Posted on 09/09/2007 8:26:41 AM PDT by Clemenza
After several days at sea, I have begun to suspect that the US may be in worse shape than I thought. Not only does our economy need imported oil and foreign capital to prosper. It also could be developing a dependence on the kindness of strangers.
I left dry land because my mother decided to celebrate her 70th birthday by inviting her children and grandchildren on a cruise – a five-day voyage from Bayonne, New Jersey, to Bermuda and back. Having grown up in the Long Island suburbs of New York, I viewed cruises as the vacation equivalent of a trip to the local mall. But in this case, I went along for the ride and wound up having a grand time.
As I anticipated, there were a lot of Long Islanders aboard the 1,020-ft Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas – enough to give the expedition the surreal feel of a Seinfeld episode remade as an epic movie. But the food was good, the facilities were awesome (the ship came complete with an ice-skating rink) and the weather in Bermuda was glorious. Our party of 10 even managed to remain civil despite having to wrestle three times a day with that great Long Island existential question – to eat at the buffet or to enjoy sit-down service in the dining room.
My only unsettling moment came one night after dinner, while I was shooting hoops with my son at the outdoor basketball court on the 13th deck. Another boy joined us and, after he grabbed a rebound, he stopped for a moment and looked straight at my son and me, as children do when they are about to make a significant declaration.
“You know,” he said, “people on this ship are really nice.”
His comment made an impression on me because my two children had been saying much the same thing, in much the same way. The people on the ship, they kept repeating, are so nice.
The people who charmed the children were the workers on board – waiters, housekeepers, cooks and so on. And the one thing almost all of them had in common was that they were born in a country other than the US – several dozen in all, we were told.
In other words, the people having the fun and making the inevitable mess aboard the Explorer of the Seas were almost all Americans while the people being nice were almost all non-Americans.
This struck me as an interesting division of activities. At financial publications such as this one, we often speak of the US as an importer of “labour”. But after spending time aboard the Explorer of the Seas, I got the sense that we have been bringing in something more than that. We seem to be importing friendliness itself. And that leads to some troubling questions. If we are importing friendliness, does that mean we are suffering a shortage? Are we running out of “nice” in the same way we are running out of oil?
When I returned to work at the Financial Times, I called Royal Caribbean here in the US and spoke with one of the company’s executives about my experience. He didn’t want to be quoted by name for the usual corporate reasons but his take on the Explorer’s labour situation wasn’t that different from mine. “You probably wouldn’t get the same high-quality service with a domestic crew,” he said. “Cruise lines generally do staff their ships with international workers.”
To an extent, the Royal Caribbean executive made it clear that many members of the Explorer staff are typical of the migrant workers who take on dirty and difficult jobs around the world. He said cruise workers could be expected to work up to 18 hours a day, seven days a week, on punishing tours that keep them away from their families for six to eight months at a time. Many obviously come from poor countries and leap at a chance to make the kind of money offered by an international company.
But these are not the out-of-sight, out-of-mind workers of the farm or the factory floor. Royal Caribbean, for instance, says it tries to hire people who are bilingual because they believe this helps promote “an overall friendly attitude”. The Balinese housekeeper who twisted our bath towels into animal shapes and the Indian waitress who remembered our names at dinner were doing more than grunt work. I heard no grunting.
These people knew how to put on a show – how to react to social cues, how to adjust to circumstances, how to keep smiling in the midst of a long, hard day. As with any group of people, it’s entirely possible that there were some misfits or miscreants in the crew. But the larger point is that the workers aboard the ship knew how they were supposed to behave.
My concern is whether the wired-up Americans of the iPod age are similarly well-equipped. Do our social antennae work as effectively now that we have a world of people willing to pick up our towels after we throw them to the bathroom floor?
Since I have returned to shore, it has occurred to me that you only have to turn on a television set in this country to see more evidence of our friendliness deficit. The airwaves are lousy with talking heads bemoaning the presence of the very people who have been picking up the towels and keeping things clean for us. Maybe the time has come to start importing television commentators, too.
Gary Silverman is the FT’s US news editor; gary.silverman@ft.com
Being on boat full of Long Islanders would make me flee in the lifeboat....
Only an elitist would say that.
Having been surrounded by them at various Caribbean resorts, I agree.
Our Midwestern young people are said to be in demand for all sorts of service jobs, due to a great work ethic and friendliness.
I suspect the LI young people do not have the same reputation, just from the ones I have been subjected to.
Silverman the Fatuous. How do these silly persons get bylines?
Also, keep in mind that those of us who live in the NYC-area lack a native born schlepp class except for the unionized garbage collectors who get $70K a year for emptying trash cans. Good work if you can get it.
To paraphrase Jeff Foxworthy "I are one", and agree with your assessment. Not a more spoiled or surly group of young folks will you meet anywhere in this country.
Interesting perspective. The problem is that being “elite” doesn’t mean anything. I mean, suppose you can "back up your high opinion of yourself". What now? Does this mean you are infallable, will have a happy and healthy life, deservie more than others? The “elite” get sick and die just like everyone else. VERY, and I mean, VERY, few people are truly elite in my opinion. Being a the top of your profession doesn’t really mean a thing. I submit that rather than wallowing in ones own “eliteness”, people should try to serve their fellow man, and therefore, God, in the short time we have on earth. But, what do I know, I’m not elite.
I’ve spoken to dozens of these cruise ship employees and most hate their jobs but have no alternative. It’s really quit sad but what is more sad is that this author is more interested on the level of service he received from these cruise ship slaves and how he doesn’t receive the same kind of gratuitous butt munching from American employees.
What an ass. He is the epitome of the “ugly American”... blind, self absorbed and utterly lacking in compassion for anyone else as long as his “service” needs are met.
You nailed it. Thanks for contributing.
“Yessih massah. How you be today? Shall I fill your ice tea?”
I agree. I grew up in Illinois and now live on Long Island. My husband grew up in Queens, NY and notices the difference. My adult children notice the increase in friendliness as they travel westward, too.
I do think that, since 9/11, many of the folks on Long Island are much friendlier than they used to be.
Nevertheless, just as one should never fail to acknowledge that their defecation stinks as much as the next person, one should never assume that the "unwashed masses" have some "innate intelligence" that makes them equal to the truly accomplished individual, whether they are accomplished in business, science or as an honest to God family man.
This is why I never liked the term "elitist" and prefer the term snob. You can easily be a snob with little personal accomplishment.
He also does not realize they are paid (not much) to be nice. No nice - No work.
And for some of the places the low level workers come from, working on a cruise ship is a good job they want to keep.
Nothing has changed since 9/11, IMHO. The 9/11 effect lasted all of 9 months in the city, and a year in the suburbs. Everyone then returned to their self-absorbed lives.
Bump. People who cling to the outer coastal fringes, east and west alike, need to get out more and experience the experience of America.
My wife and I made similar observations about the genuine “niceness” of the entire staff on our recent Diamond Princess cruise. Never once, did I see a glimpse of aggravation camouflaged by smile, when I made or observed a request. I finally cornered a member of the staff and asked if the staff really did enjoy their jobs that much. Essentially, yes, was the short answer. While the article is quick to identify the problem as being a deficiency of the American worker, I would argue that the corporate management philosophy has a lot to do with it. Never the less, it is refreshing to see employees enjoying their work in such a structured and demanding work environment as a cruise line.
I think you hit it.
Is it our “friendliness” factor or the “Entitlement Attitude” of Americans.
I am one of those ‘mid-west service’ people and folks like this author are the ones we would like to chewout just once! He is the one that comes in with the attitude and expects service people to put up with his antics.
Sorry, I will put up with you to a point, but I am not your dog to kick.
There is so much wrong with his tunnel vision. He obviously doesn’t know his own people. He should come to Central Virginia if he wants to see friendly Americans.
About 75% of my coworkers in the DC burbs are foreigners. The Latinos are very friendly. A couple of the other groups are not....and these are people who are supposed to be caring for OUR American old folks....he should spend a day with them and see how rude and aggressive some of these foreigners are to Americans. I could name them by groups, but that’s not PC.
Then again, so many of the native Americans in the affluent burbs are arrogant and aggressive, it’s hard to tell them apart from the foreigners with an attitude.
This is the old urban/rural difference that has always existed, even before the invasion began. I’m always relieved when I get past snotty Charlottesville on the way home and get back into the real America.
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