Showing posts with label Captain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Captain. Show all posts

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Captain's blog December 2010

This blog is the last as the Captain of Kalizma because I’m being transferred to the Owner’s bigger yacht, m/y Indian Empress, as Captain/ Chief Officer but I will be coming to check in on Kalizma at regular intervals.

m/y Indian Empress

After spending 2.5 yrs on her she has taken a chunk of my life with her troubles keeping her fit and trim for the Owner and guests. This is not only by my own effort but also with the good team effort of my Indian crew that is now left to be guided by my 2nd in command, Surender Saini, that has now gotten the MCA certification to this. My best congratulations for his future success in managing Kalizma with all her faults and on the other hand, her charms. In the end it is the crew that makes the spirit on the yacht.

Bottle mountain at Kingfisher village

As for the December month it went fairly uneventfully. On the 2nd I went with Saini to visit the Kingfisher village that was erected for the film festival. We were quite surprised as the beer was sold practically for nothing and the bartenders were handing over beer as fast as they could. The mountains of empty cans and bottles told the story of demand. We also found out this was the last night for the village until the next festival. People were having a good time with the local orchestra playing Konkani songs interspersed with Hindi popular songs. Me and Saini enjoyed us thoroughly until the venue was closed.

With Saini at boatshow checking the wares

On the 6th I visited the Goa boatshow, a really small event that mostly peddled boats for unsuspecting buyers. As an example I could mention the Seadoo jetski that looked fine and dandy but if you are gullible enough to buy for an arm and a leg you would discover at the first malfunction that the closest service center is outside of India. The next step to import spares and get somebody to service your jetski (properly) would cost you another appendix. Incredible India.

14th we did a seatrial to see how the old lady is performing, despite many barnacles being scraped off her hull and new ones growing up we got her up to 8.5kts with economic rpm's.

Aguada lighthouse and jail from sea

On the 16th was another Goa boatshow opening and I went to see the setup. On the arrival was abig banner announcing the show open at 10 am same day and I was there about 3 pm but then the guard told us to be back next day as the show had not opened yet (!?). We told we were here to visit our associate Mr. Alan Koh from International paints so the guard relented and let us through. Soon enough we found Alan and changed some news with him as well as with some people Saini knew from before. As Alan’s host was being busy elsewhere I ended taking him out for dinner to Candolim. We had a nice dinner at Joe Joe’s corner and we also discovered the restaurant had changed Owner’s. The food was still delicious and in fact the beer was now cheaper.

Full moon taken through binoculars

19th December was my birthday and the day Indian Empress arrived Goa and I had orders to sign on her. The crew gave me a Titan wrist watch as a present with the cake but I did not make it to Indian Empress as they were too busy with officials. I went onboard her the 20th and time will tell if this was a birthday gift or not, for sure, I’m going to be busier now…

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Captain's Blog November 2010

The year is fast coming to an end and looking back at the month gone by I don't see too much being done but we've been at it every day, working to get Kalizma shipshape for Christmas and New Year.

m/y Kalizma

1st to 15th it was frequently still raining so our varnish jobs were hampered by that somewhat. Luckily it rained mostly in evenings and night time.

2nd Saini left for Mumbai to arrange his visa in order to fly to UK for doing his MCA Chief Officers ticket.

Mapusa Market

6th - 7th was Diwali weekend but the weather was not in favor at all for us. Thunderstorms and passing showers made the festival very gloomy. On the other hand in Mumbai I got call from Saini and it sounded like on a warfront by the sound of all firecrackers going off. At least some people were enjoying it to the max.

Ruins St. Augustine & Augustine

12th I visited Mapusa market to see what the hype was about. It was large and lot of tourists were there and hawkers were selling same wares as on the beaches. Maybe the pricing was somewhat cheaper. In terms of food stuffs we thought the assortment was a bit on the poor side and very basic compared to the market in Panaji that we normally use for provisioning.

Ruins of St. Augustine

13th I went with Augustine to inspect a yard for possible small boat monsoon storage in Old Goa. Nice clean place but in the end it was ascertained that Linse could not be accommodated there.

After this we made a short detour to check out the ruins of St. Augustine cathedral. Building was originally started by twelve St. Augustinian friars in 1572 and completed only in 1602. Today only the 46m tall bell tower remains standing as the St. Augustine order was ousted from Goa in 1835. The site is very impressive and tells the magnitude of the church and actually a pity that it was let to fall asunder by itself due to neglect in 1842. In 1931 the facade and part of the tower collapsed.

Boat yard in Velha Goa

18th I came down with a severe case of Delhi Belly and was bedridden for a day. It passed with help of Thai herbal medicines.

22nd I had lunch at Infantaria, great bakery but the food was bland. I had pasta and it arrived soggy and over cooked.

24th I got Asen back after her fracture incident in Mumbai. Her foot was now fully healed after 6 weeks recuperation. She is now like a Duracell bunny, full of energy to resume duties.

View at Mayonna Creek bar & restaurant

26th I had lunch at Mayonna Creek bar & restaurant on Baga beach. The restaurant is actually along a small creek and has a nice setting to it. Food was also not bad although I think I ordered a wrong dish that I thought tasted horrible in my mouth.

30th we got a quick visit from the Owner. Just a couple of hours of enjoyment but at least he got to see his yacht before rushing onto more pressing matters.

Monday, November 01, 2010

Captain's blog October 2010

Were now still in Goa and it is good as we don't have to cope with all the pollution as in Mumbai. The good weather is still eluding us as occasional thunderstorms keeps pelting us with water but in general the weather is good. We're still rolling at the Aguada Bay anchorage as the swell is coming in from the Indian Ocean.

Having Gujarati thali

Kalpu's birthday

In Mumbai we were the first yacht to anchor outside the Gateway of India, on the 1st m/y Tian arrived from Goa and on the 2nd m/y Ashena came from Elephanta as well. They were very very busy as a party had been set for the 8th. Not to say that weren't either as we had to finish the bow wood work repairs.

Carpenter's carving our front piece

On the 3rd Sunil arrived back from UK having successfully completed is Y3 certification. He was very pleased to be in the warmth of India instead of the ghastly cold dampness of Southampton and of course having his NOE warmed even better.

This steam roller must from the Colonial times

Then on the 4th we got the orders to prepare for Goa so our busy status went to frantic. Provisioning, contacting contractors for last minute jobs like our Dish TV setting up, Bose sytem service, OBM overhaul etc. etc. Also bunkering of DO and LO had to be done. The car had to be serviced as we would drive it down to Goa and so on.

Limatola and Kalpana

Later in the afternoon I went with Richard to try out an allegedly delicious thali. It turned out the restaurant near Churchgate was serving Gujarati cuisine and I learned then that in Gujarat they put sugar in every dish, everything tasted sweet. Even the sada pan outside tasted sweeter than elsewhere.

Rajaram, Dubey, Atu, Me, Richie, Kalpana, Saini, Ruman, Sunil

On the 8th was Kalpana's birthday and we celebrated it duly with cake and softdrinks. She is a very liked person onboard as she got many presents from the crew.

Then on the 11th I got a temporary stewardess from Niladri estate to follow us to Goa, Ms. Limatola Aier. Limatola is actually one of the Indian Empress stewardesses but she was on leave and so was appointed to help out in Goa for a week. Same evening Asen had an accident by a falling wall panel that hit her foot and she got a fracture confirmed form the hospital.

Kalpana in the Bom Iesus cathedral

On the 12th I signed Asen off as there is no place for convalescing onboard, especially with a person on crutches. In the afternoon at HW I got the compass adjusters and engine technician embarked with pilot coming last. After doing our adjustments and calibrations we finally headed off to Goa.

We arrived Goa in good order on the morning 14th and by 1020hrs I had the formalities done. The weather became bad though with swell rolling in and sweeping fronts of thunderstorms kept coming in and pouring water. The satellite picture showed us the long plumes of cloud cover extending out in the Indian Ocean.

Then the weekend of the 15th I got Commodore Mongia onboard and we anticipated the Owner, but the weather was not in favor so the whole weekend we sat looking at the sky. Eventually it turned out to a long wait.

Dubey outside the cathedral

On the 19th we got the bad news that our driver had decided to take our car for a joyride or some extracurricular taxi activities and subsequently he smashed it in an Electrical pole. The car was wrecked beyond repair. The Driver offered some story that he had not driven but a guy had come out of nowhere and referred to Saini that he needed to go to Baga beach and offered to drive and blah blah blah. The night watchman confirmed that the driver had been alone. Needless to say I dismissed the driver straight away and Saini & Sunil had to deal with towing the wreck and doing the insurance paper work. Luckily nobody was injured and we managed to get an "out of court" settlement for the Electrical pole as well.

Fishermen at Santa Paula unloading their catch

24th Richard and Dubey took the girls around to Old Goa and Santa Paula to see the old churches, they asked me if I wanted to follow so I did. The churches still looked the same, then we visited the Santa Paula market, and we finished the evening with dinner at Souza Lobo at Calingute beach. The food was good but lacked kick eventhough we asked for hot.

On 25th I went with Kenneth Pereira and Sunil to visit the Western Shipyards for a possible drydocking site. The prices they quoted were quite high for a small yacht like us, clearly they were geared for handling big bulk carriers frequenting Goa. Afterwards Kenny treated me and Sunil to a delicious lunch at his favorite restaurant beside the Pereira Building.

Kalpana and Karuna at Santa Paula

On 29th I had lunch with Richard at the Calamari restaurant on Candolim beach. The setting is nice but the view might be considered obscured by the grounded River Princess (someone else might consider it a curiosity). The food was a disappointment, it was bland and tasteless. We had a dhal and pork vindaloo and I did not even break a sweat, although I specifically asked for the native stuff, not watered out tourist food. We had same experience at the famous Souza Lobo restaurant at Calingute beach and a few others as well. Seems many restaurants are geared up to cater exclusively for the prevalent Russian crowd. Until now I can only recommend the Flambee' restaurant being up to the mark with their food.


Friday, May 28, 2010

Captain's blog May 2010

So, May went at anchorage in front of Gateway to India. By the time of writing this the skies have cleared and the swell has started to roll in the port area. It seems the monsoon rains are imminent.

1st of May I completed two years employment onboard Kalizma. Wow, times run fast the older you get.

The noise of the IPL scandal has since then died down and nothing is being heard of Modi either - yesterdays news...

4th May I signed a years contract to continue on Kalizma as Captain as well as to assist in relief work on other yachts and maintaining the local fleet.

On the 7th I met Avnish and Eddy Powis Jr from Phuket at the Mumbai yacht club. We had a nice dinner at Aashim's flat. His daughters were entertaining us with Bollywood dancing.

The Mumbai yacht club

Next Sunday went having Biryani lunch in Alibaug at Avnish & Bijoya's pad. The weather was fine but the humidity was really killing this weekend.

Otherwise working days went chasing up quotes and prices as well as doing routine maintenance. Sunil has been busy trying to find a fitter to come and assist him in engineering works. Saini is on leave. I also had some meetings with RINA regarding our commercial certification issues. I believe this will come to an end when I return from my leave in July.

Richard is applying for his UK visa as he is due to become a castle guardian in Scotland. He'll enjoy the single malt in the cold winters there.

Sunil is again getting his visas to go to UK and complete his Y3 and Y4 certifications as well as a short visit to France to get familiarized with pre- & post- maintenance of an offshore Cigarette boat that does 90 knots.

24th I do a short visit to Crawford market with Sunil and fit 2 kurtas for me, Sunil fitted one. There was no bargaining involved as all shopkeepers had started with fixed prices. Hardly could we negotiate 70 Rs down. I also shopped for some souvenirs for my family as I was going to Finland for vacation. Thailand and The Red Shirt demonstrators are at the moment a bit too restless for my taste. So, I'll go to my home country for the first time since 2004.

Sunil & me in our new kurta's

26th I join Cmde Mongia to do a recce up to Borivali to check out berthing for the smaller yachts in Mumbai. We pass the CST container terminal, Elephanta Island, the oil terminals and the unfinished Reliance bridge. There is some land claims taking place and I believe a small marina in the making.

Land filling at Reliance bridge


Lifting smaller yachts for rain season storage

I could see numerous barges being loaded to the hatch coaming with riversand and discharging it for the landfill. At the same time Aashim was already lifting up yachts for rain season storage on the rented field. I also met Bob Pinto who was also checking out the area for storing is own yacht.

The "mini-marina"

We met the small marina manager, the son of Ganesh Naik, MLA and had a chat with him. They are planning to build a clubhouse soon and dredge the pier for some more docking space. It will be a nice smallboat marina if this takes place.

On the way back we stopped by the Princess dock and I could see that landfill preparations were underway but had not yet started. The pier was loaded with big cement blocks just waiting to be dumped into the sea. Custom house was still berthing their launches inside Princess docks. The seawall was occupied by various wrecks, we had actually a pending application for their berth. The Cross Island islet seemed to have lost all its vegetation and some elevation as I believe it'll be leveled for land reclamation.

Princess docks entrance & cement blocks

Our berthing issue has yet to be resolved as the Mumbai Port Trust is dragging their legs and refusing to grant anything for the yacht Owners (not only us). The MPT has this very low intelligence plan to convert the Victoria and Princess docks to a container terminal.

I see it as a money racket to milk the central government of subsidies. For years to come. One opinion I heard was that the area would be covered and made into a container terminal and when the protests about the container trucks clogging up the city would rise to unbearable levels they would justify more land claims at the seawall and then develop it into housing area (meanwhile pumping money out of the central government by the bucket load).

The CST container terminal

If MPT would have any sense of honesty and integrity I think they should start developing the housing project straight away and forego their plans of graft. There is already a big container terminal (CST) on the other side of the Bay handling the incoming cargo to Mumbai. Writing about issues like this is easy but having scratched the surface a bit about the complexity of Indian democracy and politics, I also realize that nothing is easy in India and certainly not on issues where money is involved (is it anywhere?). Everyone has an opinion and a voice to contribute. E.g. the sealink project in Bandra easing the Mumbai traffic north has taken the government 14 years to complete.

A local "yachtsman"

Today the MPT decision makers are at station and hopefully we will have a positive reply in the next few days. Saini will though have to make the transit as I will be enjoying my vacation. Also congratulations for his promotion as officiating Master on Kalizma during my absence.

Fishing vessels leaving for Gujarat upon end of season

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Captain's Blog November 2009

November was a hectic month with some disappointments to boot.

We arrived Langkawi the 1st Nov for some guarantee works on our freezer as well as some repairs to galley equipment.

On the 3rd Vivek signed off to renew his CoC and to use up his remaining vacation days.

On the 4th afternoon we got some strong mistral wind down the mountains and they made our anchors drag (we had to moore stern to as per marina's orders). I had dropped both anchors doing a Mediterranean mooring but the bottom is too soft to give any good holding.

I ordered ME's started and land line disconnected so I have maneuvarability. Since Amnesia (that had been occupying the N-S pier) had left I heaved up the sb anchor and slacked port anchor and moved alongside the N-S pier. M/y Taipan beside us had similar problems and as I understood from her Captain, she had dropped her anchor next to the ferry terminal and still he was dragging. Anyway, all ended well, we did not get any damage and was safely alongside.

5th we discovered from where water has been leaking into radio room. It was a poorly insulated air duct that was letting water through from Captain's cabin to the radio room. We removed said duct and planned to plug the hole permanently upon arrival Yacht Haven in Thailand.

Same day I also go and meet the Thai honorary consul in Kuah Town in regards of issuing me and crew visas. The information we got from him was pretty disappointing, Two weeks upon arrival, no possibility of getting tourist visas. Also no viable explanation why we had been getting visas earlier.

6th I went hashing with Langkawi Beach Hash House Harriers, many crew joined me there too. The hash trail was pretty good and surprisingly I finished 2nd. The dinner was held at Fat Mama's restaurant at Pantai Cenang.

7th I was invited for a BBQ at Nick Coombes pad, it was huge and BBQ was delicious. I brought some Ferrari for his enjoyment.

8th we went outing with our crew and headed first for the "Hole-in-the-Wall" at NE end of Langkawi Island, the vistas opening up after each bend was stunning watching the "Geopark" formations. After this we visited the "Pregnant Maiden's Lake" on Pulau Dayang Bunting, legend says that drinking this water would help female fertility. I did not drink the water but cooled my feet in it while being tickled by catfish.


Left: airpicture of lake, center: geological view, right: view from the sea

9th Monday John Orr headed to Penang to get our visas sorted out. Same evening he telephoned me that he had not been successful and had been advised to go to Kota Baru border station where he could get the visas made out (!?).

11th I receive technician, Mr. Lee, from Lumut for repairing our Omron system, replacing a broken monitor.

Same day John telephones me that he has not been successful with our visas and has not been advised of what is the problem. Nick tells me he has a yacht in Singapore trying to get a Thai visa for his Indian crew and Indian visa for his Thai crew, also unsuccessfully. Maybe we are subject to political machinations, very frustrating as I have a lot of jobs scheduled for Thailand. Oh well, life must go on so I have to enter the Kingdom with VOA's.

12th was spent winding up business in Langkawi and so we departed on friday the 13th for Patong Beach and from there to explore the Surin Islands.

15th We dive at Ko Bon

16th We dive at Richelieu Rock that had more people in the water than Bangla road gals on a saturday night. Very overrated spot.

17th we arrive Yacht Haven and start maintenance works.

Until end of the month I service our CCTV system, radars, echosounder, Bose system, Sat TV system, start renewing teak dk on bridge deck, sanding & varnishing & teak oiling, the list goes on and on...

23rd I leave with Saini for Bangkok as we need visas, me Indian visa and Saini Malaysian visa. We decide to drive as the fuel consumption will be 1000THB less than VIP bus tickets. We started in the morning and arrived late evening, spent a couple of hours driving along the small soi's near the Indian Embassy trying to locate a cheap hotel and finally we found one called "999".

24th I go to the Indian embassy and Saini to the Malaysian. I get told off straight away that I can;t get a business visa unless I have resided in Thailand for more than 2 yrs. If I would be a business man on the roll and needed to change my itinerary to go to India, what could I do? I applied for a tourist visa instead....

Saini had same problems, they did not want to accept his application to arrive by sea and he showed them the last visa issued to him so they relented and said they'd take advice from Kuala Lumpur (sic!).

Having afternoon nothing else to do we walked around shopping haunts and in the evening ended up to RCA for dinner.

25th Saini did not get any news on his passport until late afternoon, they'll issue a visa next afternoon. We roam around Bangkok the rest of the day and end up having dinner in Hard Rock Cafe and then walking back to our hotel along Sukhumvit road. While passing trough Soi Cowboy we are being polled by some Christian missionaries thinking we are one of the pundits there.

26th we check out of the hotel and head to the Malaysian embassy on Sathorn road. After a couple of hours of waiting he finally gets a 2 weeks visa (sic!) after being told that for one month they need 7 days to process the application. I remember the days in 1998 when I applied visas and after filing in the morning one could get it in the evening...

Finally on the road back south we stop in Nakhon Pathom for an hour and I get to say "hi" to my kids that are busy making their homework.

We drive all day and half the night to arrive early morning for work...

Rest of the month same relentless maintenance is ongoing in preparation for the Owner's visit in December...

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Captain's blog June 2009

This month has gone frantically doing maintenance on the boat, carpentry, metal works, painting, varnishing, electrical jobs, flag state jobs, class jobs & preparing drydocking, F1 visit & handover. “No rest for the wicked” as they say.

G1 shipyard headoffice in Lumut, Malaysia

As for crew matters I got back Sunil and Rajaram rested from their annual vacations and I sent Vivek for his holiday.

We actually arrived from Langkawi already on the 26th May and I did not stop on the way for diving as the weather was really poor, windy and rainy all the way. We arrived at Yacht Haven 2pm with no hassles, I experienced some funny cross currents pushing us off the pier although it was slack water so my approach was a bit slow but finally we managed to tie up in an orderly fashion.

I was met by the Marina Manager Zara Tremlett on the pier after finished with all engines. Our local agents, Gordon Fernandes and Toby Koehler arrived later on in the afternoon and as we started with the official paperwork and then changing news and gossip with some Kingfisher and snacks we soon discovered it was almost midnight.

The rest of the week was spent contacting anew old contractors for planned jobs and getting worklists and quotes made up.

Next weekend 30th I visited Jira in Trang province and we did an outing to Satun and the Wang Rajan bordermarket at the Thai-Malay border. Thai nationals could wander into the Malay side and do shopping there, I could not as my visa would have been voided. Very similar to the Thai-Cambodian Aranyaprathet border market that is popular for Bangkokians to visit for shopping and gambling (in Poipet).

Near the border was the “Thaleban Nature Park” which we visited shortly on the way back. There I saw and heard mountain frogs, the noise was deafening from such small creatures.


Frog song

1st week of June we got dayworkers and contractors galore onboard and the usual maintenance hula-baloo started.

Following weekend 6th I took Richard and Jyothi out for an outing to Trang where we visited the local aquarium and sea-lion show.

14th June was the International Marathon run at Laguna and Avnish arranged for voluntary crew to sign up.

Next week I started a detox diet and had only fruit juice for next 2 weeks just to see what the effects were. The experience was not too bad but I always felt a sting of jealousy seeing people eat and it seemed to me Richard was making an effort preparing all kind of good dishes or maybe it was just my hungry imagination.

June 20th I took Saini and Kalpana to Trang province and we visited the Klong Thom Hot Springs Sa Morakot pools.

Next week went meeting with Avnish and putting him in the picture of what is happening on the yacht workwise and re: our commercial certification status. I printed out reams of statements, lists and reports covering the handover.

On the 27th was hashing day for Phuket HHH and we decided to join. Saini and me had been running there before but Martula and Richard decided to join us.

Finally, on the 28th morning I whipped out the scale and could ascertain that I had lost abt 8kg’s during my 2 weeks juice detox combined with evening jogging with Saini.

At noon we headed for Sarasin bridge with most of our crew for a handover lunch. Just after crossing the bridge, turned left to the bridge bank, there is a seafood restaurant that serves lovely and inexpensive food while watching the tide swirl by. I also enjoyed being able to eat again after 2 weeks of chugging juice. Once the lunch was devoured I took my leave and was wished a Happy vacation for the next 30 days.

I’ll keep updating you of my holiday next, until then…

Thursday, February 05, 2009

Cruise ship soap opera



A few weeks back I was related a true story from a cruise ship of how a personal drama evolved to remarkable proportions:

This cruise ship was plying between two countries on a regular trade and she was appointed a new Captain (that I have the dubious honor to know of personally) onboard. The ship was manned by two nationalities and the Captain started telling his countrymen how he is going to replace them all with the other cheaper nationality. True to his nature he immediately won the "most likable person onboard" award as he always manages to do.

As with his simpletons mind he started to "command and conquer" and he promised the Security Officer a 3rd Officer's position as he was qualified for it. Naturally this was just lip service to get him on his "side" and also vital gossip and information of what is going on onboard. This was discovered pretty soon too and did not win any sympathies on the would be 3rd Officer's side.

Next the Captain bedded the Chief Purser (from the other nationality) and fell in love with her and they started a relationship. All looked good for the Captain, he ruled as a dictator and the antipathy grew by the day.

Until the day comes when another new Captain (from the other nationality) comes to relieve him for vacation. As it happens this Captain (lets call him Y) had also had a relationship with the Chief Purser a few years back on another ship. Then during a crew party old feelings flamed up and the Chief Purser forgot her new beau and went back for the old salt.

As it happens the Captain (lets call him X) received at 3am from an unknown number a MMS message with Captain Y and the Chief Purser on a photo in a nightclub sucking each others faces in a manner that don't leave much for interpretation. Being the cuckolded party he jumped out of bed and in his car and started a 600+km drive to where the ship was in port.

Next morning at abt 9am Captain X arrives to the ship and storms onboard and demands to see the security log. He checks the times when Captain Y and Chief Purser has come back onboard. Security Officer that had no sympathy for the Captain X knows immediately what is going on and he sees the agitated state he is in so he calls the Chief Officer to report what is going on. Chief Officer tells him to call the Coast Guard, which he does.

Meanwhile Captain X dashes into the Captains cabin only to find Captain Y and Chief Purser snoozing in each others arms. Captain X is speechless, can't get a coherent word out of his mouth. Soon enough Coast Guard arrives and collects him off the ship.

After Captain X gather his wits he comes up with the million dollar idea to ask the Company to sack Captain Y. The letter from the Captain is taken seriously and the DPA calls the Coast Guard, the Officer who made the arrest gives a slightly exaggerated vision of the incident as he happens to be a friend of the wronged Security Officer.

The Company decides it is safer to kick Captain X off board instead. Was not the first nor the last time it happened to him.

What do we learn from this?
Women onboard are always inviting trouble,
Leadership skills are asked for when big crews are in question,
If you treat people badly - don't expect anything less in return,
Never ever bring your private life onboard and especially not to the management.

Some food for thought...