Job Discussion Forums

[Prof.Gringo]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/carnival-cruise-passengers-robbed-gunpoint-mexico-161434398--abc-news.html

For the last few years, fewer and fewer cruise ships have been calling at Mexican ports... I am SURE that this will increase even more rapidly now.

Carnival is the largest owner/operator of cruise ships in the world, I am sure we can expect to see some major shifts in their fleet becuase of this incident.

BTW, don't say how this was a one-time thing, and with all the violence in Mexico, this is only becoming more and more common. Cruise lines will NOT make port calls in countries that are unsafe or that can't insure the safety of guests.

[EFLeducator]

[Dragonlady]

OK... what happened to just the facts.

Your news is old. Find the update because I can't be bothered...

The story originally ran that it was a group of evil masked men brandishing automatic weapons (you know, the 'farmer' type guys).
After all was said and done, it was purported to be 1 masked Hollywood style bandit who said very nicely they could all leave after robbing everyone of the few personal effects they had with them.

Centavos to pesos, if the group had all gone 'BOOOO' at the same time, the poor fella would have p**d his pants, dropped his gun and ran into the hills.
Quite frankly I'm more worried about these huge ships 'tipping over' because unqualified captains have bets with other yahoos as to how close they can come to a reef...

"Warn the tourists," she said, with tongue in cheek.
FACT: My coordinator was mugged two nights ago... leaving OXO at (an early) 10:30pm... of the change from 200 pesos and the cigarettes she'd just bought - first time ever. The 2 punky teenagers had been in the store with her.

I'm almost certain that anyone who tries to take my smokes and the change from my last 200 pesos at 10:30 at night in the middle of a trying week of classes has a death wish.

Dragonlady
PS: A lot of people know that Elvis isn't really dead - just really old

[the peanut gallery]

"Centavos to pesos, if the group had all gone 'BOOOO' at the same time, the poor fella would have p**d his pants, dropped his gun and ran into the hills."


I dont think confronting ANY person with a gun is a good idea. But thats just me.

[Tretyakovskii]

P.G., sometimes people respond instinctively, and you can see what's in them. My boss was held up at gun point by two men who demanded her purse: she refused to yield it, at which point they fired a warning shot into the ground and attempted to wrestle the purse away. She still wouldn't yield. As neighbors began to appear, the two would be muggers decided they weren't going to get anywhere, and fled.

Another friend tells a similar story, minus the gun, of wrestling with a young man for her purse, on the street, and winning the tug of war.

Both women just responded with what was in them, at the moment, without thought, and it was to refuse to give in to the demands. Always a risk of a different outcome, but I admire their courage.

[I'll add that these two events are all I have to tell, and they occurred over a very wide interval of time, stretching for years. Stories like this are rare, among those I know.]

[the peanut gallery]

While such actions may be valiant, they are certainly not intelligent. Bravery, in the cases you mentioned, coexists with stupidity. I can do without the heroic admiration and acknowledgement of "whats in me"..courage...mettle...whatever you want to call it. I value my life, wife, and future much more than the contents of my wallet.

In my opinion anyone willing to catch a bullet to defend the 400 pesos, drivers license, credit card, kleenex, mirror, etc. that they have in their purse or wallet really need to reconsider their priorities.

[Tretyakovskii]

P.G., it's not about a calculation, it's about a sense of self that includes resisting in such situations.

Those who don't see themselves that way don't easily understand those who do: there's room for both, but in a pinch I'd prefer to be with and among those who, as you said, display such courage.

[Prof.Gringo]