I'm sitting at the beach right now, chilling with some people. A bunch of people are drinking, which of course I'm not doing. But there are a few sober people and we are all on our phones texting. Lol. This past week was super annoying because the people were just plain mean. You'd think that people would be nice during thanksgiving but nope. One guy called me worthless, another told me I was mean for taking their photo and some asian guy made devil horns at me. So I'm very excited that the group is gone. Gone. Lol new group and so far they seem nice for the most part. A bonus!
Monday, November 28, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Black Friday…Black Friday…
Every year, I have always went shopping on Black Friday. It has always been an exciting day-searching to get the best prices, looking through all the newspapers on Thanksgiving with my family trying to figure out what we want. It was one thing as a family we all agreed on-my mom and I would adventure out at 3, 4, or 5 am and try to find everything we want at the best prices. Yes, I was one of those. But this year…I'm actually going to be WORKING a Black Friday sale…on a ship! Our ship is holding a big Black Friday deal in the photo gallery, and from what I hear, it's going to be NUTS. The bad thing…no shopping for me. The good thing? I guess I'll be saving myself some money, right? lol
Thanksgiving is also going to be really weird. It's strange to be in such a warm place for the second time in a year celebrating Thanksgiving away from my family. Holidays have always been a bit of an issue for me because my family is…special. I'll just leave it at that. I know that the people reading this are my friends (because you had to get the special invite from me) but I still don't want to blab about my family issues on here. You can ask me personally if you want to know about that. It's a long story anyway. Still, despite holidays not really being my favorite thing, it's kind of strange to celebrate them on a ship with a lot of people who don't believe the same things that I do. Christmas is very special to me…there is a lot of meaning behind it. There is no one else on the ship like me-or in the world for that matter-but there are many people with completely different values and morals than me. I have had some great talks with people about life, heaven, etc. and for that, I am very thankful. However, I haven't had the same talk with someone like I could have back home, and I desperately miss it. I miss having Bible study, I miss going to church…there is nothing on the ship except one group who gets together when I'm working! I did find two guys who wanted to do a Bible study with me maybe, but we have such different schedules, it hasn't really worked out. And with all the bad stuff happening back home right now, I really just need a group of people who think like me…
The cruise this week is full of families, and they have all spent a lot of money to get here. So they are very crazy about their money, and a little snippy. They are always ready to complain if something isn't the way they want, and one lady tried to kill people yesterday! Let me tell you what happened…
When we set up for a photo shoot, there is a green screen, and then two light stands on each side with a stand, light and umbrella. We nicely ask each person to walk around the lights so they don't hurt anyone. This lady came up and tried to skip the line. I said to her, "Miss, you are able to skip the line, but I just need you to wait until your turn and then you can just go on right through." The lady looked at me, saw me setting up the next family on the green screen, and decided to plow right through, cutting across the light stand. The light stand tipped over, and almost hit a lady in a wheelchair. I caught the light stand in my hand and said, "MISS! MISS! You can't do that!" The lady turned around, glared at me and snapped, "YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER" and then kept going! As though it was my fault she skipped the line! That's just an example of some of the crazy things people say.
I have to go and pay some bills now, and I'm running out of time. I only have a two hour break all day today, and I spent some of it eating, and I'll have to walk back soon to the ship (we go across the street to Whole Foods to get Internet) where I have to send all my stuff through a x-ray machine and wait in a super long line (there are about 2,400 guests this week or something like that, so the lines are nuts).
Every year, I have always went shopping on Black Friday. It has always been an exciting day-searching to get the best prices, looking through all the newspapers on Thanksgiving with my family trying to figure out what we want. It was one thing as a family we all agreed on-my mom and I would adventure out at 3, 4, or 5 am and try to find everything we want at the best prices. Yes, I was one of those. But this year…I'm actually going to be WORKING a Black Friday sale…on a ship! Our ship is holding a big Black Friday deal in the photo gallery, and from what I hear, it's going to be NUTS. The bad thing…no shopping for me. The good thing? I guess I'll be saving myself some money, right? lol
Thanksgiving is also going to be really weird. It's strange to be in such a warm place for the second time in a year celebrating Thanksgiving away from my family. Holidays have always been a bit of an issue for me because my family is…special. I'll just leave it at that. I know that the people reading this are my friends (because you had to get the special invite from me) but I still don't want to blab about my family issues on here. You can ask me personally if you want to know about that. It's a long story anyway. Still, despite holidays not really being my favorite thing, it's kind of strange to celebrate them on a ship with a lot of people who don't believe the same things that I do. Christmas is very special to me…there is a lot of meaning behind it. There is no one else on the ship like me-or in the world for that matter-but there are many people with completely different values and morals than me. I have had some great talks with people about life, heaven, etc. and for that, I am very thankful. However, I haven't had the same talk with someone like I could have back home, and I desperately miss it. I miss having Bible study, I miss going to church…there is nothing on the ship except one group who gets together when I'm working! I did find two guys who wanted to do a Bible study with me maybe, but we have such different schedules, it hasn't really worked out. And with all the bad stuff happening back home right now, I really just need a group of people who think like me…
The cruise this week is full of families, and they have all spent a lot of money to get here. So they are very crazy about their money, and a little snippy. They are always ready to complain if something isn't the way they want, and one lady tried to kill people yesterday! Let me tell you what happened…
When we set up for a photo shoot, there is a green screen, and then two light stands on each side with a stand, light and umbrella. We nicely ask each person to walk around the lights so they don't hurt anyone. This lady came up and tried to skip the line. I said to her, "Miss, you are able to skip the line, but I just need you to wait until your turn and then you can just go on right through." The lady looked at me, saw me setting up the next family on the green screen, and decided to plow right through, cutting across the light stand. The light stand tipped over, and almost hit a lady in a wheelchair. I caught the light stand in my hand and said, "MISS! MISS! You can't do that!" The lady turned around, glared at me and snapped, "YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER" and then kept going! As though it was my fault she skipped the line! That's just an example of some of the crazy things people say.
I have to go and pay some bills now, and I'm running out of time. I only have a two hour break all day today, and I spent some of it eating, and I'll have to walk back soon to the ship (we go across the street to Whole Foods to get Internet) where I have to send all my stuff through a x-ray machine and wait in a super long line (there are about 2,400 guests this week or something like that, so the lines are nuts).
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
"Excuse me miss, please come this way."
"NO! I don't want my picture taken!"
"You don't have to get your picture taken. But you do have to come this way!"
*lady comes at me* "I'll come this way!"
People can be so mean! It's all about them on this cruise-they want everything handed to them. I am still a human being and you can't just shove me because you feel like it. That is so horrible! I like taking pictures but this job makes me see humans in a new light and I don't like it. On the other hand, I'm learning new poses and how to work in a studio which is pretty awesome.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
One word. Tired. As I sit in Starbucks typing this, my body is aching. It's screaming "Help me!" My nose sniffles with the horrible cold I've caught, letting me know it's not a fan of Hawaii right now. As I try to keep my eyes awake, I wonder how I got myself here. I'm working on a cruise ship, taking pictures, and running around in a parrot costume. This past week, I've gotten maybe six hours of sleep a night, and been working on and off since six or seven in the morning. Any free time I have, I can hang out in my freezing ice cold room, sit in the smelly mass hall, or lay out up on the top deck where you can sweat your butt off.
The above is a post I started to write about three or four weeks ago, when I had some free time. Since then, not much has changed, except I'm trying to keep a positive attitude (although I often find myself failing when I'm off duty). You may be wondering why I made this blog private-well, I had many requests to write about how life is really like-and I want to. However, if I make the blog public, I could get fired for writing about situations with guests. Therefore-you are now going to get the uncensored Kristine-ha ha.
What is life truly like on a cruise ship? Well, it's kind of like High School-you have rules you have to follow, and people you always, always have to be nice to. For example, the "officers" would be the teachers in a typical school situation. The crew is divided, with those who have special privileges (me) and those who don't (my friends). Those with privileges would be like seniors in High School, who sometimes could leave school early or come late and the others would be freshmen, who can't do as much. Your job determines your privileges, and everyone thinks that our job is the "golden job". They may think so, but most guests don't really like us. They seem to think that shoving a camera in their face is the cruelest, meanest thing you could ever do. While I understand that some people don't like themselves and therefore don't want to ever see pictures of themselves, getting mad at us is not going to change who they are or what they look like!
Story time! One of our jobs is to walk around the restaurants taking pictures of people while eating. These actually sell really well, but people don't like you very much while you do it. Anyway, I went up to this one couple and started on my typical talk: "Aloha! How are you guys doing tonight?" -wait for answer "Great! Well, my name is Kristine and I'm going to be your photographer tonight. I'm just going to take a couple quick photos." -now is when they either smile or they get angry, but in this case, the lady cut me off after my name and said rudely "I never want to remember this cruise EVER again. I don't want any proof of this and I can't believe you'd even try to get my picture!" then she started on another rant, but I quickly said sorry and tried to run away. That was my first week, and I'll never forget how rude that angry lady was.
Another week, I had a couple come up and try to weasel something free out of us. I understand that they paid a lot for the cruise, but just because you have a big mouth and like to complain doesn't mean that you should always get something for free! "I really think you have to give me that picture," he said, pointing to one, "because I don't like it enough to buy it." What? Explain that logic to me again-because you don't like the picture, I have to give it to you for free? Oh my, oh my…
Doing laundry here is awful. You don't have enough time on your free time to do it, because washers are often full (there are only three in a room, and that's for about fifty to a hundred people to share) so you do it right before you go to work. When you come back, people have usually dumped your clothes. If you do it on your free time and wait for that hour, you can still come back to find that halfway through your load, some jerk dumped your wet clothes on the floor to put theirs in. Annoying!
On the other hand, I know a lot of the crew now, since I run all over the ship. Everyone seems to know me, which is really cool. I have some people I hang out with a lot, and others when I can. We all have different schedules, so sometimes you might see someone only once a week, which is really sad. My schedule changes almost everyday, but I have a friend who is a Junior Waiter (you deliver the food that the head waiter gets from their order) and she works insane hours. Any free time she has, I'm usually working then. It really stinks. But we usually all have time at night to hang out, so we stay up late just to talk.
I have to go but I will write some more later.
The above is a post I started to write about three or four weeks ago, when I had some free time. Since then, not much has changed, except I'm trying to keep a positive attitude (although I often find myself failing when I'm off duty). You may be wondering why I made this blog private-well, I had many requests to write about how life is really like-and I want to. However, if I make the blog public, I could get fired for writing about situations with guests. Therefore-you are now going to get the uncensored Kristine-ha ha.
What is life truly like on a cruise ship? Well, it's kind of like High School-you have rules you have to follow, and people you always, always have to be nice to. For example, the "officers" would be the teachers in a typical school situation. The crew is divided, with those who have special privileges (me) and those who don't (my friends). Those with privileges would be like seniors in High School, who sometimes could leave school early or come late and the others would be freshmen, who can't do as much. Your job determines your privileges, and everyone thinks that our job is the "golden job". They may think so, but most guests don't really like us. They seem to think that shoving a camera in their face is the cruelest, meanest thing you could ever do. While I understand that some people don't like themselves and therefore don't want to ever see pictures of themselves, getting mad at us is not going to change who they are or what they look like!
Story time! One of our jobs is to walk around the restaurants taking pictures of people while eating. These actually sell really well, but people don't like you very much while you do it. Anyway, I went up to this one couple and started on my typical talk: "Aloha! How are you guys doing tonight?" -wait for answer "Great! Well, my name is Kristine and I'm going to be your photographer tonight. I'm just going to take a couple quick photos." -now is when they either smile or they get angry, but in this case, the lady cut me off after my name and said rudely "I never want to remember this cruise EVER again. I don't want any proof of this and I can't believe you'd even try to get my picture!" then she started on another rant, but I quickly said sorry and tried to run away. That was my first week, and I'll never forget how rude that angry lady was.
Another week, I had a couple come up and try to weasel something free out of us. I understand that they paid a lot for the cruise, but just because you have a big mouth and like to complain doesn't mean that you should always get something for free! "I really think you have to give me that picture," he said, pointing to one, "because I don't like it enough to buy it." What? Explain that logic to me again-because you don't like the picture, I have to give it to you for free? Oh my, oh my…
Doing laundry here is awful. You don't have enough time on your free time to do it, because washers are often full (there are only three in a room, and that's for about fifty to a hundred people to share) so you do it right before you go to work. When you come back, people have usually dumped your clothes. If you do it on your free time and wait for that hour, you can still come back to find that halfway through your load, some jerk dumped your wet clothes on the floor to put theirs in. Annoying!
On the other hand, I know a lot of the crew now, since I run all over the ship. Everyone seems to know me, which is really cool. I have some people I hang out with a lot, and others when I can. We all have different schedules, so sometimes you might see someone only once a week, which is really sad. My schedule changes almost everyday, but I have a friend who is a Junior Waiter (you deliver the food that the head waiter gets from their order) and she works insane hours. Any free time she has, I'm usually working then. It really stinks. But we usually all have time at night to hang out, so we stay up late just to talk.
I have to go but I will write some more later.
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