Standard Chef

I once worked with a chef who had been on board for a couple of years. He was great at his job, but he did however, have a serious drinking problem. This, for the most part, never caused enough of an issue to justify the captain firing him until a crazy 2 week period.

One night, he got so drunk that he couldn’t cook dinner for the crew. The captain let it slide and told him the least he could do was grab some takeout. So he went out and got Chinese. On his return, he dragged the oily bags across the teak—from the passerelle, down the companionway, and into the crew entrance—leaving a trail of grease stains across the deck.

The next night, he got drunk again. This time, fed up, the captain lifted the passerelle insisting the chef find his own place to sleep until he had sobered up. The next morning, the boat next to us came out to start their day and saw all their wash down gear from their bosun’s locker laid out on the deck. Confused, they opened the locker—and found our chef passed out inside, cozy in his temporary cabin. T

he captain gave him a final warning, which he took seriously… for about a week.

A week later, he disappeared again. He’d gotten a hotel, hired a hooker, got drunk, did a bunch of blow, and spent the night with her. He only returned around 10 a.m.—on a Wednesday (work day)—walked straight into the galley to start cooking lunch, without showering or changing from the night before. What he hadn’t realized is that his shirt was covered in shit stains from the night’s activities. That was the final straw. He was fired on the spot.