E172 Rick Sousa

This week's guest is Rick Cusso-Sauge joins us from warm and sunny Porto-Plata in the Dominican Republic. Rick has been working aboard various cruise ships since 2004 and has recently taken on the role of Random Ambassador, a ready-quant trow and Dominican Republic and Global Cruise Ships. Rick has earned many different accradations and designations throughout his career, such as W-Set, Level 2, Wine and Spirits, Master Brewer, Advanced Mixologist, Barista, Chef, Andy Speaks, 8 Languages. We had a great conversation with Rick as he discusses how he got into working on a cruise ship and the life you can expect aboard a ship, the significance of continuing to educate yourself and learn in order to advance your career as well as the importance of entering bartending competitions.

Make sure you check Rick out on Instagram at RickTheMix or check the show notes as always. And also a one final note to add, at the start of our conversation I refer to this episode as number 171, whereas this is actually episode 172. Enjoy the show. Okay, we are back with another episode of the industry podcast.

I am Kip, this is Dan and what's going on. And I'm just hanging out with this being awesome, I enjoyed the last bit of our nice warm weather this past week and then now it's going from mid-20s to 5. It's really going to be shit. Yeah, that was right.

Quick kick of the ass. How do things go with you? Good, good. Just coming off Halloween weekend which was profitable for the businesses.

That's good. So, less to complain about? I'm sure I can find something. I work in the five businesses, it's always something to complain about.

And just because you guys busy Friday Saturday for the whole weekend of Saturday. Well, it's always different at all the bars but Sugar Ronde had to burn less on Friday so that was always a big hit for us. And Saturday was good as well for Halloween party. Babylon was good both nights for, we had an Afrobeat party on the Saturday night.

And I started wedding on Sunday. And then Argyle, well Argyle's on History. You just throw into the wall and see if people come. Oh, you're in Cambridge or that one over there.

So, yeah, if you are in the Tri-City area and you want to visit one of my bars at Sugar Ronde Downtown Kitchener, at Sugar Ronde Bar on Instagram. Babylon Sisters, up to down Waterloo, at Babylon Sisters Bar on Instagram and Argyle Arms in lovely Preston, Ontario, at Argyle. I just score Arms on the score 2023. You can find out everything that's going on at all of those places.

Lots of live music and trivia, music bingo, all that stuff happens at Argyle at the time. And then there's a lot of other places and live events at the other two locations. So, check them out. Also, check out the Industry Podcast.

Subscribe, right? Review. That helps us out. Yeah, if you want to hit that subscribe button right now, even.

Yeah, go back in the catalog. It's episode 171. 171 times we've done this. Yeah, I'm just 71 times we've been drunk on Monday.

Yeah, well, that's probably the under. Yeah, that's true. But at least we recorded podcasts. So, congratulations to you beginning of the 171.

I've been fired from my day job, so that's good. That's great. Yeah, if you want to be a guest on the show at info at the industry podcast.club.club.cub or you can DM us at the industry podcast on Instagram. Yeah, we're always open to taking on guests from the service industry from all over the world.

And we have one joining us in just a minute before we get to Rick. We are going to give a shout out to Zachana at Zachana.co for doing all the artwork for the Instagram page. Always much appreciated. And I think that's about all we got to Yammer on about.

So, let's get to somebody interesting. Rick Zuza is with us joining us from Porta Plata in the Dominican Republic right now, but originally from Brazil. Yeah. Hey guys.

I want you to help everybody. It's fine actually. Yeah. How can I say that?

I will talk about a little bit about me so that you guys going to know me where I come from and what I'm doing in life. So, yeah, at least you guys are going to know me a little bit more. And first of all, thank all of you guys for reaching out and talking to me. Again, thank you.

This is really a big nice thing for you guys to do it. And not just for you guys, but for everybody that's listening right now, because actually talking about how to defend off dialogue is really something. How can I say it? Something that's not everybody wants to do it, but nobody has a courage to do it.

Let's go down that way. Just so you guys know me a little bit more, I'm Rick Sosa. I'm from Brazil, originally, but I live in Porto Plata because right now I'm working for Remi Control. I'm the global branding buffer for the cruise ship site.

And also two weeks ago, they promoted me. That's one of the way also for Dominican Republic branding buffer as well. Congratulations. Thank you.

I don't feel like that, but it's brighter. We're the same way with the same way with the same way with my dog. Yeah. We're working same way.

Sounds like we did that before. Yeah. When you started out in Brazil, when did you decide you wanted to get into bartending? Let's put it on the way.

I get out from Brazil when I was 16 years old, originally, and then I lived in Argentina for two years. Supposed to be two months, but then two years. What to say is, I just came to my grandpa because he actually won the marina before, and then I asked him, look, I'm not good to go at school. And believe me, I just wanted to do something else.

He told me, okay, here's $2,000, go whatever you want to go, but just in South America because if you do something, I should think that this is more easy for me to rescue out from there. So I took a bow, I took a bow, and then I just went to the finger, I took it out of the way. So I go to Argentina, then come on, 16 years old. That was like 2002, and then it's like a sex-dressing rock in the way.

So I decided I used everything in less than two weeks, probably two weeks. After that, I just made myself that I don't have a job. I'm a job lawyer, and I don't know what to do. So I spent only speaking, I spent almost three months under the bridge.

Oh, wow. Yeah. Under the bridge, eating food that everybody's throwing in everything else. Until one, how can I say that, one old lady, amazing lady that I speak to me with her today, she reached me out when I was there, and then she's asking to me what I was doing there because she realized that I'd actually, I'd think, speak Spanish at the time, and then I'd come from a different country.

And then I'd come to her everything, and then she'd give me a job that was a rabbit restaurant. That was my first job completely. So I was like scrubbing the bands and everything else. I was like a bird boy, just cleaning the bands and everything.

After two months and a half, I get promoted and then I go for the hospitality services that was we needed. Then like two months more, two and a half months more, I help her with opening her second restaurant and everything, and then I just decided to quit because I was thinking that restaurant was not for me. But I still want to stay in the industry itself. Then after that, I didn't want to also come back at home.

So I just working my McDonald's at the time until I come back home. When I come back home, my grandpa just slapped me like five times because he didn't know what I was doing, what I was doing, what I was. Actually, because we didn't have a cell phone at the time, let's put it away. And it was not easy to reach out.

So I call like every three months in a row and then I say, look, I'm not like back. That's it. Then I arrived at home. My grandpa was like, okay, you used to be coming language now.

I said, look, I'm speaking to an app because actually Spanish was easy. I speak Portuguese and English. So I was almost re-lingued at the time. Then he told me, look, why you don't try cruise ships?

You speak of three languages. At least you already work in the FMB site. So try it. I decided to try it.

I just put my CV out there and then the first company hired me. That was a cruise ship company called RFPB and that was my first job on cruise ship ever. I suppose we speak six months, but I think 12 months. I say one year inside of the ship completely.

Now that I didn't get out, I do get out. That's something that we need to clarify that every board the crew member can get out. If, let's say, if your work duty doesn't rely on, so it's okay that from 4 to 7, you don't work. You get out and you do get back working at it.

It's up to you. So I say one year. Then I was assisting two years at the time and then I decided, you know what? I don't know if I will come back to the restaurant.

But anyhow, the second company calls me. I was, I've increased this. It doesn't even exist anymore completely. It was completely complicated and they think the ships.

I don't know why. Some of these ships actually. Yeah, it was a good ship though. It was adaptation from tire bush ships.

So the elevator was feeling like 50 people in a row. It was amazing though. It's completely different from the cruise ships that we have right now. Then on that one, I was waiter and head waiter.

That was my first time that I have in touch with the bartender out there. Because I had this bartender that I always look at me and then I said, hmm, no, I don't look exactly like looking not ready. Okay. I just look at him and say, okay, that guy is amazing, man.

But what makes him amazing is because he can make the cocktails, he can make the drinks, he can speak with the person and he's getting people all the time. And then I was looking to myself, I said, why don't have it that he has it? And then I put in my mind, I said, courses. Courses.

And then I started to think about it. What should I do? Then I speak with the bartender and then I told him, what is your man? How's your lifetime over here?

And then he's telling me, look, it's pretty same as yours. But the point is, I have fun. I just enjoy myself and then I do what I have to do it. If the person is not in a good mood, let's set straight and put her in a good mood.

Anyway, you're dealing with the experience. So if they don't get in a good mood, believe me, they are reading the page. So it's not something. And I did this course over here.

He said to me straight ahead. I did this course here. Then I searched that course. In the end, I know that the bartender was Brazilian as well.

And then he didn't dictate me. He didn't dictate me. He didn't give me the invitation for one course that he did in just a little 99 year old. That he was, since he was in the food of every time.

And I did. I just go out there and I did. I said, you know what? Next course I will not come back as a waiter anymore.

I will come back in the bar. So that's what they did. I go to the course. I did the course.

Then I just go to the bar and restaurant. I just knock in the door. I just came to the right place. They look.

I need to have some kind of experience for the cruise ships. I do have experience for the restaurant, but I need experience for the bar. You don't need to pay me anything, but I just need to get the experience from that. Comes the time that I was like with five, six, sometimes even paying jobs in one weekend.

And then I go and then I do it. And then I learn because actually everything, let's put on the way. Let's try straight the boundaries. Everything is about the classic.

Everything the variations, everything we do today. It's classic octos. That's 77 that we have out there. Everything comes from a body issue from that.

And once I learned that, I said, okay, I think so. Now I'm ready to do this. So what I did, I worked with a nightclub called a D club. And then I stayed there for what?

Four months, five months. And then I become the head bar. The head bartender at the time. After that, I just send my CV to another company called at NSC.

It's an Italian company. Then they hire me straight ahead because I already have the ship experience. And when I started, I started out of our server for six months. And then the other six months, my bartender broke the leg and he had to work.

So that's what my chance. I just dumped my bar manager and then I said, you know what? I'm ready. I can do this.

Just give me the chance. He looked at me and then he said, you think so? I said, I don't think so. I'm sure what I can do.

So just give me the chance. And that's what he did. I just make six months straight out of our tender. But in the end, what the company that I like it was okay.

But some people here, they are, you know, we always have this kind of a disagreement with some people. So I just decided to go away. Then I go to another company called the Cruises. Did you guys heard from what I'm quoted as I think in the Iceland Italian Iceland?

Yep. You take the right guy because I was there. Oh, really? You guys didn't know that?

No. Yeah, because actually I don't say it because I was not ready for more than 10 years. I was not ready to talk about that because it was something that, how can I say that? There's something that more about my mental health and anything else.

But I see that I'm okay to talk about it, to be open and tell what really happened. So yeah, I was there. I worked for 11 years on Quasapruchere. Then I go from Barserve, yeah.

Barserve to a system bartender, bartender, head bartender. Then I finish over there as a system every manager. Then, yeah, but the point is why I get out from the company, it's not because she's not there. Because she's like a mom.

She's really treating well and it's life when you need it. Life put it all the way. It wasn't really good environment. I can tell you that because everybody was like a polite, help you out and all those things, you know.

I just decided to get out from there because it comes from time that I was a system every manager and there was hiring bar managers from outside. I catch myself teaching the new bar manager what he's supposed to do when I was just here. You know what I mean? So I was like, it's not jealousy, but it's something like, okay, I'm here.

I'm ready. I want people 11 years and you take a percent that work just to make my job like put on the way. That's why I decided to get out from there. Okay, before you go too far forward, we got to talk a little bit about this.

If you're willing to talk about it now, about the ship's thinking and what women experience like. Talk to us about what happened and how that experience was for you at the time. At the time I was a head bartender. Yeah, I was a head bartender.

I was working on deck nine because actually we have the decks with the carvings and everything else. Then we have the bars that we have like a grumb board that's on the drive. Then we have the pools that on deck nine. Then you have the vision board that's all the way to the top.

I was on the back bar and what I bought at the time. Man, what I feel like was like nine thirty, eleven o'clock in the evening and then the ship is like the trembling, like a lot. And for us that we work on board for many years when the ship starts to trembling, something's really wrong with the engines because we know that something's trembling. He needs to say that the elephant on there.

It's not that good. So the ship starts to trembling but he didn't stop. It's like was two minutes of trembling and then we say, okay, something's really wrong out here. Then after like five minutes or ten minutes, the light comes out.

Pops out in, pops out. Pops out. Pops out all the time for twenty five minutes. What a lot.

Then I was together with the super servers, one of the peanut, really, really tall. And I have this guy from India that was really, really small. She was like a really big, like really big. And I told her, I said, okay, let's, let's get out from here and let's see downstairs and let's go downstairs because if we need to take the left jacket, we need to take it now.

So we go downstairs. Of course, the light pops out. We don't use the litators, so we go by stairs. When we arrive downstairs on deck zero, because we call it deck zero, the way that the ship is designed, simple.

The water was like almost half of my feet. And then I was, yeah, what I'm thinking, like a lot. And then when I think that I said, okay, we are screw. So don't say another thing.

We are completely screwed. Then I look at her, she looked at me as I like those with deck four. Why would I say that? Because the deck four depends on the design of the ship and which company you're working on.

You do have the open decks on the both sides. It can be like four and deck five or decks six. It cannot be more. It has to be those decks.

So when we go there, we see a day's fair light jacket. We already put the light jacket on us. And then we start to helping the people to get out of the ship. Then I remember discussing a manager, the, the peanut woman, she said, no, nothing happening.

Please everybody go back to your car. Everything's okay. I just, I just tapped in. And then I said, you know what?

Shut your bloody mouth. The ship is thinking. Tell the people to get out from here right now and you take a lecture. She looked at me like, really?

I said, yes, if you go deck zero, it's halfway seveners. So please just go. And believe me, if the deck three is seveners means to say that our car being where we live was already flooded under the water completely because we live under the deck zero. So that less one, less two, less three.

The engines is less two, and less three. And our car is from less two until like deck six in the front of the ship. And then she took the black jacket, she starts to help out everything. And then one point that I always tell, and then I always say in that I don't see any officer around, like any officer around, like the person that's supposed to be guiding and helping us all the way.

They did appear. I've, the captain disappeared because he fell down the like, both and he was already on the land. Oh, that's so much for the captain going down with the ship. Yeah.

He goes down from the ship, not with the ship. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So we come to know like really like hours after what he did. So what happened is just like the second or the third officer was the one that make the designations with the signals and everything. So those guys stay over there was the only guy who's staying over there. The rest of the officer is nobody see it and everybody was out.

I know that I was one of the last like five or six persons that get out of the ship because I make sure that everybody was there and something that everybody's asking to me is like, you want to come when you was doing that. I said, not that much, but yeah, it was pretty calm because actually. If you are agitated and you're not calm, especially when the situation is completely designed, you're under stress, even as the other people like trying to jump or do something that they don't supposed to, especially the people that was not trained it for. And I wasn't born for what seven years, eight years at the time, only other companies together with that one seven years.

And then I said to myself, if I do something right now, I have to help these people. I don't care about my own life. So that's what I did. And that's what happens.

What happens after that they put it out in a hotel after that it was really like a small island like a tiny island of 20,000 persons. Then they put it out in an one week later, they flew everybody home. So how many people run that ship at the time? They see that?

No, much more because that ship is designed for 3,900 persons plus 1,700 groups. So it was like 5,000 something and one completely and one completely food, though. And it was like, if I remember was 38,000,000,000,000. Jesus Christ, that's crazy.

And three of them was crew and one of them is one of my very good friends was from Petush, one of our servants. And the other two guys was musicians. And actually they died because of something a little bit stupid, but I don't want to say that a little bit. So let's go that way because they already died.

But they died because they tried to come back to their cabin to take their violin. You know why? You know why he wanted to take the violin because actually that violin was not just emotional, but was really a big amount of violin. It's like a 200,000 euros because that violin has more than 100 years something like that.

And he tried but the cabin and the flood and everything because actually we have something that we call them. The must stations and the fire zones. But within the fire zone, the ship is divided by seven fire zones, so six depends on the size of the ship. So what happens if the ship is taking the front, then we close the watertight door zone.

That's where his own to no water passing to the other fire zones. So what happened at the time is that guy, he passed to that fire zone when he saw it. Surely when he was trying to come back, the watertight was completely closed and he cannot get out from that. So he died for that.

And after that I flew to Brazil and then I stayed like three months at home. And I was pretty sure he decided that I would not come back. Yeah, you can imagine. I was going to ask you, after going through a harrowing experience like that, how do you decide to get back on the ships after that?

I might not even want to bartend anymore, let alone go back on the cruise ship. So how did you manage to do it? I was trying to buy a tank at home in Brazil. That I was living in Brazil at the time.

And last time the thing is straight, you don't get a good amount of money that you're going to get it from the ship. So I was trying at the time to open my own bar, to open my own bar. And within the money that I was waiting in Brazil, I was explaining more money that I was winning. Let's put on that one.

So when they call us back, I was head bartend at the time and they call me back as a system of every manager. So they give me one position more. So within that position, my salary double, I said, you know what? I will go, let's see it.

If I don't, how can I do that? If I don't fit again, it's okay. I will get out. Let's try.

Did you have some nerves about getting back on the ship again? On the first month, let's put on the way. I was like a little bit shaky and a little bit like I have to walk with somebody from my department like in that hero, that one. And I was like, everything is okay.

Any kind of noise that was like a weather's like door or the ship shaking or trembling. I was like waking up at the time. But after the second month, everything was normal again. And then my mind was like, okay, you're in the ship.

So everything is okay. So that's crazy. So that's crazy. Because the muscle memory of you working on the ship for so long before that just comes back to you.

But there's got to be a little PTSD from the experience you went through as well, right? So that's crazy. I mean, good for you to be able to do it again. But that's obviously did it in a necessity in some ways as well.

But like crazy for you to get back on those ships. And then so how many years after the accident did you continue to work on the boat? Like you just got off them, right? So yeah, I just got off on the boat this May.

So let's put on the way. If I count all my years on cruise ships is 18 years because I'm 35 now. So I mean, it's almost 19 years. 19 years.

And how many years into your first experience? Did the ship think like how many years have you been working on the ships after the accident? What's the 2011? So 12 years.

Yeah. Oh, that's crazy, man. Yeah. Wow.

That's okay. So let's be a little more positive and talk about like what was it that you specifically liked about working on the cruise ships? Okay. Let's say that you're never going to get the experience at home, like a home pretending or even at your normal bar.

Why actually? Especially let's put on the way as well because cruise ships, they hire people from the third for the third country. But let's let's say straight like India, Philippines, Indonesia. Now they are hiring more Russians or cranes and people from Balkan, those parts, Serbia.

But before they just hire like, Indonesia, India, Philippines, Brazilians, Argentinians, why? Because actually our money values more when you work on the cruise ships. So $1. So $1 is just like five rears right now.

So it's a lot of money, you know what I mean? So for that is five rears. I live in Philippines and $1 is 54. No, 61 Philippines, peso.

With $1, you can fit 12 persons. Oh, make a lot of money, you know what I mean? So that's why they hire the people because they know they will work with the with more stress, but they still going to deliver the same amount of money. So the money is one of the things, but of course it's not the objective, depends on the objective what you want.

The amount of people that you're going to met depends on the ship and the cruise company that you work. You're going to work with the 45 to 54 different countries. So it's a lot of things for you to learn, especially the future exchange and all those things. Plus the, what we say is it's a free food.

It's a free in the map. It's a free. You are just going to some places that you're never going to have the money or the time that you could get. It's your not in the ship.

So right now, at this point, I know 124 countries, but also this could be a con. Why these 124 countries are the crew member. I just have a this limited amount of time to go out, see it over see it and do what I want to do. That's asking.

How much time do you get at the stop? Let's put on that. If I take the morning schedule, I will. Pretend.

You have the opening schedule, the middle schedule, the middle schedule. The opening schedule is from the morning to 12 in the afternoon, you come back for the You stop at seven in the evening come back at eight in the evening stops at eleven days That's it. That's the time that you're gonna make a that's one for your whole country So we think that time from twelve to four if you should stop it You just go and you have your time depends on you, but it's doing overnight It's even better because I'm about you just finish and you just go out and you stay on to the next morning if you want to Depends on where you were I do many times on Russia I do many times on New York like four times in New York I do one time in Miami and then I do a lot of times like I need any friends All those Those countries on Europe so depends on the time now if you are in the meeting schedule You're gonna enter like eleven in the morning until Six in the afternoon then you're gonna come back nine in the evening until one o'clock or twelve in the in the morning Like one on the way now if you're closing schedule you're gonna start that twelve in the afternoon to four o'clock Come back at seven o'clock and go straight into the morning So you have the morning shift for you to go out that you have to wake up here For that remembering that in the night before you're basically like three o'clock for a clock in the morning And then you have from seven Yeah from from four to seven so you have like three hours So depends on your what you want to do So that's why many many pro members also they pay people work for them to do the laundry from their company because actually They just want to have fun. They just want to well side No, so I was one of that remembers for many years I just like somebody to watch my clothes because I just want to go to sleep or I just want to have a specific board that I have a time to go and then I just want to wow, you know I mean so it's just like that so you have the time to met the country that you are but also How can I say it you don't have completely time to man the counter to work?

So sometimes what I do is like if I love a country I will go back in the locations like I do many times in Harlem And especially it's where I do my imageology course It's my first course of our time that completely full mixology was in the European bartender school in the ABS That's where I did and so what I did I just did the vacations and then I just said okay I didn't work on tangent and then I will come back to September 10th no june July August and then I will come back August and I will go stand on the Too much yeah, it's a way to do that. Yeah for a couple months. Yeah, that's usually what I do What I did in Europe before the war between Russia and train. Do you know this was a name this pull our train?

That goes from oh yeah. Yeah from the top to the bottom. So that's what I did for one month and a half So I so I just made that one was like Two thousand two thousand pounds something like that at the time because I don't remember why I've been found But I be it and then I go because I sleep over there I have my own cabin and then I do everything and then every two days they stop it in a different place of Russia And then I just go from the top to the bottom and then when I was in the bottom I just go to Spain friends and those places that I already know that they already had fight with that with When I was crew member I would I find an I see it what I see it I just goes to places that I don't say before and then I jumped on the counter jumped on the counter Why because actually the flight ticket in Europe. They are really cheap.

So sometimes I fly from Italy to Spain Within what 19 euros? It's really cheap. It's more cheap than you go back. Are you know that and take a lot of time and then that's that's what is crucial time And especially and especially in our cruise ship side of the crew member time is everything But it's okay.

So the good stuff is your math countries you make up with an auto money Of course if you want to keep it and you don't use it U-Mats people from all over the world and you learn Constantly everything that if you want to put your own position something to set me as a bartender I just wanted to grow so everything is learned why because they pay you courses if you want to like bars marks like a per night card like I was a member of the school that you sat those five holes one two and three and they pay you thanks So thanks to the next one that I did up there concert That's Norwegian cruise line. I do my something they like to and then right now I'm finishing the level two spirits because I will make it The exam in the beginning of November now like in November six things something like that But that's what I tell the cruise ships if they want you if they see you that you want to grow They will help you out financially whatever you want that they will help you out also the flight ticket You don't pay it the hotels. You don't pay it like when you embark and when you didn't bark at and you have what we call the feminine friends What is feminine? Yeah feminine friends is it's two things of course You have your feminine friends on board and it's like a special discount for the crew It's like 50% of the original rate and they can stay in a cabin or they can say the gas cabin and then you can stay over there So those things it's pretty good Yeah, and get better within the time because when I started we was like a military but right now it's more wider It's more widespread and then companies like a record be emerging that comes to the difference I work over there as well You can work with tattoos and as you guys really can see it about the audience and not But I have a lot of tattoos like everywhere and you can see it like I do have and this is something that for some cruise companies in the beginning There was not I if you have a Tattoos and then something else from hotels like luxury others But this is something that is changing their mind right now And this is really good and what's funny because oh my tattoos I did outside from my from my home I did when I was on board because I just wanted to make one tattoo from that specific place and all those things You know, so that's that's pretty basic.

What is really good to work on the cruise ship Well, it's crazy about and good for you for taking advantage of them paying for all those courses You still got to want to do them and so you did all of that stuff You also got involved in world-class and you won best margarita, I believe so what made you decide to get into those competitions? Actually, I Entering in one competition called it for the Kenya and this was with a sustainable how can I say it? Sustainable ingredient and then I want that one on the ship and then I said, you know what? It's kind of amazing to want something and something that you truly love What do you do and the company and that's something that I learned doing the competition This is something that I don't see at the at reading within the community It's like we have to understand that when you do competitions.

You're not competing against the other person You're competing against yourself to be a better self if that person better than you you have to be think but you have to beat yourself First, so how you better be yourself studying studying? Thanks for adding even more because everything is about pretty basic. You don't know the basic It's it's always something that I always say it is like the basic pretty well executed It's more than the perfect imperfection me So it's like if you do the basic really really good You're always moving forward and then within that you sometimes go try to make perfect because nothing is perfect in this life We have to try the boundaries as well We think that competition on the cruise ship I just decided to enter in the other competition But why are you in the competition because we had the covid and when the covid hit us? I say three months in one of the cruise ships inside of the cabin because they didn't know what to do with the crew members And then we say sitting there in Miami for three months and jumping and then they decided to take us home where I live at home Everything is close.

It's like a really How can I say what's the name? It's the walking that it's really like yeah I arrived by the airplane and I don't see it cars because when I live in Sao Paulo We always hear the sea because it's a heat feeder. So you have car all over so when I when we was a number I was looking like a okay, when are the car man? Where are those persons?

This is really happening, right? so when I when I come back home was like my grandma and my mom at the time and I stay like in a hotel that they pay for me for 25 days something like that because I just Traveling overseas covid restrictions and everything when I live at home I got a job as a bartender to helping because I'm a part of the top as well But they didn't have anybody to pretend so I say as a part of the flesh for 10 this flesh everything on that Specifically so I have the place to grow like making a new manual Making a menu together with a chef and all those things then the white lights are starting and then I say you know What I would give you a try man. Why not? Then I passed for the first place And I was like okay, maybe I know one thing or two because if I pass it means to say that they like it my job And what I did over there so in the second phase I did the same and then I go to the finals when I go to the finals like they own number four on the on the workplace Then I participate from the Margarita from the Marvita challenge and I'm a bit of challenge I wasn't very well and I wasn't but anything the word and that one was everything through the video everything that they just did the video after that I competed in the Margarita but was just the last year to these years and Then I participate again and then again I was elected the best margarita on the cruise ship and then number three on number four from the finals now and then that's what something like okay I like competitions man because the competitions do think that if you're working even a word even your own bar You don't do it that is trying to challenge yourself on something that you don't know You know like I do some kind of a clarification here some Some fat washing beer some different kind of things that I was trying to think and then I never did it before and this is something That people challenge you and once you challenge yourself and you learn about that you always want to learn more So that's why I was doing competitions all over and trying to to be here in there and liquid 43 also I was finals not finals, but I was like a top 15 something like that and I win like a barista So that was my second formation of the barista as well because my first formation of the barista was on costa Italy wasn't Genova it's a university that you have to pay therefore like a month something like that and then make the formation of the barista So that's it We have to understand that the competition is to challenge yourself to be a better person and to be a better one What do you do and also to practice of itality because sometimes we say it we practice But we don't practice that something that I can see it because now I'm more on land So I can see it the person who really they are because I mean touch with them now because as a brain ambassador I have to get in touch with those people before I did it because I have my own work and then I do it for certain company Now no I work for all the company But it's a good it's particularly from that one and then I can see it who it is who is not because those person I'm contact with me now And this is something that shot me at the same time But also surprised me because some people that I think they was let's run away at all They was not and some people that I assume they was really nice person They also was not so I can say that working as I'm back for the right now open your eyes completely for different type of persons that you can Encourting your life Well, right the one thing I will say is that you obviously are very open to Self-improvement and learning all the time So I'm sure that's gonna continue with your new gig at Remy Quantro if you get a lot of time So we'll let you go tell everybody where they can follow you on social media and learn about what you're doing So let's go I have actually two Instagrams one is Rick the mix easy I just change it like a year ago to make it easier for everyone outside of the work because before was my full name and anybody was following me because They don't know how to write my name It's a Brazilian name, so it's a really big name.

So now it's Rick the mix my wife is a bartender as well So I also work together with her like a lot her name is a Voldemort But anyhow it's easier and then I have grouping the water up. That's called it mix daily That's also an Instagram account that I have the Brazilians on how to achieve themselves more and more It's now has like a hundred persons over there and then daily I send them tasks daily I send the news I send some few things for them just to grow and challenge in the south and everybody who reach me the Instagram I give my time and I stop whatever I'm doing just to speak with that person because I know that means a lot for that Person because I was once like that before and one thing that I have to tell you when I met they of the growth was It's just a amazing person what an amazing guy and we think that I brought this hospitality up forever I think I born with that but within the years you develop more and more So depends on you on how you want to do it and where you want to do it and why you want to do it Well, that's super inspiring Rick. Thanks again for coming on the show We really appreciate you giving us the time best of luck with everything I know you're gonna kill it because you never stop learning so and helping so thanks again, and yeah Thanks for coming on the show. Thank you very much guys.

I appreciate it