[QUOTE=yacht_sailor;117433]Do you all not get “all hands on deck” calls at random times, or is that a sailing only thing?
I pretty much confine it to one rum and coke at sunset offshore.[/QUOTE]
We don’t get all hands on tugs often like its part of a normal thing, but you never know when crisis will hit. With only a few of us off watch at any time there’s not much to work with. Only time I have drank on a tug is when foreign at a dock laid up for emergency repairs (mexico/panama etc), or when the boss brought down a few 30-packs and pizzas for us to keep entertained with for the long weekend while waiting on z-drive parts from overseas. As an out of town boat it kind of worked. Been lucky enough to get annihilated on the back deck at the NY tugboat races before too!
As a matter of policy at almost any legitimate company these days they will say 0%, aka zero tolerance at ANY time aboard, and no alcohol/drugs allowed on-board. Been given a random piss test/breathalyzer on crewchange day and been a little nervous from the previous night; never doing that again.
[QUOTE=z-drive;117495]We don’t get all hands on tugs often like its part of a normal thing, but you never know when crisis will hit. With only a few of us off watch at any time there’s not much to work with. Only time I have drank on a tug is when foreign at a dock laid up for emergency repairs (mexico/panama etc), or when the boss brought down a few 30-packs and pizzas for us to keep entertained with for the long weekend while waiting on z-drive parts from overseas. As an out of town boat it kind of worked. Been lucky enough to get annihilated on the back deck at the NY tugboat races before too!
As a matter of policy at almost any legitimate company these days they will say 0%, aka zero tolerance at ANY time aboard, and no alcohol/drugs allowed on-board. Been given a random piss test/breathalyzer on crewchange day and been a little nervous from the previous night; never doing that again.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, very different environment today. There are times when I get out on a lay barge or similar for a survey and am also subject to a random piss test.
Oh yeah don’t forget nyquil etc. Its like %25 alcohol. I’d hate to be breathalyzed and fail from that stuff which i personally think has no business on a boat to begin with. If you’re that sick, don’t come to work or get off and go home lest you make everyone else sick. Zero tolerance typically really is zero tolerance, no extenuating circumstances.
[QUOTE=z-drive;117540]Oh yeah don’t forget nyquil etc. Its like %25 alcohol. I’d hate to be breathalyzed and fail from that stuff which i personally think has no business on a boat to begin with. If you’re that sick, don’t come to work or get off and go home lest you make everyone else sick. Zero tolerance typically really is zero tolerance, no extenuating circumstances.[/QUOTE]
Well, there were times during my 28 day hitch, or my round trips to San Juan and other voyages where either not coming to work or getting off and going home were not options when I got a cold/flu/infection. That said, I don’t like Nyquil because of its high alcohol content and also don’t like any cold/flu medications because they really knock my dick in the dirt. When I was sailing, I would avoid contact with the rest of the crew as best I could in the confines. Now that I am ashore, I agree whole heartedly. Especially now when it is fairly easy to work from home, at least in my current employ.