Welcome Aboard

I admit I watched ‘The Love Boat’ when I was younger. It was entirely cheesy and ridiculous but I wasn’t concerned with the weekly plots. What I enjoyed was the welcoming of the weekly passengers and the vistas of the cruise liner in the ocean or the shots of the locales where they docked.


The way the whole crew came out to the entrance and greeted everyone was my favorite part of the show. It made everyone feel accepted and happy to have chosen that cruise vacation. As I’ve grown older, despite how I feel about getting attention, I think it’s always important for people to welcome you when join a new team or start a new job. It makes you feel like a part of the gang and fosters teamwork and camaraderie.

In my new team, the ‘steward’ did reach out to me. But it was clear that he wanted to just get the beverages served. He didn’t so much care if I was comfortable in my cabin. The ‘captain’ didn’t make an appearance until day three even though I called to confirm my reservation and asked what I should pack for the trip. I haven’t yet figured out who the ‘cruise director’ is but my guess is that the’ steward’ holds that position as well.

What’s odd is that a few hours into my sail, the ‘captain’ did a public announcement for another passenger who joined the cruise. I have yet to get this public announcement. So it’s made it difficult for me to move from level to level and event without that introduction. I can’t really completely ‘relax’ on this cruise without that because I need to constantly present myself.

Now, I don’t have a problem introducing myself but I thought it would have been nice to have the ‘captain’ do that for me. Some parts of me even think that’s the ‘captain’s’ job but it’s debatable.

So lately I’ve been feeling like I can’t quite settle into this cruise because no one here is looking to meet or have fun. That’s fine. But now I don’t really want to hear any ‘lovey dovey’ stuff on this love boat either. I want everyone to keep their small talk to themselves. Perhaps they can even watch “The Love Boat” and learn a couple of pointers on how people should be treated when they go on the cruise also known as work.