S09.E07: Plenty of Jake to Go Around!

[aghst]

She may have been saying she didn't have a block of 3 hours just to clean up the laundry room because she was usually doing laundry and other tasks.

[Tanukisan]

Thoughts on this episode…

Whoa, wait – Jess is in the laundry doing her thing.  How is that “pulling you down”, Fraser?  I haven’t seen any indication that Jess is doing a bad job, harming others, etc.

Heather is as ineffectual as she is unpleasant.  No one is inspired by a boss like that.

It seems like everyone who goes into the laundry area is like those who go into the hotel in The Shining.  They end up talking to themselves, etc.   Heeeeeere's Fraser!

If Heather spent less time complaining and more time actually doing a Stew job…. No, wait, where’s the entertainment in that?

Both Heather and Eddie are terrible managers.  They don’t inspire, they just complain, whine, blame.  They set a horrid example for those working for them.  A good leader never expects anything out of anyone they don’t expect out of themselves first.

 

 

 

[Jack Sampson]

13 hours ago, kassa said:

There's a certain sort of learned helplessness that irritates in a work situation. When Heather told Jessica to check the cabinets, I assume that it was the 400th thing she could have figured out on her own that she needed to be hand held through. If you've had a work colleague who needs help with every.single.thing when the tiniest amount of initiative would solve half their questions, you get resentful. Opening the cabinet doors in the immediate vicinity is not a high hurdle in initiative. You can open 10 cabinet doors in seconds. Yes, the boss is there, but don't you want to be seen hustling?

Something tells me Jess isn't the proactive type.  Plus she's easily bored and isn't detail oriented.  She's cute though.

[Cheezwiz]

While I can see that Jess definitely needed to pay more attention to detail, Heather and cabin-boy had it in for her from the get-go, and switching her to service was clearly an attempt to set her up for failure. We were never shown what, if any training she received.  I could almost see Heather gleefully rubbing her hands together when she was chirping about "switching things up!".  Rather than someone who gives clear expectations about the tasks that needed to be completed, Heather strikes me as someone who will search relentlessly for faults after the fact. I honestly don't think it would have mattered how much Jess hustled, those goal-posts would have kept changing. It's probably time for Jess to go as she's not jelling with this crew, but I hope karma comes for the other two with a truly useless replacement.

[Zaffy]

On 12/8/2021 at 5:39 PM, kassa said:

If I were a guest  on a luxury charter yacht, I think my instructions would be to keep a pitcher of what I drink handy and leave me the hell alone. Check in every 45 minutes or so.  I hate it when waiters constantly ask if I need anything - I can only imagine a week of that! 

Amen! I can hardly tolerate this on restaurants as well.

I can only guess that in normal trips  (and not televised ones) the guests give their preferences to the Chief Stewardess or there are some smart-devices that could ring and summon the stuff.
One the other hand we have seen in the past guests complaining when no one is around to take their orders, so maybe it is a rich people's power  thing to get satisfaction from having "servants" looking after them every single min?

I find this season a tad boring. Captain Lee looks old and tired and most of the crew is from indifferent  to slightly annoying (except the Chef, I think she is the only authentically nuts of the gang).
The shenanigans are lame (how many times can you listen to Jess saying she reached her breaking point because they don't leave her alone? *yawn*) and the only good thing left is the locations.

I do not even bother with the whole "Heather management skills" because she has to deal a crew chosen from a casting team based on its reality tv value (not a good job this year - so far anyway) and not on skills. Plus Heather and basically everyone else are trying more to "stir the tv reality waters" than do their jobs and it is so obvious that it stinks. 
I mean having a loud fight on the deck with guests there to listen to the whole thing? ermm...

I usually like Eddie but I found him a bit violent when he almost hurt the deck girl but throwing something towards her. Not nice Eddie. NOT nice. 

Captain Lee, you need to retire and come back as guest to make their lives hell! 

[Welshman in Ca]

On 12/8/2021 at 8:46 AM, aghst said:

 

You think any guests are actually using the bidet.

Or that those bidets have been used much in the life of the yacht?

 

 

Just because you wouldn't use it doesn't mean nobody else will.

Most of the world uses bidets rather than toilet paper with the main exceptions being the USA & the UK but they have become much more widespread in both places after last year's shortages and a lot of people who have used them regularly would never go back.

[WhatAmIWatching]

31 minutes ago, Zaffy said:

Captain Lee looks old and tired

Don't forget that he just had heart surgery! He does seem more frail and actually looks like he's in pain, but heart surgery is no joke.

Eddie is one angry little man this time. What is going on with him? I was surprised and dismayed by the violence, too. He didn't even apologize to Rayna or make sure she was ok. He was also snarking about Captain under his breath. He's not supervising or giving directions/instructions, but expecting the crew to do everything flawlessly. He was also present at most of the screw ups. Not good, Eddie.

   I totally agree with everyone who has said that every bar area on that barge should be stocked with everything one would need to take care of guest drink orders! This drives me crazy every season. I would want to be left alone as well, just leave enough supplies so I can serve myself (but replenish them once in a while) then make sure I haven't fallen overboard periodically, and we're good. I wouldn't want them to unpack or make my bed every day, either. Maybe I should choose a camping vacation or something else instead if I hit it rich? 😂 

Jess *does* sigh and mope when asked to do something, but the others hardly see her, so just leave Eeyore to her laundry and rooms and ignore the rest! It's not that hard. She does seem like she's not super thorough, and the laundry room was a wreck, but the checklist idea someone posted is perfect. 

  I don't know why it's such a big deal and why they get so worked up over having to do their jobs! It's called work for a reason, otherwise they'd call it happy fun time. I would bust my butt for the base salary and those big tips for 6-8 weeks without griping about anything--except for being tired. I'd gripe about that, and maybe about my feet hurting 😆 

 

If I won the lottery, I'd bribe Rachel to come cook for me every day. She's amazing! So creative and really knows her stuff.

[Zaffy]

3 minutes ago, WhatAmIWatching said:

Don't forget that he just had heart surgery! He does seem more frail and actually looks like he's in pain, but heart surgery is no joke.

oh! I didn't know that. Of course it is not a joke which is exactly why he should have stayed home and rest for this season.
I honestly worry every time I see him on the boat stairs.. 😩

 

7 minutes ago, WhatAmIWatching said:

If I won the lottery, I'd bribe Rachel to come cook for me every day. She's amazing! So creative and really knows her stuff.

Can we share? plz? pretty plz? :)

[kassa]

On 12/7/2021 at 6:30 PM, AnnieBananie said:

Jess said last night on WWHL that she absolutely felt that Heather was setting her up to fail (in those exact words, too).

Even Capt Lee said it in his blog. (Not in general, but in putting her on service, which was designed to make her look bad, but at the guests' expense, which is not cool)

[WhatAmIWatching]

43 minutes ago, Zaffy said:

oh! I didn't know that. Of course it is not a joke which is exactly why he should have stayed home and rest for this season.
I honestly worry every time I see him on the boat stairs.. 😩

 

Can we share? plz? pretty plz? :)

He had the Afib surgery, which iirc is usually done by catheter via arteries, so less invasive, but it's still a big deal, imo. I think he's 71 or 72? Which can make it more complicated.

Yeah, I thought he should have stayed home to recuperate, too, but wondered if he can't afford to, which would suck. If he's basically just a figurehead now, and doesn't have to do much of the day-to-day, then I imagine that helps.
 

Yes, we can share Rachel! We can switch weeks 😂 

[Bruinsfan]

Didn't Captain Lee find his son's body at home last year? That might go a long way to explain his wanting to get back on the job, no matter how medically inadvisable it might be.

[aqusdealer]

I agree with you Bruinsfan.

Captain Lee and his wife Maryann have a teriffic symbiotic relationship that has withstood the test of time. I forget the episode, but Lee jokingly inferred that his wife was getting sick of him being home so much. Do I think she really feels that way? Hell no, but I'm sure she has learned that there are few places he'd rather be than in the wheelhouse of a ship he's in command of. That's why I think he didn't take more time off after his ablation procedure. I don't imagine it's about money, but about being back in control of his life after the horrible scenario of finding his son dead from a drug overdose. I'm also confident that as far as his health is concerned, if he ever felt it was compromising the ships safety that he'd  be the first one to suggest he be replaced.

Edited December 11, 2021 by aqusdealer

[Kdawg82]

I began the season liking Jess & sort of disliking Heather. I'm seeing Jess now. It all makes sense. She is grandma/grandpa's only one and she lives with them in a retirement lifestyle in FL. She took cosmetology for time-killer purposes. Presumably to also get out of her grands' hair for a while while they're still mobile and capable of having their own life.  She doesn't have a career or definitive plans for one because she doesn't need it. She likely stands to inherit everything from her grandparents as she stops everything to care for them when they reach their ultimate twilight stage. Yachting (like cosmetology) are 1. VERY personality driven and interactive fields where you need to be sociable and 2. Require tons of manual labor.

Jess is not ever going to be fully invested in any "career" because they're pocket-change & time filler for her. Fine for her but to the detriment of her colleagues and if she does hair/skin/nails, her CLIENTS. 

I have not wavered on Fraser because I do like him. I don't think he's really a meanie beyond the venting anyone would do. He doesn't have patience for the type of energy Jess brings. 

I do respect Jess not giving up the job though.  She certainly gave off that she could've walked away and been fine- like any hobby. 

Please stop the Jake cliffgangers & upcoming scenes.  We get it. He's a boy toy. But I doubt Heather will leave a former primary for a "lead deckhand."

Edited December 12, 2021 by Kdawg82

[aghst]

What is the career path for a stewardess anyways?

Can they ascend to officer level?

Are some yachts staffed so well that some chief stews don't work, they just manage?

I don't think this is a long term career path except for a few.  Eddie and Malia think they can become yacht captains some day.

Probably a small percentage ascend to that level, like few percentage of workers become CEOs or COOs.

I don't know what Heather and Fraser thinks they can become in the industry.  They will both likely be out of it by age 30.

Jess is older than them and below them on the org chart.  But they're not that much higher.  

She may be a slacker or just does enough to keep a job.  What is wrong with that?

Even in some professions where there is a high career ladder some people are okay with doing a "good enough" job.

And what would be her motivation?  On BD, she gets the same tip as everyone else.  Now maybe some charter companies will hire or not hire these cast members based on what they see on TV.

Or probably not, because I think she's worked on yachts before and has some kind of a resume in the field?

[Grrarrggh]

On 12/6/2021 at 11:19 PM, SHERMDOG said:

I agree Heather could obviously be a better manager but seriously..  Jess needs to stop bitching about everything...why are you working on a boat when you are a "loaner".

Maybe she was loaned out by her grandparents. ;)