Captain Lee Rosbach is not one to mince words, and in this week’s blog, he serves it up straight, with a twist of snark!
Essentially, Lee‘s disappointed with his Below Deck crew, and specifically, with Ben Robinson’s utter lack of professionalism. Lee claims that if he would have actually borne witness to Ben’s petty treatment of one guest – a psychic who told Ben news he didn’t want to hear – Ben would have immediately received “a plane ticket home.” End of story. Ouch!
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Captain Lee begins by apologizing on behalf of his crew.
“First off, I must say I am embarrassed by some of the behavior of my crew. I offer my apologies to our guests. They deserved better. No matter what your beliefs about mediums or the hereafter are, or how anyone may or may not communicate with them, your opinion as crew does not matter. I would never voice my opinions to them even if I didn’t agree with their beliefs. You need to be neutral as charter crew. Anything less is not acceptable. I found some of my crew’s behavior arrogant and condescending, and totally unacceptable.”
Captain Lee continues, “I must say, their behavior was less than stellar once again. I have received posts on social media as to why I am so hard on the crew. Well, there you have it.”
Going in on Lauren Burchnell first, Lee asks, “Where in the world do you get off as a junior deckhand making demands on anyone in front of senior staff?”
Outlining Lauren‘s role in the burning panini maker and pizza trail, Lee scolds, “And then in the aftermath you think that because you didn’t know it since you were drunk, you have a ‘what’s the big deal?’ attitude. This behavior is unacceptable in my book. Anytime you would like to chat about this is totally acceptable to me.”
As for Nico Scholly, Lee wonders how he can defend co-deckhand Kyle Dixon for recklessly letting a pool float away? “Maybe if it was lost and came out of your paycheck, you may feel differently. Kelley [Johnson] didn’t defend him because he was wrong. I called him on it, and where do you as junior deckhand get off questioning me? Kelley was not even on board at the time. I stood on the aft bridge deck and watched it all unfold. Lines were not tied properly. We all knew it, but you wanted to undermine Kelley even though Kyle was at fault.”
Although he does commend Nico for intervening in the panini maker situation, Captain Lee thinks he needs to sort out who he reports to (Kelley) and who deserves his loyalty (apparently, not Kyle!).
Lee addresses Kyle next. “Kyle, I really don’t care about how many babies you have, whether you hook up with Sierra [Storm], with men, women, or both. I do care about how you do your job and interact with the guests. It’s not about you and your history, or where you live or lived or your story. Trust me when I tell you, you are not the sole driver in how much tip we get. If you think you are the sole driver of our tips, you are sadly mistaken. Don’t over-inflate your own self-worth.”
“To say the least I’m disappointed. And by the way, get over Sierra, she wasn’t into you and it sounds like you already have someone waiting back home, so get over yourself,” admonishes Lee, who seems to be sniffing out a bit of Kyle‘s shadiness.
RELATED: Captain Lee And Kate Chastain Dish On Their Crew
Concerning Kelley, Captain Lee says he still holds out hope for his management growth. “Kelley, you have not had it easy, but I am not quitting on you. You are finding out that when you try to be a friend and a boss it doesn’t always work out. You can be friendly but not always friends. Our chat in the wheelhouse you took well, and then you called a meeting with your staff to present your concerns. You started out the meeting with giving them praise, which had it been me, would not have happened, but I commend you for doing so and taking the high road. Their actions have so far have been weighed, measured, and found wanting and you are paying the price. I hope they take what you are saying seriously, but I fear that is not the case.”
Moving on to Kate Chastain’s arguments with Ben and Kelley, Lee has some criticisms: “Kate, I was not pleased with your confrontation with Ben in the galley. You needed to rise above that as it was not the time, nor the place. It’s something I feel you knew after the fact. I also thought that when you had you conversation with Kelley, that it should not have happened in the presence of Ben. He had nothing to do with this department at all and it was none of his business.”
Lee does concede that the crew’s disrespect for authority is playing into these altercations, as is Ben’s “overcompensating” about his disdain for Kate (in front of Emily) by starting arguments.
As for Ben’s behavior in general last charter? Well, Captain Lee is not at all pleased, to put it mildly! “Ben, what in the world am I ever going to do with you? Your job is to prepare exquisite meals for guests that pay a great deal of money to eat them. And you do that so well. Does it really make a difference whether they call it brunch or breakfast? They are eating at different times. It’s not easy on anyone, but you seem to be the only one with your nose out of joint on what it’s called. Please stop with the nit picking. You are a brilliant chef. But your personal life and opinions have no place here.”
Lee then calls out Ben’s “arrogant, condescending attitudes towards our guests. You may express your opinions to Emily or anyone else in private about our guests, I can’t prevent that, but to set out to deliberately humiliate a client and embarrass her intentionally was so over the line. Had I been there and witnessed it, as soon as the charter was over, you would have received a plane ticket out of there. Totally unacceptable behavior from a senior crew member who is there to serve at the clients’ pleasure (clients who by the way pay us). Such arrogance and condescension was appalling to witness.”
Lee continues his rant on Ben:”You were just plain obnoxious and rude period. Especially after she didn’t think you and Em had a future. Then you not only wanted to embarrass her, you put Em on the spot to help you do it. No excuse, and if I see it again personally, we will part company. Under no circumstance do you set out to deliberately humiliate a guest and get away with it on my boat.”
Emily Warburton-Adam, although fairly innocent in Ben’s beef with the psychic, should have also called Ben out on his bad behavior – according to Captain Lee. “Emily, what were you thinking telling Ben that you didn’t think his behavior was out of line? By any sense of decorum, it was wrong and for you to condone it left me astounded.”
But, what about Sierra? Well, she gets off pretty easy in Captain Lee’s blog! “Sierra, I thought for the most part you acquitted yourself quite well this week, managed to stay above the fray for the most part. I thought you had a good week,” Lee closes. So, she can breathe a sigh of relief, I guess!
Meanwhile, the rest of the crew better get their sh*t together before Captain Lee throws them all overboard. Yikes!
TELL US: DO YOU THINK BEN SHOULD HAVE BEEN FIRED? IS CAPTAIN LEE BEING TOO HARD ON HIS CREW, OR DO THEY DESERVE HIS CRITICISMS?
Photo Credit: Bravo
