That’s what made Luxor the respected brand it was, and she was inordinately proud to be one of the busy bees making sure the hive worked to perfection.
*
She’d filled out a few questionnaires about the cruise while waiting to board, and she’d made sure to request a single table. To her dismay, she was shown to a table with nine other travelers. “I requested to sit alone,” she whispered to the captain.
“Yes, miss,” he said in his soft Croatian accent. “But my supervisor informed me you should be seated with other guests who do not have children.”
Not willing to make a scene, she gave him a tight smile and acquiesced. She sat down and met everyone: a young couple from LA who also worked for The Bear, as the cognoscenti called it; a group of three sisters from Toledo who loved all things Bear related and couldn’t understand why there weren’t more people without kids on the cruise; and four men who didn’t explicitly announce they were gay but could have been picked out as Friends of Dorothy by the most oblivious passerby.
Everyone at the table was nice enough, and they all desperately wanted to converse, but it was very tough to make a contribution. Small talk was named that for a reason. People seemed to need it, but why? Who really cared where these strangers were from? Were they going to be friends after this trip? No. The last thing she needed was another person in her life that she’d be forced to ignore. She didn’t even have time to call her mother! But maybe one of them had internet access and she could… No, somehow Fernando would find out and next he’d send her to a monastery.
Every person said something about him or herself, and when it came to her turn, she said, “I’m Laurie, and I’m trying to get my life back together after a”—she fixed each person with a cold stare—“a bunch of people messed me up. In the— Where I was for a while— They told me it’s good to talk about what happened.” She let her eyes dart from one set of startled eyes to another. “But talking isn’t gonna change the past.” She folded her hands neatly on the white tablecloth and mumbled, “Next.” After a few minutes the rest of her tablemates found safe subjects to banter about, but for some reason, they studiously avoided her.
Chapter Three
THE NEXT EVENING, the phone in her room rang right before dinner. “Hello, Laurie,” Fernando said.
“What’s wrong? Her heart raced, sure something catastrophic had occurred.
“I had to waste ten valuable minutes trying to smooth some ruffled feathers in Miami today.”
“Miami?”
“Yeah. At the cruise-line offices. Guess why they’re angry.”
She didn’t reply, knowing he liked to play cat and mouse.
“That’s right, my friend. Some people don’t like an outsider wasting their time, telling them how to improve their product.”
“I’m not an outsider. I’m part of the Luxor team!”
“You don’t know the first thing about the cruise line.”
“I know plenty about F and B and hotel management. I was just trying to share some of my thoughts.”
“I’m sure you were. But the theme parks are a different animal. We do things our way and they do things theirs. Those people are busy, and they don’t have time to talk to an outsider. Besides, you’re on vacation. No more work.”
“Fine,” she said, chastened.
“And don’t even think about going to the buffet for your meals. I’m getting a report on your attendance in the dining room.”
“Fernando, I’m here. Isn’t that enough?”
“No. I want you to learn how to be a civilized adult. Learn how to talk about more than business. Play bingo; go to the bar; read a book. Just do something other than harass the staff.”
“I wasn’t harassing them,” she grumbled. “It was that F and B manager, wasn’t it? She was a bitch.”
“It’s her food and her beverages. Stay out of it. Now, go have fun.”
Fun is work, work is fun. She thought it, but
*
She’d filled out a few questionnaires about the cruise while waiting to board, and she’d made sure to request a single table. To her dismay, she was shown to a table with nine other travelers. “I requested to sit alone,” she whispered to the captain.
“Yes, miss,” he said in his soft Croatian accent. “But my supervisor informed me you should be seated with other guests who do not have children.”
Not willing to make a scene, she gave him a tight smile and acquiesced. She sat down and met everyone: a young couple from LA who also worked for The Bear, as the cognoscenti called it; a group of three sisters from Toledo who loved all things Bear related and couldn’t understand why there weren’t more people without kids on the cruise; and four men who didn’t explicitly announce they were gay but could have been picked out as Friends of Dorothy by the most oblivious passerby.
Everyone at the table was nice enough, and they all desperately wanted to converse, but it was very tough to make a contribution. Small talk was named that for a reason. People seemed to need it, but why? Who really cared where these strangers were from? Were they going to be friends after this trip? No. The last thing she needed was another person in her life that she’d be forced to ignore. She didn’t even have time to call her mother! But maybe one of them had internet access and she could… No, somehow Fernando would find out and next he’d send her to a monastery.
Every person said something about him or herself, and when it came to her turn, she said, “I’m Laurie, and I’m trying to get my life back together after a”—she fixed each person with a cold stare—“a bunch of people messed me up. In the— Where I was for a while— They told me it’s good to talk about what happened.” She let her eyes dart from one set of startled eyes to another. “But talking isn’t gonna change the past.” She folded her hands neatly on the white tablecloth and mumbled, “Next.” After a few minutes the rest of her tablemates found safe subjects to banter about, but for some reason, they studiously avoided her.
Chapter Three
THE NEXT EVENING, the phone in her room rang right before dinner. “Hello, Laurie,” Fernando said.
“What’s wrong? Her heart raced, sure something catastrophic had occurred.
“I had to waste ten valuable minutes trying to smooth some ruffled feathers in Miami today.”
“Miami?”
“Yeah. At the cruise-line offices. Guess why they’re angry.”
She didn’t reply, knowing he liked to play cat and mouse.
“That’s right, my friend. Some people don’t like an outsider wasting their time, telling them how to improve their product.”
“I’m not an outsider. I’m part of the Luxor team!”
“You don’t know the first thing about the cruise line.”
“I know plenty about F and B and hotel management. I was just trying to share some of my thoughts.”
“I’m sure you were. But the theme parks are a different animal. We do things our way and they do things theirs. Those people are busy, and they don’t have time to talk to an outsider. Besides, you’re on vacation. No more work.”
“Fine,” she said, chastened.
“And don’t even think about going to the buffet for your meals. I’m getting a report on your attendance in the dining room.”
“Fernando, I’m here. Isn’t that enough?”
“No. I want you to learn how to be a civilized adult. Learn how to talk about more than business. Play bingo; go to the bar; read a book. Just do something other than harass the staff.”
“I wasn’t harassing them,” she grumbled. “It was that F and B manager, wasn’t it? She was a bitch.”
“It’s her food and her beverages. Stay out of it. Now, go have fun.”
Fun is work, work is fun. She thought it, but
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