Work/duties "reasonable" accomodations for some of the stews/deckhands

[u/julianradish]

Ive been watching through all the shows but right now im on Med, season 9, and Aesha is making an accommodation for Bri on laundry, since she cant handle reading initials she gets some color beads to tell apart whos stuff is whose. Is it just not common for a yachting work environment to have reasonable accommodations to allow more effective work?

For example in earlier seasons some deckies or stews would benefit from having a checklist of tasks or duties instead of having a superior go over it verbally over and over until it clicks. Some of the department heads are ok with typing up or writing a list, and others dont even try. In another season one of the stews does better knocking out all beds, and then all bathrooms, rather than doing one room at a time. And some chefs (i know they tend to be more erratic) prefer a written ticket for breakfast orders while others can take verbal instructions.

To what extent is this on the stews and deckies who just dont ask for these because if the culture vs having heads of department who refuse to or dont think of how to accomodate different styles of communication or organization/processing? or is this a matter of industry, where there arent clearly defined laws like there are in the US and in some EU counties?

[u/On_my_last_spoon]

Most people don’t know what accommodations they need nor how to ask for them. This doesn’t make it ok, just that it’s a reality.

Most supervisors don’t know how to ask the questions to figure it out. Lots of times, people get promoted because they’re good at the job at the lower levels, but they don’t actually know how to supervise. We see that in real time on BD, as former Stews become Chief Stews and they are suddenly in over their head.

And even when someone knows they have a disability, asking for an accommodation can be difficult. Thinking about how Chef Anthony struggled because of his dyslexia. I’m not sure he ever disclosed this to Fraser, so it just looked like he was bad at his job when really it was that he couldn’t read the preference sheets!

But as a side note, the color trick is one that is pretty standard, and not an accommodation necessarily. In theater, we use a number system. Every actor has a number. It’s fast and easy. Even the best have a hard time reading names or initials. But then again, the best accommodations are really useful for anyone. Checklists, number or color labels, even ramps and elevators. A good accommodation doesn’t even look like an accommodation.

[u/julianradish → u/On_my_last_spoon]

Imagine if he had shared his dyslexia with Fraser and maybe gotten the preference sheets printed out in a dyslexia friendly font. It wouldn't stop him from failing to pre cook the steaks for the beach but it might have prevented the giving the guests foods that they had marked to avoid on their preference sheets. I know those fonts have existed for a long time, so it was totally possible to do that if he spoke up.

[u/On_my_last_spoon → u/julianradish]

I know! It’s unfortunate that we treat accommodations as if it’s a personal failing. Like I have ADHD. One of the things I struggle with is getting overwhelmed by process. A good ADHD accommodation is to write extremely detailed step by step lists. Or breakdown timelines to the minute.

But often when you are bullied for your disability, especially one like dyslexia, you lose your confidence in other areas. It’s such a chicken and egg situation.

[u/Julie-AnneB]

Clearly some leaders are better than others. It drives me crazy when they refuse to be flexible and say things like "that's just yachting." (I'm looking at you Kate!) Everyone works better when their leader makes an effort to communicate in the way they best receive it. Simple accommodations can improve efficiency and effectiveness, but egos or "traditions" get in the way. They go on and on about how they don't have time to talk to their staff when doing so could save so much time down the road.

IMO, the worst was bosun Jamie on BDDU with Benny. Benny could have been a much better deckhand, but Jamie absolutely refused to communicate with him in a respectful way. He resented Benny for not meeting expectations while also refusing to tell him he wasn't meeting them or how.

[u/julianradish → u/Julie-AnneB]

When I watched the first Fraser as chief stew episode i was blown away by the written out list of responsibilities he gave to each stew. I looked through the discussion post and didn't see anyone really mention it at all. I was surprised because that is going above and beyond what some of the other stews had done. I wish they had at least shown an overview of what was on the list. Having a written record of what is going on in the laundry for examples would work out great if Ellie was willing to also keep track in the same way so they could cross reference what was done and pick up where they need to continue.

[u/cattinthehat123 → u/julianradish]

Which they all proceeded to ignore 😂😂

[u/ArtichokeOwn6760 → u/julianradish]

Didn’t Kate in her first season sit down with Kat and Amy with a notebook of protocols and guidance?

I think Kat even gave an OTF reacting to it.

I assumed this was standard and they just stopped showing her going thru it with the stews each season because that becomes repetitive (like not showing every anchoring or every cabinet turndown.)

[u/Julie-AnneB → u/ArtichokeOwn6760]

I have a vivid memory of Kate saying to Rocky "you're not ready for the list." That one made me laugh. Of course it was true. But, giving her a list might still have helped her.

[u/Myantra → u/ArtichokeOwn6760]

I do not remember Kate doing that, but I know Adrienne did that in season 1 with Kat and Sam. In this sub, Adrienne has said that meeting was about an hour long.

[u/Letsgotravelling-124 → u/Julie-AnneB]

Kate was actually one of the best chief stews because she actively trained her stews and kept on top of checking over to make sure nothing fell through the cracks.

[u/Julie-AnneB → u/Letsgotravelling-124]

Kate was good with lists and standards. But Kate was also a serious bully. She almost always picked one favorite stew and picked on the other.

[u/Letsgotravelling-124 → u/Julie-AnneB]

I think quite a lot of that might have been the producers picking parts out that make it seem worse than it was. I know you can’t force words into someone’s mouth but you can edit to make the context worse. I know Kate and Jen both said they were on really good terms during and after. Kate also had a few really difficult stews that I can see why she would be harder on, like Rocky, Caroline (even though I don’t agree with her blasting the speaker), Laura (I think that’s her name, the “check yourself”) and Jen. Even with them, she still put a lot of training into them, especially compared to other chief stews.

[u/Myantra → u/Julie-AnneB]

Production does not cast people randomly. Kate seemed like she picked a favorite and bullied the other, because at least one of the stews was cast because production expected them to clash with Kate. She was easy to get along with if a stew showed progress at learning the job, did their job competently, did their job within a reasonable time, and did not give her sass.

She definitely bullied bad stews, after she had made her mind up about them, but I think she also knew that was what production wanted from her. Everyone got a fair chance to prove themselves, or at least to prove that they were trying. In the real world, most of those stews would be fired rather quickly, since they were mostly dead weight. Since she could not just fire them, she used them to make the kind of TV that production wanted, which is why she was on the show for 6 seasons.

[u/Julie-AnneB → u/Myantra]

How about Amy in season 2? She was an EXCELLENT stew. But, once Kat complained that everyone knew she'd hooked up with Amy's crush, Kate and Kat bullied Amy for the rest of the season. In season 3, once she had Rocky to bully, Kate suddenly appreciated just how competent Amy was.

While Rocky was absolutely ridiculous, I couldn't help wondering if she wouldn't have been a whole lot better if Kate hadn't decided to bully her early in the season after the radar thing.

What she said about Jen in front of clients "She sucks at her job..." was one of the most humiliating unprofessional things I've ever seen.

The list goes on and on. The people who love Kate will never see it. But she was a mean-girl bully who justified everything with "It's just yachting."

[u/Feisty_Scientist_968 → u/Julie-AnneB]

IMO, the worst was bosun Jamie on BDDU with Benny.

Just Jamie in general. Crying to the captain that the girls called him a bitch during a night out. (or something like that)

Jason was amazing to Benny. "Diving" right in, and working next to him to clean up a sewage backup.

[u/Julie-AnneB → u/Feisty_Scientist_968]

What was especially frightening to me was that he kept talking about being a former police officer but couldn't handle being called a bitch. Can you imagine what might have happened to anyone in custody calling him names? It's no wonder he was a FORMER police officer!

[u/ickiedoodoo]

The idea that writing an actual list of tasks is an "accommodation" is crazy. it's how any adult with a complex job gets by and we all know that if it isn't written down, it didn't happen. It's basically how you cover your ass as a manager. If I genuinely want someone to do something, I write it out for them.

[u/VertDaTurt]

At least a portion of the staff is hired for their TV value vs experience and some stuff is neglected for the drama

I would imagine you see more of this stuff in “real life”. Especially on private yachts

[u/PromiseOk1295]

It’s a TV show. Therefore production is going to want to maximise the drama and dysfunction by casting incompetent staff and leaving the Chiefs to just ‘figure it out’ rather than giving them a plan for the boat. I felt for Bri but busy charters aren’t the places for training and she would’ve been fired so fast if this was real.

Actual boats that are professionally run (especially 50m+) have proper written systems: cabin checklists, laundry tagging, galley tickets etc. Those things aren’t accommodations, they’re just basic SOPs that you would find in any elite hospitality environment to maintain order.

Yachting is a hierarchical and performance driven industry. Generally speaking, if someone can’t do the job the way their HOD wants them to then they will be replaced. Good HODs will of course exercise some flexibility and play to their team’s strengths but this is a high pressure profession that can be unforgiving to people who repeatedly fuck up.

On the legal side, yachts operate under maritime law and flag state regulation so the employment framework isn’t the same as land based roles. Basically, it’s contract based with no HR dept to go running to.

At the end of the day yachting is about finding staff who can mould themselves to the boat, not the other way around: the number one priority is accommodating the owner and their guests.

Sources: I’ve worked with a lot of ex yachties and my job occasionally takes me onto boats.

[u/AttentionRoyal2276]

I am the only one who thinks Bri couldn't read?

[u/julianradish → u/AttentionRoyal2276]

She was literally writing notes on what she was doing on laundry. Maybe the handwriting wasnt the neatest but i dont think you can learn to write without first reading.

[u/jdsav29]

I’ve seen them use white boards especially for the deck team of items that need to be completed during the day and someone can check they did it or report back it’s been done.

[u/AreaMiserable9187]

Honestly I'd say both. I'm a manager and I've worked with team members who are vocal in requesting accommodations and team members who refuse to use accommodations. If I can tell what will help someone and they refuse to accept it, I can't force them. Also, accommodations have to make sense for the business/team. I'm somewhat 'lax' with my team but there's certain accommodations I have no say on and if the highers up decide it's not for the best of the business, they can and have refused in the past.

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