8.4.2013 – On Board Cruise Ship. At Sea
Today there was a man on board ship bemoaning the fact that staff had washed the plastic sun deck loungers but failed to dry them adequately. Passengers had been forced to complete the task themselves. Heaven forbid!
Cruise ships have the uncanny ability to turn people into demanding monsters: “I’ve paid so I want it right, nay perfect.”
By contrast I was talking to one of the on-board musicians who recounted how he had played keyboard at one of Mumbai’s top hotels in India. His story fascinated me.
“Inside the hotel,” he recalled, “there were six restaurants, probably among the best in the world, and there were two staff to each guest. A shot of whisky was £200 for certain brands and members of hugely wealthy families were ordering full bottles in order to demonstrate their wealth to friends.
“Outside there were people sleeping on the pavements and some were even defecating because they knew no better.”
So, if you are ever about to complain about something as innocuous as a wet sun deck lounger, take a moment to remember those who don’t even have the luxury of tissue paper for their own needs.
Remember what Seneca said some four years before Jesus Christ was said to have walked the earth: “……individuals have riches just as we say that we ‘have a fever,’ when really the fever has us.”
