Invitation of dinners through ship’s chain of command/Carlos Pueblo

Invitation of dinners through ship’s chain of command/Carlos Pueblo

It would be wonderful for me to invite two of my daughters on board of the cruise

ship Dawn to have a dinner with me one at a time to utilize two voucher from the

cruise liner for my platinum status. They both gladly accepted and I asked them to

apply though their direct supervisor for approval and proper time. I was a solo

passenger; therefore, a voucher would cover two person and would not cost me a

penny. Both did request through their managers yet there were no definite answers

, then one morning I caught up with a senior manager of the restaurant Nigel of

Croatia and asked for a favor. He indicated that he was aware of it and invited me to

attend a latitude party sponsored by the Cruise Next office to meet his boss Tony,

the Hotel Director of the ship. I know that is a chain of command process that I must

follow. I had had such reminder severely about a half of century ago while serving at

the Army in Taiwan, as a matter of fact, at the frontier post of Quemoy offshore of

Amoy, China. My request of teaching at a local middle school was rejected by the

Battalion commander due to my directly went up to the approval from a one star

deputy Division commander through the middle school principal’s introduction. I

have learned that lesson very well and it has been a great help for my career.

I was worried after all of this difficulty and still not having the approval; therefore I

skipped at the end of an art class to go directly to the latitude party and met Tony.

He said to write a Dear Tony letter at the front of customer service desk to him and

would be processed accordingly. I am a writer now and should have no problem to

issue a brief note to him. The next morning, my high ranking daughter Clarita smiled

at me at the Garden Café that she managed and indicated the request had been

approved out of my sincerity and following the chain of command. I just needed to

call her colleague Nigel to get an OK. After the front desk called him, the reservation

desk registered my reservation, instead of one daughter at a time, it was two at the

same time. I figured that was for the safety of these two lovely daughters of mine.

We had had such wonderful time at the steak house. First, I went in early and waiting

at the table at a corner, it was late at night at 9:00 pm, then, there was a turmoil at the

front and the waiters got excited saying that they were here. Two hostess daughters

brought them in, they were in night gown with fully expressed lovely figure, yet both

could not handle the 15 ounces rip eyes steak only half of them. It is one of the best

dinner which I have had with Cagney’s because they ordered side dishes. Raquel was very

considerate that she pulled out her card to pay the additional cost and I stopped the waiter

and she again slipped a tip to him for his service. I saw it and paid her back the next morning

when she offered me coffee. I had had such a wonderful time with them.