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Oblivion
03-18-2010, 02:30 AM
the following story is a non fictional event of my job, wrapped in a titanic like story.
names and places have been changed to protect the guilty.

written with a little twist.

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so 2 +1/2 yrs ago i'd been waiting in the docks for a few years prior, waiting for a ship to pull in to port and offer me a crew position.
finally this ship pulls up called the titanbrick, offers a job stoking boilers for minimum wage, so i board.
its a bit of a musty ol ship, but i figured that being on that crew would do.

after 18mths i could see that i'd never get a proper room, and be forced to spend what seemed like the rest of my journey sleeping on the floor of the lunchroom.
i needed security, but i rode the waves for another 12mth in hope that one of the many empty rooms would be offered to me.

by this time i can see that the ship has a gash in the side and is taking on water.

eventually, one of amkons finest (or disgraceful ;) ) hears my occasional cries of concern, and encourages his boss to steer the ship in my direction so AK's finest can toss me a life ring and get off early.

i look at the life ring, and just like its ship its in pristine condition, looks very appealing, has what seemed like a fantastic crew from the brief conversations i had.

but alas, im the idiot who looks down and says "man thats a really fuckin' tempting ship, even the life ring looks good, but the titanBrick just made me an offer to take on of their last bedrooms and become permanent crew so i think ill stay back and try help save her from going under the waves."

i look at our ship, gash in the side and slowly listing, crew in a mad panic, nobody really in charge, by now my toes are getting wet from the occasional wave while i stand on the deck.

but i decide, "nah, i think the crew and i can save the titanBrick, she wont be sunk that easily" so i go back to enjoying the 6 piece band playing on the deck, sip my pina-colada, sit back in the deck chair which ive just re-arranged and think well the captain should have a plan of attack anytime soon.

so off sails the really nice looking ship.. one of the top 500 ships in the world and i turn it down for this rusty ol tub with crooked wooden floors, all covered in dust n grime.

meanwhile on the titanbrick, theres been massive crew turn overs as some leave for better ships, and other fools join the rest of us fools in thinking that the titanbrick is unsinkable.

a brick, unsinkable? what kinda nonsense is that?

but alas, here i am, now all the ones in charge of the ships direction have quit and left captain smith all alone at the helm with his crew of minions (including me) but no officers.

the "first mate" and other vitally important roles have flagged down a better ship and will be leaving in a few weeks.

but, i continue to wake every morning and help crew the titanbrick, knowing that my feet are continually wet and now, to top it off, they closed 2/3rds of this ship down.

so now the entire crew's lives depend on that last 1/3rd of the ship keeping us all afloat, dry, comfortable, and well fed.

i think the waves at my feet is like water torture, and im starting to see the light.

i think ill stop re-arranging the deck chairs, leave others to the mad panic "ooh save me, what do we do", and start building myself a life boat, to row myself over to one of the many ships in these waters.

the titanbrick is going down, her bow is now starting to look beneath the waves from time to time. and more crew are building their life rafts or firing their own distress flares.

at times it seems like it CAN float, and the bilge pumps do work.. but soon nobody will be in those vital roles to operate the bilge pump. and i dont make a good bilge pump operator as im just one of the dudes getting dirty below deck by shovelling coal into the boilers.

Foxtrot Oscar
03-18-2010, 02:36 AM
Someone torpedo the fucker and put her out of her misery!

Fox

captainkiwi
03-18-2010, 02:41 AM
what the fuck that makes no sense at all

Foxtrot Oscar
03-18-2010, 02:44 AM
Written by a Aussie.

What the fuck you expect?

Fox

Oblivion
03-18-2010, 02:47 AM
Someone torpedo the fucker and put her out of her misery!

Fox

it was torpedo'd by those in charge of ALL the ships.

the bricktannia is interstate and doing just fine on its own.

their crew can only be concerned about their own welfare, even if that comes at the expense of the crew of the titanBrick

they are trying to micro-manage the titanBrick from a distance, make us work the same as the bricktannia.... while they live 700km away on the bricktannia. and the bricktannia is a totally different ship, with about 3x the crew.

they are comparing the titanbrick's crew of 12 and average size ship to the massive bricktannia interstate which is crewed by about 40ppl and triple the size.

they are essentially controlling our helm for us blindly, while giving us rations and a crew size thats half what it used to be.

12 crew is not enough for the titanBrick
the bricktannia has a crew of at least 12 just in the captains room helping him. thats equal to what we run an entire ship on.

we have 3 helping the captain at the controls.. until the rescue ship arrives for 2 of them that sent out distress signals

Oblivion
03-18-2010, 02:47 AM
Written by a Aussie. who works in a fucking brick yard of all places,

so What the fuck you expect?

Fox


fixt

Foxtrot Oscar
03-18-2010, 02:52 AM
I thought you were going to jump ship when got the loader ticket?

Or was that before all the ships slowed up and stopped taking on new hands?

Fox

Oblivion
03-18-2010, 02:56 AM
I thought you were going to jump ship when got the loader ticket?

Or was that before all the ships slowed up and stopped taking on new hands?

Fox

yep, that was the plan. or to find a better fork job in a business that actually keeps a water tight ship.

but that brass band, pina colada, and the comfy deck chairs made me sit on my arse too long..
so now theres less rescue ships around and theyre more fussy because many other smaller ships went under quickly, leaving those crew to swim the employment waters looking for a new ship to call home aswell.

i still have the captains ph # from the ship that offered me a life ring, sometimes i think i should call them back up and tell them im ready to jump ship and i wouldnt hesitate... but i hesitate at doing that coz im still in shock and disbelief that the titanBrick is still taking on water at a critical level.
and coz i think it'd kinda be a bit rude to ask them to turn around and save me coz i changed my mind.

im stuck in the bliss of my own ignorance due to the gravity of the situation i guess.

Foxtrot Oscar
03-18-2010, 03:01 AM
Better the devil fish you know eh?

This might cheer you up though.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cornwall/8572962.stm

Get you through those long cold shifts!

Fox

Oblivion
03-18-2010, 03:13 AM
Someone torpedo the fucker and put her out of her misery!

Fox

we were all on deck, screaming over the radio-phone to the crew of the master ship, the bricktannia.
"watch out you blind fuckers, your steering us toward a fuckin huge iceberg after we narrowly missed the GFC waters"

but they ignored, and turned even more toward the ice berg.

now she's got a gash in her side (not the sort of gash lex likes either :( ) and is taking on water and listing.

the other day they mentioned that our decking is laid on an angle which makes it hard to walk the decks.
we told em no, its not laid on an angle... you fuckin steered us into the ice berg despite our cries of concern and now its listing badly

we said turn to port side, but you turned the helm to hard starboard instead.. when the impact happened didnt you hear the grinding noises of steel on ice, and see some of our crew being thrown overboard due to impact?

what did you expect?