Heartwarming stories of diversity in the GoM

Professional Mariner Forum
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[QUOTE=Fraqrat;175660]I have plenty of video/photos from 90’s Turdwater hitches. At the time I was in my alcoholic twenties and didn’t realize how bizarre things were. It all seemed rather normal as every boat was like that. I also recognize some of your descriptions and may know of those you speak of.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I kinda remember my alcoholic 20s, too. . . but as I think I posted elsewhere, I kept it off the boat. At Crowley, we, at times had some diversity. We would get the odd OS sent out from the Hall at times. I do remember getting an OS from Yemen. . . . and the late great “Fat Sister” who would either sail as cook or AB as the schedule allowed, would abuse the poor guy with a pork sausage. . . well, not THAT kind of abuse, anyway. . . I have sailed with female mates and cooks on tugs, and it never really mattered to me, unless the person made gender an issue, like one cook would say from time to time, “Oh, don’t go up on top of the wheelhouse . . .I will be up there in my BIKINI!!” . . . sigh. . . Like I want to see Olive Oyl in an bathing suit. . . Of course, these vessels while in and out of the GOM were not good examples because they were not in the Oil and Gas biz. . .

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[QUOTE=tengineer1;175688]Cayaja
I don’t know who put that chip on your shoulder but you need to get rid of it. If not it will weigh you down and sink you. Just do your job and let your work speak for itself. We all know prejudice and racism exists in the shipping business. How many Filipinos work in shipping; thousands? But how many masters and chiefs are Filipino? Sure the USA has prejudice as do most other countries. As an example I will give you this. Most drilling and OSV companies operating worldwide have an office in Aberdeen or the UK but you never see an Irishman working on the vessels and rarely women. In my experience the vessels operating in the USA are by far more diverse in employment than any other country. Perhaps it is because the USA is more diverse. You will never change the industry by bitching about it. If bitching about things made a difference we’d all be better off than we are. If you want to bitch join a union. They listen to bitching and occasionally do something about it. Until then just do your job and let your work speak for you. As Matthew said, “By their fruits you will know them”[/QUOTE]

There are more Filipino mates and engineers than you realize. I would run across them quite a bit back in my ABS days. Not so much with the major companies, other than Stena, but certainly some of the smaller ones that crew up using ship manager. . . Aberdeen? Well, you DO know that it is in Scotland, right? Quite a few Scots out there. . . just worked with a bunch on a rig I was dealing with. . . Irish? Yeah, not so much. When it comes to diversity, and no, this isn’t oil patch work, nor hiring in the US, but with ABS, I spent quite a bit of time out in the Freeport and Galveston lightering areas. Stena who operated quite a few ULCCs and VLCCs had to have some of the most diverse crews I have ever seen. . . Eastern Europeans (Polish and Ukrainian mostly with the odd Russian), Filipino, Indonesian, Northern European. . . quite the mix of cultures and nationalities. All professional, most VERY good and certainly the maintenance on those vessels was some of the best I have ever seen. Yet I digress . . .again. . .

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[QUOTE=cajaya;175685]Considering that sand_pebble created their account on the same day I started posting about the GoM, and doesn’t post much on other subjects…I doubt this person’s authenticity.
I may be wrong…just sayin…[/QUOTE]

You bet racism was around in the 90’s just like it is today& will be 10, 20, a hundred years from now. I seen it in the GoM, NY,Norway, Singapore & pretty much everywhere else I have worked to some extent. Racism doesn’t have so much to do with race but culture. Whenever one culture thinks it is better than another, discrimination will happen. In Nigeria, Human Resource Managers can’t mix crews from different villages because some Nigerians will kill other Nigerians because of what side of the river they were born on. Racism is everywhere but of all the places I have worked, the GoM was the most diverse which might not have been a good thing considering a lot of those people had no business being around one another, it was a bunch of craziness.

Your “friend” who was complaining about racism in the GoM during the 90’s should have reported it because no professional, manager or investor likes bigotry or racism. It’s bad for business and our government & industry has many avenues to address such wrongs. Managers & Investors look professional, feel good about themselves & are preventing future problems when they take actions to stop real work place discrimination. That was true in the 90’s as well. I don’t know your “friend”but IMO, some like to play the perpetual victim (hint, hint) & I wouldn’t be surprised if that is the case him. If he worked for an unprofessional mom & pop operation and had no option to put a stop to it, he should have reported it to the clients and/or government and quit. Ensco had a really nice African American hiring manager at that time named Madison or Matthews and Ensco was another of many companies in the GoM that didn’t put up with any discrimination B.S. Your “friend” had many options if his allegations were true.

Concerning my authenticity, I am afraid you might be suffering from some type of undiagnosed paranoia mental disorder. In July when I started this account, I never mentioned anything about the GoM. I made a half a dozen comments about a problem I had with C280’s automatically shutting down when air pressure was lost. Then a month later I made some more comments about fork & bladeSerial numbers on EMD’s. All those comments were deleted from my profile for some reason. 7 months later I start making comments about NY, then the GoM & you imply my profile is unauthentic & it was a 7 month ploy to defend the work practices of the GoM in the 90’s?? Do you realize how insane you sound? It is obvious to me you are delusional or something & need to talk with someone to work out some mental/emotional issues. Sincerely, Good Luck to you.

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[QUOTE=KrustySalt;175697]Other, including myself, have also proved you wrong. Not much you can just say to that.[/QUOTE]
I was only speaking of my own experience. Maybe you worked at a professionally run place that wasn’t like that.

http://crooksandliars.com/kenneth-quinnell/your-handy-guide-isms-racism-sexi

[QUOTE=Fraqrat;175682]One of the Chiefs failed a drug test years ago and blamed it on having troubles at home with her wife.[/QUOTE]
I am not sure that being a butch qualifies someone as being a “female”. Maybe biologically…

[QUOTE=Sand_Pebble;175711]Racism doesn’t have so much to do with race but culture. Whenever one culture thinks it is better than another, discrimination will happen. [/QUOTE]
You still forgot about sexism…

[QUOTE=Sand_Pebble;175711]which might not have been a good thing considering a lot of those people had no business being around one another[/QUOTE]I may be wrong here, but it sounds like you are trying to promote segregation. I mean, yea I may be totally wrong but that is just a little bit what it sounds like to me…

[QUOTE=Sand_Pebble;175711]
Your “friend” who was complaining about racism in the GoM during the 90’s should have reported it because no professional, manager or investor likes bigotry or racism. It’s bad for business and our government & industry has many avenues to address such wrongs.
[/QUOTE]
It was just someone I sailed with. When you work union and are on a different ship every few months, you meet people from all over and hear a lot of things. That was one of the things I heard. The said person was a white male. I wouldn’t say they were a victim card player.

[QUOTE=Sand_Pebble;175711]…should have reported it…[/QUOTE]
If every wrongdoing were reported…lol… they would need an entire building or floor of telephone operators. It would be like a 1920’s switchboard room. I saw an old man being sexually harassed. Probably my grandfather’s age. What would have happened if I had reported it? I would have been out of the GoM at least a year earlier. Why? Because if he had been questioned about it, he would never have admitted it, a guy is not gonna complain to someone about that…and because the chief engineer was untouchable…

[QUOTE=Sand_Pebble;175711]Managers & Investors look professional, feel good about themselves & are preventing future problems when they take actions.
[/QUOTE] Now that’s funny.

[QUOTE=Sand_Pebble;175711]
Concerning my authenticity, I am afraid you might be suffering from some type of undiagnosed paranoia mental disorder.[/QUOTE] Wow, I was just stating my observations. I didn’t know you would take it all personal and start attacking me. You started posting when I was talking about the idiot that thought our battery started engine RAN off of batteries (he was black by the way, although I don’t think that had anything to do with it, I think it had more to do with him just being an idiot) So yea I would say black men at least can have it pretty good down there. They are free to harass women just the same as any white man would. Now that’s equality.

But anyway, yea you posted on that thread many times…then twice on EMD’s, once on something else random. Most of your posts have been when I start talking about the GoM. Not paranoia, just an observation, and I may be totally wrong and that doesn’t mean you have to go and start personally attacking me.

And to tell you the truth, I probably do have some issues now. Anyone would if they had just experienced the GoM the way I did. I really hope that the whole place is actually not like that, because that would be very sad.

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[QUOTE=cmakin;175700]There are more Filipino mates and engineers than you realize. I would run across them quite a bit back in my ABS days. Not so much with the major companies, other than Stena, but certainly some of the smaller ones that crew up using ship manager. . . Aberdeen? Well, you DO know that it is in Scotland, right? Quite a few Scots out there. . . just worked with a bunch on a rig I was dealing with. . . Irish? Yeah, not so much. When it comes to diversity, and no, this isn’t oil patch work, nor hiring in the US, but with ABS, I spent quite a bit of time out in the Freeport and Galveston lightering areas. Stena who operated quite a few ULCCs and VLCCs had to have some of the most diverse crews I have ever seen. . . Eastern Europeans (Polish and Ukrainian mostly with the odd Russian), Filipino, Indonesian, Northern European. . . quite the mix of cultures and nationalities. All professional, most VERY good and certainly the maintenance on those vessels was some of the best I have ever seen. Yet I digress . . .again. . .[/QUOTE]

I haven’t met a Filipino chief engineer and only a few Masters even though I have met many super Filipino engineers and mates. But that is just my experience. Yep I know Aberdeen is in Scotland been there quite a few times. UK has Scotland and Ireland but you rarely see the Irish offshore which I always found odd. I am very aware the non-oil drilling FOC shipping sector is very diverse, just not many from USA at all.

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[QUOTE=tengineer1;175716]I haven’t met a Filipino chief engineer and only a few Masters even though I have met many super Filipino engineers and mates. But that is just my experience. Yep I know Aberdeen is in Scotland been there quite a few times. UK has Scotland and Ireland but you rarely see the Irish offshore which I always found odd. I am very aware the non-oil drilling FOC shipping sector is very diverse, just not many from USA at all.[/QUOTE]

Well, UK has Scotland and NORTHERN Ireland (at the risk of pissing off those in Dublin). . . . but yeah. Not common to see many Irish in the industry. . . I work with lots of Scots, and did when I was sailing (but I worked for a Scottish Ship Management Company for a few years). We have one in our Houston office now, but we are also a British (London headquartered) company. Have also worked with a Zambian chief engineer, great engineer and a very interesting man. . was worried about not having the proper shoes when we went out for lunch, but I digress. . . just about all nationalities. When I worked with ABS, I was often on board several different vessels a week, and sometimes as many as 4 in a day. . . certainly was exposed to lots of diversity, but most vessels were not US flagged.

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[QUOTE=tengineer1;175716]I haven’t met a Filipino chief engineer and only a few Masters even though I have met many super Filipino engineers and mates. But that is just my experience. Yep I know Aberdeen is in Scotland been there quite a few times. UK has Scotland and Ireland but you rarely see the Irish offshore which I always found odd. I am very aware the non-oil drilling FOC shipping sector is very diverse, just not many from USA at all.[/QUOTE]

The first time I got an actual job, my first engineer was a Filipino. I haven’t seen him since then, but I’ve noticed that he is still a notable investor in MEBA-PAF. I hope he’s doing well, he treated me kindly when I was just a naïve, bumbling DEU.

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[QUOTE=tengineer1;175716]I haven’t met a Filipino chief engineer and only a few Masters even though I have met many super Filipino engineers and mates. But that is just my experience. Yep I know Aberdeen is in Scotland been there quite a few times. UK has Scotland and Ireland but you rarely see the Irish offshore which I always found odd. I am very aware the non-oil drilling FOC shipping sector is very diverse, just not many from USA at all.[/QUOTE]

I recently got a new job…but my last one, which I was at for a few years, we kind of had a filipino mafia on board. One of them was a relief chief/assistant like myself…but most were unlicensed.

Years ago when I used to run launches, chevron in particular had a lot of filipino deck officers. There may have been some engine officers too but I didn’t have business with them as much as the deck guys. I remember seeing crews on the foreign flag vessels in general…sometimes four or five different cultures, and one may assume somehow getting along in complete harmony.

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[QUOTE=tengineer1;175688]Most drilling and OSV companies operating worldwide have an office in Aberdeen or the UK but you never see an Irishman working on the vessels and rarely women.[/QUOTE] Not that I don’t beleive you or anything, but I previously lived overseas near an expat oil/offshore community-that was before I ever worked in the GoM, and I did hear talk about women working offshore and even couples, and how they thought that was obsurd (not the women but the couples part). I definelty did hear mentionings of female mud engineers… and I knew an Irish geologist (not sure if that counts since its a different type of work) so I dunno, I will have to ask around a little more about that. I mean there are a few European countries out there that are a little ahead of the U.S. when it comes to these issues.[QUOTE=tengineer1;175688] will never change the industry by bitching about it. If bitching about things made a difference we’d all be better off than we are. [/QUOTE]
I also am going to have to disagree with you on that. Throughout history, many changes have been provoked through writing. That, and I dislike lawyers. They think they know everything already and are unwilling to listen for more than 5 minutes before they tell you you are not worth their time. So I figure I will just write about it because apparently no one knows what is going on or doesnt care or something.[QUOTE=tengineer1;175688]
let your work speak for you. As Matthew said, “By their fruits you will know them”[/QUOTE] Yea, that works in some places. Other places it doesnt matter at all. That is what I have a problem with.

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[QUOTE=Ctony;175727]I recently got a new job…but my last one, which I was at for a few years, we kind of had a filipino mafia on board. One of them was a relief chief/assistant like myself…but most were unlicensed. [/QUOTE]

If there is one demographic, I can say I have never had a complaint about working with, its filipinos. I have worked on ships with entire filipino crew, and I was the only American unlicensed, and they were very friendly and welcoming, most of them that chose not to move up did that by choice because they already had x number of years towards their pension. Also, I have met fiilipino captains and chief engineers.

[QUOTE=Ctony;175727]
I remember seeing crews on the foreign flag vessels in general…sometimes four or five different cultures, and one may assume somehow getting along in complete harmony.[/QUOTE]

People do not need to be from the same cultural background to get along together. All they need to do is have a baseline of mutual respect for one another, an understanding and respect for structure and rank, know how to act as professionals and be respectful of each other’s boundries. People that already know that and that any type of behavior deviating from that is unacceptable tend to get along better.

On my previous vessel, though it was mostly female…everyone was from a different country. The captain was Italian, his wife the chief stewardess was Swiss, the junior stewardess was South African, the deckhand was British, and me the engineer, an American. The only thing was they had a bad view of Donald Trump…I did not get involved in those conversations.

Where I am now is also pretty diverse, a few african americans, a few white americans, two filipinos and two hispanic females, we all live in different parts of the country. We don’t have any drama or problems, and everyone respects one another.

That is diversity.

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nice correction

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This statement is pure gold!