I once took a job on a foc AHTS vessel. While making it aboard I was meet by a snappy dressed early 40’ish guy & he directed to the galley before heading to drop my bags in my stateroom for coffee or water. His English was near unaccented & better than mine. Come to find out he was tri-lingual, English, Portuguese & German even though he never visited the US or Germany. He knew the answers to every question I asked about the ship, schedule, client & operation. A perfect gentleman from the moment I meet him until we stopped working together about a year later. I incorrectly assumed he was the master of the vessel & somehow let that slip out. Nope, he was the steward. The captain was up in the bridge. That dufus NEEDED every labeled coffee cup, embroidered shirt, pen or anything else that he could put his title on to let others know he was the captain.
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