's be honest. The ac quit, died, froze up or to use the formal German term, went "kaputt." Being on that boat the day the ac died was like being in a sealed tin can that was left on top of the kitchen stove top with one of the burners on. Needless to say the inside of that cruiser wasn't the only thing that got hot. Tempers were flaring. I felt bad for the staff. They were a wonderful group of people that bent over backwards to make sure that everyone had a fantastic time but unfortunately they also made up the front line when something went wrong.
Annette was the girl that worked the front desk. I'm not sure what her formal title was but that was her general job description. She would hand out and collect the shore passes, provide wifi information, exchange dollars for euros and answer any general questions one might have. Like all the crew on the Vienna, Annette was never in a bad mood, always pleasant and upbeat. She was patient and kind and just a genuinely nice girl.
The day the ac broke Annette was feeling the heat from two distinct hot air sources. The first, more benign, came from the guts of the boat but the second came from the unattractive mouths of the disgruntled guests. Now I have seen some fits in my life. I raised two children through the terrible twos or threes as they were in our house. I have taught some unruly students who had no clue what a boundary was let alone how to behave within the confines of one, but I have rarely seen a grown woman act in such a way as I did that day. This lady was flailing her arms, shouting obscenities, and doing everything but rolling around on the ground kicking and screaming. Wait, she was screaming. I don't think rolling around on the ground was exactly an option as I am not quite sure that she could have gotten herself back up. Anyway, dear Annette was taking a beating. Those words were landing with the same intensity as if she were being hit with carefully calculated punches. I stood there on the stairs observing the scene with my mouth wide open, stunned. I remember thinking, I know you're hot lady but how does freaking out help? If anything it turns up your internal thermometer even more.
I waited for the "lady" to leave and I approached Annette. At first I wasn't going to intervene. This was a conversation that I just happened upon. It was technically none of my business, but that never stopped me before and besides this was a good chance to pay it forward. This young lady had just gotten stomped on pretty good and she needed someone to lift her up and dust her off. I went up to the desk looked at Annette and said "Somebody is having a bad day." Annette replied, "She's not the only one." I told her not to pay any attention to that woman. "This is her problem, I said, not yours. Don't let her tell you that you aren't wonderful, because you are. You are awesome at your job. I have watched you all week. You are professional, mature and kind and that is a great deal more than I can say for her right now. So keep your chin up and know that there is at least one guest on this boat that thinks you are da bomb!" I grinned and she grinned back. I'm still not sure that "da bomb" translated very well but she got the general idea. "Thanks," she said.
Funny thing was that later that night at dinner I was discussing the incident with Michael and he said that he did the same thing with the cruise director who was under a barrage of attacks by some fiery seniors. Well the ac did get fixed, not because someone pitched a fit, but due to the fervent work of the ship's electrician. All in all we were only out completely for a half a day or so and we spent most of that time off the boat roaming around the town in which we were docked. It was really no big deal.
It is interesting to watch how people behave in less than ideal situations. I'll confess I'm guilty of being cranky when I don't get my way but I'm not much on fit throwing, even less so now that I've seen one in action. Perhaps one of the greatest character tests might be how we treat folks in service roles. Food for thought: Dave Barry wrote "A person that is nice to you, but rude to the waiter is not a nice person."
Have a great week!
Laurie
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