A simple answer would be “whoever you are on holiday with”, I suppose. Or is it?
I often hear people talk about how they “met some lovely people on holiday last year” and they not only keep in touch but plan to “do the same this year, with them”. The holidays I have had nearly always involve many, many people…. it’s mostly inevitable… large inclusive and international hotels….. cruise ships…. Quite a contrast to childhood holidays, self-catering in Cornish or Welsh cottages found in the Church Times, or as a young adult, camping and motorbike odyssey’s …… such fun! Mostly…
Not being a natural “joiner”, but equally not impolite or socially aloof, I don’t mind chatting with fellow passengers or guests. On a cruise, we opt for table for two. We’re happy to share meal times such as breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea (mmmm!), but at dinner…. less to say, tired, too busy eating….!
Yet, there are others there at mealtimes…. every time… every day…..long hours… always smiling…
For me, the people who ‘make’ my holiday or travel experience aren’t similarly entitled Brits, but locals. I have gone to their country, their home, their place of work…. I am immigrant, and they welcome me. Yes I know, different context and dynamic, but as a visitor I place myself into the hands of a genre of ‘people’ who are paid the least, work long hours, and often leave their families and homes for months on end.
I am writing this in Cape Verde, at a Riu hotel on the island of Boa Vista (Beautiful View). I have been here before, in 2014 and 2016. Many of the staff I see today where here four years ago. This place is a major, longer-term employer and, like the other hotel chains, reaches beyond its shores drawing (mostly) young people from other islands to work here, even reaching to mainland Africa, I believe.
Many of the people who care for us here, our room, food, pool, drinks, cleaning, grounds etc, live in less than comfortable environments, often struggling with the basics such as water and electricity and low wages (I was told by Tui tour reps). And having seen that tourism, though making a difference here, hasn’t fully liberated these islands financially, it isn’t hard to understand how the hotels keep their staff, regardless.
And they seem to be trained well, by Riu, I presume. By that, in this respect, I mean that all staff – whatever their role – are encouraged to make eye contact, smile and say ‘hola’, ‘Bon dia’. All of them, whatever they are doing. It is welcoming… and it’s easy to reciprocate… it really is, try it 😉
Nothing new or earth shatteringly controversial, I hear you mutter….
When enjoying a cruise with P&O (other cruise lines are available), the passenger is actively encouraged to acknowledge the hard working staff, of all stripes and none (accepting the auto-gratuity feature!). From my experience, ‘hotel’ staff on ships that address ‘needs’ such as food, drink and comfort are mostly recruited from the Indian sub-continent and Indonesia. They take care of your cabin, serve dinner and fetch drinks and clean up after you and are the faces that one connects with the most. And I do. What does it take to look up and say thank you when someone takes your plate away? Or briefly chat to a cabin steward to say thanks? Most of these staff take a long term contract, to be at sea for months, often away from young families, with limited time off to see them. Talk to them about this, show an interest in their families, most relish the chance to talk of home, albeit briefly, being under the watchful gaze of the head-waiter.
And yes, I know….”aren’t they all lucky to have jobs? They should be grateful for my ‘investment’ as a traveller. I work(ed) hard too, I deserve a break and have these people run around after me…..” Ah yes, the classic ‘First-World’ response to the challenges of the ‘other-worlds’…..nice…
It’s the same wherever one goes, even at home. We ‘rate’ and ‘reward’ service based on good or bad, or so many stars or ticks; often inflicting wider reaching effects through our assumption that we have something to say, a comment to make, a judgement to offer…. as a right, as a customer…. At its worst, a ‘them and us’ standoff with staff who may “do something horrible to my food” if we comment or complain. Really? Or the establishment that, for no apparent reason, rates its service so highly that it slaps an extra charge on to the bill regardless of your experience. Who gets that?
And don’t get me started on tipping…. just say thank you with a few extra quid…. would you do that job? Really, would you, for their money? OK so the service/catering industries are often over priced and not always perceived as good value for money, but their staff, low in the food-chain, deserve respect. Period. I am now thinking of that scene in Reservoir Dogs…. don’t be Mr. Pink!
Ok, where was I….? Respect. Acknowledgment that your comfort often depends on the insufficiently remunerated hard work of others. Some (many?) bemoan an immigrant population in their own countries, doing all the low-wage service jobs…. and they want to send them ‘home’! Why? Who will now do these jobs? Nice white ‘local’ people? I doubt it.
I could go down the road of the UK being an island nation, proud, self-reliant blah blah and how we got there, on the back of slavery and empire building, and ruling the waves. Be honest. No, let’s not go there….. we have such a crazy, mixed up attitude to ethnicity, skin colour, migration, nation and our sacred borders…..
I have to admit to feeling physically nauseous the first time on a cruise ship, realising that a thousand white people were going to be looked after by two thousand mostly ‘people of colour’….seriously…. and you should hear the way some talk…. its like being back in the good old days of the Raj. Now that’s where I could be tempted to wee into your wine, ‘nice’ white lady!
Respect. It’s your state of mind. Not difficult. Maybe you have entitlement or self-respect issues, or feel that because you once had a student job, in a bar for a few months, its your turn now. I don’t know what motivates Western, European, First-Worlders to be so crass and take such a poor attitude to our brothers and sisters in other lands, I really don’t.
Respect. Just show it. Be kind, say thank you, acknowledge, recognise…. these are the people who make your holiday, enhancing your ‘experience’, so rate them – yes, be honest, but be fair.
And remember… they wont fall out with you about what you forgot to pack, or having just one more doughnut, or insisting on having the air-conditioning on all night….. know what I mean?