Let's Call Him Benny

Many years ago, in another time and another place, in another marina - I had a dock neighbor.  Let's call him Benny.

He was, as he would frequently tell everyone - a __great__ marine mechanic.

He lived aboard his older, dilapidated, powerboat - and always seemed to be out of work. 

In between bouts of extreme drunken benders - he could frequently be found badgering people in the marina - trying to persuade them to let him do some engine maintenance on their boats.


I noted that in all the years I knew Benny, not once did he ever get the engine on his power boat to run. Not. Once.

Benny had what is technically known as, "a high Ick factor".

It could have been the way he spoke disparagingly of all of the boat yards that had fired him...and of the other boat owners in the marina....

Or, it could be how he threatened and cursed someone on the dock who declined his offer to work on their engine.

Or, it could have been his carefree disregard for ethical behavior...

I was always cordial with Benny - and would engage in his banter.
He could be quite sincere and charming, sometimes. Especially when not in a drunken stupor.

Benny always made me think of the character of "Michael" in the movie, The Perfect Storm.



One late evening, as I was returning to the marina after a long day working in a client office - I noticed Benny was cleaning some fresh catch.  It was a squid - and he planned to use it in a pasta dish he was cooking for dinner. He invited me to join him aboard his boat for dinner.  I was so caught off guard - that I found myself mumbling an acceptance.

Now, you have to understand something. Benny was near-destitute poor - and here he was, offering to share his meager evening meal with me. That had a profound impact on my impression of him as a human being. This was a man, who had so little, possessed an abundance of a character train that I hold in high regard:

Photo by Dave Lowe on Unsplash

I managed to rummage up a bottle of red wine from my galley - and joined him aboard his boat.

Over a few glasses of wine, Benny shared with me some of the stories from his life. I don't recall whether it was time he spent in the Merchant Marine - or perhaps it was the U.S. Navy - but he had spent time at sea. And so, my esteem for him was further elevated.

Benny was never an intentionally evil person.
I don't think he ever consciously meant to offend people (in general).

He was just a down-on-his-luck fellow, struggling to get by - who probably suffered from some severe personality quirks (or, was simply burdened with some serious anti-social behaviors - or, suffered from a serious lack of lack of anger management skills) - which continued to confound his desire to find work.  Although, from my vantage point - and direct observation - over an almost 2 year period - I would challenge anyone who might have asserted that he had a strong work ethic. At the heart of the matter, I believe Benny was just a marginally good-natured boat-bum.

Benny also had what I would consider to be a flexible understanding of ethics.  Let me explain.

I remember (with horror) the time Benny suggested he could remove and clean the injectors from my diesel engine - which he claimed was the root cause of the minor smoke issue I had mentioned to him in passing. But, I also knew of another boat owner - who had had Benny remove his injectors for a similar cleaning (having paid Benny in advance) - but was seeming to have ongoing problems with getting Vinny to complete the job - and reinstall them.  Benny seemed to think he should be paid a bit more money for the job.

Another time, someone in the marina had paid Benny to do some work on their boat - and had given Benny the combination to the lock on his boat.  One day, in some conversation that I overhead - Benny suggested that he could just go to that guy's boat and borrow some of his tools (for some other work he was offering to do for another boat owner).  Going aboard someone's boat - for any purpose - other than what they have agreed to pay him for - is a violation of ethics in my view. Taking tools off a boat - for use elsewhere - was not something he should even have considered doing.

Near the end of my stay at that marina - Benny was evicted for non-payment of his slip fees.

I have no idea where Benny is today - but I imagine him sitting in a bar, somewhere around a dingy waterfront wharf - drinking heavily - and still complaining about his most recent job termination.

In some other parallel universe, Benny might have been Captain Ron's younger brother.