It is very early morning here, and I am eager to start my day.  I enjoy a good sleep, but the minute the night  invites daylight, I am eager not to miss a thing.  This morning, I wanted to write a short article about the wonderful team of servers who make our days wonderful.  Last evening, at the Captain’s Ball, we learned that there were people from 123 countries on board.  There were over 800 passengers from the States and 1200 passengers from Britain.  As we were all having a wonderful time at this formal Black and White Ball, I thought about all the young people who serve the meals, present HIGH TEA, take our orders, and make our days pleasant –from early, early morning until late, late evening.  I spent some time chatting with three of our servers who have made quite an impression on us.  We learned that there are recruiting stations all over the world where these hundreds of young people can apply to work on the Queen Mary.  The majority of the servers we have met have come from Latvia/Ukraine, the Philippines, and Peru.  They have to have an acceptable level of English and have to have the personalities to deal with very fussy passengers who make a lot of demands.  Our three main servers have been fantastic.  In fact, we think we will take the three of them home with us!  Let me introduce them to you.

SIBONNEY is from Peru.  She is a morning server, and she is perfect for her job.  When we are all wandering around the ship early in the morning, we meet this very beautiful and cheerful young lady whose eyes dance with the angels and bring a smile on our faces. When she arrives with her Danish Tray, we all light up and are thrilled to see her.  She is on the ship for 9 months, and then she returns to Peru for three months before returning for another contracted nine months.  She earns a salary and receives her airplane tickets back to Peru as well as her airplane ticket back to the ship when her next work period begins.  She told me that she saves her money and sends it home to her family.  By taking this job, she can travel the world, meet people from every country on the planet, and perfect her English.  We love SIBONNEY, and we would give her a recommendation with hesitation.  Meet this wonderful young lady.

The second server we want to highlight is from Latvia.  I can’t recall his name, but this young man came to the United States from Latvia to work in a hotel in Pittsburgh for one year.  His purpose was to learn the hotel trade and to perfect his English.  I will find out more about this “bright bunny” this morning when he comes to cheer up our table.  He loves his job working with people and sharing his life story, and he eager to speak perfect English in hopes that eventually his training will get him a first rate job.  He reminds me of a young fellow who has just won a tennis match and has a hot date with his girlfriend all lined up for the evening.  He is as wholesome as homemade pie.  Wonderful young man–he will go places, and we wish him well.  Meet “Mr. Latvia.”

And meet his tray of incredible “goodies”

Our third server is Puneet Thapliyal from New Delhi, India.  Puneet is a sophisticated young man who learned English at school in India.  He is what you would call a “classy” young man who has a clear idea of what he wants and where he is going in life.  He wants to travel the world with Cunard to meet people, save his money, and perfect his English which is already without accent.  He moves easily between his guests and is sensitive to people’s feelings.  Puneet is one of those people who has it all going for him very early in life.  His charm and skills will start him off on a path his parents will be proud of.  He talks about his family in India, and it is easy to see that this boy has come from a home where he was loved.  This is a gentleman.  Meet PUNEET THAPLIYAL.

Thomas Moore   email:  TMooreSr@me.com    Telephone:  801.791.9918

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