RALPH, THE TAILOR
PART 1
Ralph, the tailor, closed up his Greenwich Village shop for the summer. He flew to New Orleans where he boarded the SS Adonis which would be his home for the summer. He was glad he was well liked by managers of the Club! He had a small sewing shop on board, and he was in charge of all dispensed clothing in the ship. He coordinated with the Laundry department and the Tiny Dry Cleaners. He checked in with T.T. and had the required blood test. This turned out to be a "perk" for working on the SS Adonis. Each year he was tested for HIV and other STDs, and the test was paid for by the Club!
He then went down to his on-board sewing shop. He had to make sure there were enough sewing supplies to last the summer. He was completely in charge of all uniforms on the ship, and that was a lot. There were Ship's Officers, shIps crew, food staff, miscellaneous staff, and the waiters in 5 restaurants. He normally had an assistant, but this year the assistant backed out at the last minute, it was going to be a hectic summer, being on his own! However, It was the restaurant waiters that provided his fun.
The Club management was quite conservative. There were no waiters or busboys dressed only in jockstraps. OH no. The waiters in each restaurant were fully dressed; but in a sexy costume that reflected the "Theme" of the restaurant. The waiter's dress was controlled by the Club, because they had certain standards that must be adhered to. This was good for the restaurants as they did not have to lay out money for waiter's thematic clothing; It was good for their "Bottom Line."
There was an Oriental restaurant; a German restaurant; a French restaurant, a turn of the century American Steakhouse, and a restaurant specializing in modern food, using the latest paraphernalia! Each restaurant had its own costume. This is where Ralph exercised his creativity. Being a tailor of men's clothing did not allow for any creativity, although the financial returns were substantial; especially when one's customers are Millionaires and Billionaires. On board the SS Adonis, Ralph could exercise a talent he had, but did not use in his mundane life.
The element that kept Ralph busy; in addition to maintaining existing dress, Ralph had to plan for the future. The Club management had decreed that there must be new waiter's uniforms periodically. One style of dress was only good for approximately 5 years. This coincided with the "Life" of a waiter uniform. This kept Ralph busy doing research and devising real clothing, dreamt up by his wide-ranging imagination and historical studies. He had to deal with wigs, gloves and hats.
Between his mundane shop and his summer vacations on the SS Adonis, he was essentially happy with his life. The only thing he lacked was that he had not found his Mr. Right. He was very visually oriented and was happy to do fittings on the beautiful young men on the staff of the SS Adonis even when it didn't result in a liaison.
He was happy viewing so many naked youths. This year, he was designing and making new costumes for the German restaurant. The waiter's dress had to be conservative but still sexy. For the waiters in the German restaurant, he designed a costume consisting of "Leaderhosen"; an embroidered vest (no shirt), a "Tyrolean" type hat with feather, calf length socks and "Rustic" shoes. He had already worked out how many of each size he would need. After several years, it became a formula! He pre-built the dresses.
The fitting sessions would be fun. The leaderhosen had to be tight around the ass and crotch and working with leather was not easy! There was only one way to get the desired degree of tightness, and that was a fitting. Too loose and there was no "Sexy Affect," too tight and the waiter would be in pain and could not move much less be an efficient waiter. To get the correct fit Ralph had to touch the beautiful young men's genitals during the fitting! He enjoyed that part even though it was "Professional."
The "German" busboys wore the same vest but with shirt; no hat, and long black (skin tight) cotton pants. Again the pants were tight around the ass and crotch; but not so tight that they could not function.
Although Ralph focused on the new German costumes; he did not ignore the other waiters dress. He aired out the other dress and prepared it for fittings. He checked that the Oriental wigs were fresh, and so were the other waiters uniforms. He examined all the "dresses" to see if any needs to be replaced.
He went into automatic getting ready for the "Season." His movements were familiar, things he had done before. The first trip of the SS Adonis had been very hectic. All the dress had to be ready at once. He had no time to himself while preparing for that first trip. Succeeding trips were less hectic as he only had one new set of dress, and was only busy with fittings, and maintenance of existing dress. There was the usual "fair wear & tear" that had to be dealt with.
He did not have to concern himself with the entertainers who provided their own dress. He was only concerned with staff. As the SS Adonis had been functioning for several years, the staff uniforms were set and he only had to concern himself with fittings and checking if replacements were necessary. The officer's uniforms were set, as were the different crew and staff uniforms
He was very proud of the waiters' dress. He thought he had achieved the Club's desire: sexy but conservative, and the waiters dress differed from restaurant to restaurant. There were the leaderhosen for the German restaurant; the waiters in the American Steak House wore Cowboy outfits; the waiters in the French Restaurant wore black skin tight clothing with balloon sleeves and berets. In the Modern Restaurant, the waiters wore skin tight silver jumpsuits; the waiters in the Oriental restaurant wore beanies with long black braids in the back, over black cotton quilted long gowns. Each Costume was historically correct, only tweeted to be sexy, and usable for waiters!
When the Restaurant waiter staff arrived, after the mandatory blood test, each wait staff arrived at the sewing shop, as a group. Ralph had pre-set the clothing racks with dresses for each restaurant. He guided them to the correct rack and had them try to find a dress that fit them. Ralph went back to the sewing machine. He put a pin cushion (full of pins) into his mouth and began individual fittings. One by one he fitted the clothing, marking the seams. He had each young man remove the dress and leave it in a pile with instructions to come back. He was not going to get much sleep that night, if he was to have all the dress ready the next day!
As Ralph sat at the sewing machine, a young man approached and said: "Can I Help?"
Ralph knew there was more work than he could handle alone. He handed a "seam ripper" to the young man saying: "That pile requires new seams. It will speed up the process if you open the existing seams, but don't mess up the markings from the fittings.
The two worked hard throughout the night! There was no time for socialization. Ralph saw that the young man knew what he was doing; and he gave him more complex projects. The next morning they finally relaxed as all the necessary changes were made. Ralph looked at the Young Man and said: "We worked all night, and I don't know your name! I'm Ralph."
The young man replied: "My name is Tom."
The two men stared at each other, eventually Ralph said: "You seem to have a knack for clothing. Where did that come from?"
Tom replied: "I started sewing costumes for the High School Musicals. Then I sewed for the local community theatre. I went to college to be a costume designer. When I graduated from college, I headed to New York with the hopes of designing and making costumes for Broadway. Unfortunately, I was never in the right place at the right time and did not make the necessary connections. I started waitering to "support me." Then I heard about this job, so here I am."
Ralph was intoxicated by the young man. A Gay young man interested in what he did! He asked Tom: "Are you gay?"
Tom smiled and said: "I'm on this boat aren't I! That should answer that question."
Ralph thought about it and hesitantly asked: "You know, I could use a helper on the ship. If your interested. Working with me in the sewing shop is better than waitering. The pay is better!"
Tom smiled, and said: "That sounds good to me. The restaurant has plenty of help, and I wouldn't be missed. Besides, I like doing this. Waitering was only a "support me" job. If you make the arrangements, I will be happy to work with you."
Over the next few days, Tom worked side by side with Ralph. Together they fitted all the waiters and the other staff members. They didn't relax until the ship went on its "Shake Down Cruise." For the first time, they could talk to each other.
Ralph took the time to examine how Tom looked: early twenties, a nice body, and an interest in clothing and sewing. Ralph thought to himself that he needed an assistant in his shop. Was Tom the one? Aside from his being attractive, he was good at making clothing. Ralph relaxed, he had the summer to observe Tom's professionalism. Who knows, maybe they could get together sexually? If they did, it would have to be Tom who made the first move.