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Comment by jedberg | Hacker News Reader

I guess I'm not cut out to be a yacht owner, because I assume I would treat my crew the same way I treat my employees now -- demand that they try to stick to a 40 hour work week, feed them, and make sure they are well rested and being safe.

I guess I would have to ask that magic yacht designer to design one that had double the normal crew quarters so that they didn't have to work doubles.

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Crew on your superyacht is not your employees, it's a service. It's more like a hairdresser or barista. Do you ask your barista if they had enough sleep? Do you ask your hotel room cleaner if they ate well? Do you have another bedroom for your dogwalker?

Your employees and you are the team. You hunt together, you win together, you celebrate together. You may know the name of a waiter, but you don't have the same relationship with them, right?

You’re with a barista for 5 minutes. You’re at the hairdressers for an hour. Crew on a boat is stuck there mostly 24/7. Even if it’s contract work its clearly a different kind of job.

Also, you should know your chef’s name after a couple of months at sea. That seems like basic humanity.

Given that these people would live in my "house", I would hire people that would be interesting to have around when they're not doing their job, so I would assume I would get to know them better than those other folks.

I equate more to the nanny we have now -- she's only here about 15 hours a week, but we chat all the time, I know all about her family, and I've seen her engagement video.

Given that this is your fifth "house" where you spend about a month per year (maybe a week at a time), you wouldn't even be a person who hires them. And when you do spend time on your superyacht with your guests Bill Gates and Steve Jobs you wouldn't even be interested if your masseur is an interesting person. Because you can either hear about creation of Mac from the creator of Mac directly OR see your masseur engagement video. It's your vacation time and it's your decision what would give you more out of your life.

> Do you ask your barista if they had enough sleep?

If I was their employer I would.

The crew on you superyacht are the people you expect to save your ass in an emergency, to properly maintain the boat's systems, and generally make sure you're not on board a deathtrap.

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