What's everyone up to right now?

[LadyForCamus]

What is it that you do crossless1?

Short answer: I'm a cargo ship agent for vessels loading/discharging on the lower Mississippi River.

I'll spare you the longer answer since I never get more than 30 seconds into an explanation of what it entails before peoples' eyes glass over and start frantically scanning for the exit. Let me put it this way, my wife still doesn't really know what I do because she can't bear to hear it.

Now my previous job as bartender in a brothel . . . that was interesting!

I think that sounds very interesting!  How did you get into that line of work in the first place??

[Angrboda]

Sitting in an empty room. Passing the time on my tablet computer. They are supposed to be putting new windows in my apartment, so I have to be out of the apartment. So I'm sitting in the 'resident lounge' with a tv that I can't get to work and a ton of time to kill.

[Crossless2.0]

Short answer: I'm a cargo ship agent for vessels loading/discharging on the lower Mississippi River.

I'll spare you the longer answer since I never get more than 30 seconds into an explanation of what it entails before peoples' eyes glass over and start frantically scanning for the exit. Let me put it this way, my wife still doesn't really know what I do because she can't bear to hear it.

Now my previous job as bartender in a brothel . . . that was interesting!

I think that sounds very interesting!  How did you get into that line of work in the first place??

My wife (girlfriend at the time) had a friend whose husband was in this line of work. I needed a job, so she put me in touch with the guy, who worked for a company that was hiring. Having never been on anything other than a bass fishing boat in my life, I knew nothing of the industry but managed to talk my way into the job, anyway. I've been doing it for just over four years now.

By far, the most interesting aspect of the job is that I get to meet Captains and crew from all over the world. Most of the Masters I deal with come from China, The Philippines, Russia, Ukraine, Greece, and India. I'm always struck by how much less parochial they are than we Americans tend to be. Their grasp of the goings-on in the U.S. is much better than my grasp of their countries' situations in almost every case. Interesting people.

[LadyForCamus]

I think that sounds very interesting!  How did you get into that line of work in the first place??

My wife (girlfriend at the time) had a friend whose husband was in this line of work. I needed a job, so she put me in touch with the guy, who worked for a company that was hiring. Having never been on anything other than a bass fishing boat in my life, I knew nothing of the industry but managed to talk my way into the job, anyway. I've been doing it for just over four years now.

By far, the most interesting aspect of the job is that I get to meet Captains and crew from all over the world. Most of the Masters I deal with come from China, The Philippines, Russia, Ukraine, Greece, and India. I'm always struck by how much less parochial they are than we Americans tend to be. Their grasp of the goings-on in the U.S. is much better than my grasp of their countries' situations in almost every case. Interesting people.

That sounds really cool. Do you work on or near the water? Like, is it a hands on job with the ships and crew? Or are you mostly conducting business from an office?

[RobertE]

Well, finally found my old linux password that I forgot by updating the sudo. Woohoooo!!!!!

[c172]

Reading Wikipedia. Currently, Hong Kong Basic Law. Also, just generally, the future of HK with regard to "one country, two systems", and trying to wrp my mind around how things might be in 2047.

[ukatheist]

On my phone while keeping one eye on my son at football (soccer) practice

Sent from my ALE-L21 using Tapatalk

[Crossless2.0]

My wife (girlfriend at the time) had a friend whose husband was in this line of work. I needed a job, so she put me in touch with the guy, who worked for a company that was hiring. Having never been on anything other than a bass fishing boat in my life, I knew nothing of the industry but managed to talk my way into the job, anyway. I've been doing it for just over four years now.

By far, the most interesting aspect of the job is that I get to meet Captains and crew from all over the world. Most of the Masters I deal with come from China, The Philippines, Russia, Ukraine, Greece, and India. I'm always struck by how much less parochial they are than we Americans tend to be. Their grasp of the goings-on in the U.S. is much better than my grasp of their countries' situations in almost every case. Interesting people.

That sounds really cool.  Do you work on or near the water?  Like, is it a hands on job with the ships and crew?  Or are you mostly conducting business from an office?

I do board the vessels for certain formalities but my job is not 'hands on' in the sense that I'm rolling up my sleeves and working side-by-side with the crews. Much of the job is office based. Think of it this way: The agent is the locus of communication between all the parties involved in a voyage -- the ship owners, the charterers, the cargo shippers and receivers, the stevedores, as well as the various companies that provide provisions, supplies, fuel, etc. to the vessels. We help coordinate things with Customs and the Coast Guard, help set up deliveries to the ships, keep everyone updated on what is happening with the ships on a day-to-day basis, and are on call for when the shit hits the fan.

An example of a problem that can occur came last year when a vessel coming here from China to discharge minerals had an explosion in its number 2 hold somewhere in the Pacific. Rather than stop the ship at Panama for repairs, the principals decided to press on to Baton Rouge to discharge the cargo. When the vessel arrived, USCG, Customs, Homeland Security, the stevedoring company, and who knows who else had a collective freak-out. There were numerous delays in discharging the cargo due to gas levels building up in the affected hold and a number of fires that kept breaking out. A port call that normally would have taken about ten days stretched to 60 days, while all of these parties tried to figure out a plan to safely discharge that hold. Normally the statement-of-facts I would have submitted to the Captain for approval and to send to all involved parties would have been 15-20 pages. This one was 42 pages. The Captain who originally arrived with the ship had a fairly public (email) nervous breakdown, which resulted in his speedy discharge and return home, and he was replaced with some poor bastard who had just started his family vacation in China and was recalled to immediate duty.

I felt especially bad for the crew of that ship, since Chinese crews usually don't have U.S. Visas and so cannot go ashore. These guys spent two months close enough to shore to hit a baseball to it without ever getting to touch ground, much less make the usual seamen's pilgrimage to WalMart. They were all pretty frazzled by the time the ship was ready to leave.

[RobertE]

Reading Wikipedia. Currently, Hong Kong Basic Law. Also, just generally, the future of HK with regard to "one country, two systems", and trying to wrp my mind around how things might be in 2047.

Nei hou c yahtbaak chat-sahp yaht.

[Losty]

Realising my life is hilariously absurd in yet another way.

Don't leave us hanging!