ships log, morale at low....

This rotation in camp has turned into one big happy joy joy work time after another. Figure after all the stuff that has gone down it is hard to believe that it has only been 2 and a half weeks in camp. I can honestly say that morale in the camp kitchen has hit rock bottom and started to dig into the bedrock. The first cook is totally fed up and frustrated with his shift and the working conditions, I have absolutely no fuel or desire to be in the 2nd cook position. I started on Wednesday after the new 2nd cook quit and by this time I normally would have my lunch sandwiches planned 3 days in advance and be pulling all the meats and items required to assemble and put them together. These days I walk into the kitchen and look at the 1st cook and go 'totally no idea what to make for sandwiches, lets deep fry something'.

For examples, yesterday I had no clue what to do so he said that we had three cases of discount bargain burgers (we call them a 'Guido' product cause they come from Buck Saver and I always joke that they are the things that 'fell off the back of some cousins truck' so they are a good deal) to go through so lets run them. Well I opened up the first box and started to cook them (50 burgers in total) and when they were gone I opened the next box and discovered that they were burgers about 2 inches in diameter. Mighty small burgers to begin with so we opened the next box and discovered the same thing. If we were grilling burgers for 70 preschool toddlers, those burgers would have rocked; if you are grilling for 40 camp workers just come in off the plane after having spent 5 hours in an airport in Cambridge Bay with no food or drink, not a good idea. I looked at the burgers and told the 1st cook that we should fire up the deep fryers and make chicken fingers. After all, Tony was coming in on the plane and if he saw chicken fingers he would freak and give someone crap (he hates deep fried foods for lunch) but the guys would love us cause they go nutty for chicken fingers. If we had stayed with the little medallion burgers, Tony would freak and give someone crap (honestly they looked pathetic, even I was shaking my head going 'stupid, stupid, stupid') and the guys would be unhappy and look at us like we were idiots giving them these little things. At least with the fingers someone would still love the cooks.

Luckily Tony must have been warned by Radio about us in the kitchen and all the crap that had gone down because all Tony did was walk in and look at the line. I was standing there ready to take the heat and admit that it was my fault and all he did was look at the burgers, point and go 'what are those?' to which I admitted my fault in running the burgers without checking the amounts of them and all. Instead of giving me crap, like he normally would have, he just shook his head, smiled and gave a chuckle and moved on.

Oh, something else that has happened. Seems the other guy that we had in the kitchen as the 1st/2nd cook worker was having some marital problems a week ago. His wife was apparently giving him some troubles about being in camp, not being there to help with the two boys and the usual stuff that married men hear about while in camp and away from their wives. He tried to quit but Radio and the 1st cook convinced him that if he went on a 3/3 rotation that she would see he was home half the year, the pay wouldn't be that big of a hit from a 4/2 to 3/3 rotation and everyone would be happy. He accepted the idea, in words, and said he would straighten it out with the wife when he got home.

However, something must have been amiss because when he packed up to go home, he took everything. Normally we leave items that we use in camp on a regular basis up here like cookbooks, utensils (knives, spoons, meat thermometers) locked up in the cupboard or C-can for safe keeping. Saves us from lugging two heavy bags south and then back again 2 weeks later to go to work. He didn't leave a single stitch behind, he took everything.

Radio got an email yesterday morning from him saying that he basically walked in the door to hug his wife and after a few quick words it was decided that they were going to get a divorce. No surprise that the email ended with him saying that he would not be returning to camp and hoped that there were no hard feelings.

The 1st cook said he was surprised of this development since there was a study done (he claimed, I haven't checked to back it up so maybe he is just making stuff up) about 5 years ago on isolated workers in camps and all and found that the divorce rate was around 90%. They attributed it to the fact of being away from the other person for long periods of time and all. Granted, it is only 40% higher than the roughly 50% of divorce rate in civilization but still that is a high rate of divorce. He even stated as evidence that he has gone through 8 girlfriends in 12 months. Though I am thinking it is more that he is a charmer and flirter than the distance. Last time I flew out with him he was chatting, smiling and flirting with every single female that came within speaking distance of him. However, I am sure that the camp life has some help to the problem.

So yeah, baker, 1st cook and myself are totally beat and drained. Tony was warned about it all so he is being extra special and nice to all of us. Even Radio has taken to walking around and asking everyone at least 8 times a day "how you doing? how are things?", granted he says it in the most annoying tone possible but that is just him I figure, instead of him asking it once a day in the morning and walking out the door before you can even give two sentences as an answer. Though if you give a negative answer "I am tired" he rattles off numbers and calculations of how much money you are making, how you can use it to buy houses/boats/cars and all the great things camp has to offer. Doesn't take much to realize that he is divorced and has a girlfriend that seems to be busy enough with committees and other things (rich parents, don't think she works much) to even notice he is around much.

Anyways, so far these 4 weeks in camp are the worst 4 weeks in camp I have had and these 4 weeks are in the running for being the longest 4 weeks I have had in camp. I am noticing that even the idiots in camp are not as amusing as they used to be.