From where I sit (at anchor someplace warm) the big-story back in the US of A is what's going on in Wisconsin. If you want to find some finest kind coverage you won't do better than Talking Points Memo who seems to have all the needful info... For another take, Rachel Maddow explains some important points.
The reason I mention this is I am a working guy and as a result I know that it is in the workers best interest (if you are a worker you know who you are) for unions to have your back. Fact is, even if you are not in a union your wages and the protections you enjoy in the workplace are mostly the result of hard fought battles by unions fighting the good fight on your behalf. On the other hand, if you think that unions are a bad idea, maybe you'd be interested in doing my next bottom job for $2.00 a day...
Actually what I sat down to write about was the whole cruisers working for other cruisers gig and suchlike. It's pretty obvious that some cruisers have skills and abilities that other cruisers lack and from time to time commerce is involved... Kinda makes sense.
Cruising comes with a certain "we're-all-in-this-together-we-help-each-other" vibe that is not exactly something where invoices and billable hours come into play. Not too long ago I read an interesting thread on a forum that painted a pretty negative picture of folks who charged money to work on other cruisers boats, pointing out that only scoundrels would take advantage of their brother cruisers...
So, what's your take?
In my mind it is pretty simple and it works like this: Help to people in dire straights is never something I'd charge for, but other than that, it all depends... For instance, if the guy a couple of boats over has a problem with his outboard I'd be happy to loan him my copy of "Outboard Motors", a tool or two, or ferry him and his motor to someplace for repair. If I were bored I might even give him a hand. Now, if he were to drop off the motor and told me to fix it and have it ready by six o'clock, well that's a whole different kettle of fish as there is a big difference between the words "Help" and "Do".
In the cruising community you quickly learn that some folks are pretty good at getting people to help them and maybe not quite so good at returning the favor. Not too unlike those borrowers of tools that never lend their own sort of folks... We all know Those People.
Fact of the matter is, I'm all for a healthy working sector within the cruising community and I'd much rather pay someone on a boat $20 an hour to help me do a job or do a job that was beyond my abilities, than pay $90 to a yard to have a guy who makes only $5 an hour work on a needful project. Keeping money circulating within the cruising community is a GOOD thing!
Over the years I have come across a few cruisers whose business model is of the pyratical order but luckily those sort are few and far between. They don't last long in the cruising gig and wind up opening a refrigeration shop, diesel repair service, or suchlike someplace where they can prey on folks on a larger scale and at higher rates than available cruising...
Listening to Bo Diddley
So it goes...
