[Engine Serang]

My dear Tom, you have broken your Articles on the GD2. Big mistake on your part.
The Ships Articles Section 2, Sub Section A, para 12, Clause 99 states that an Officer must never give an explanation to anyone not on a Company Contract. (Red 14 is a Trainee).

We now have to deal with a crock of sh1t, so Tmac and me have been drafted in to use his gift of the gab to calm down Red 14+3 and stop her upseting the apple tart. Tmac has been practising his little homily on the bottom plates in his deepest falsetto voice, and I paraphrase:-

" My dear Vermillion 17, pay no attention to poor old Tom, he has been snorting Alka-Seltzer from his toilet seat and has stopped speaking in joined up writing. Pay little attention to his antacid ramblings about boot polish, and listen to me instead. Blackballing is a verb, meaning to reject (a candidate applying to become a member of a private club), typically by means of a secret ballot.
synonyms: reject, debar, bar, ban, vote against, blacklist, exclude, shut out, leave out in the cold; expel, drum out, oust, cashier, ostracize, repudiate; boycott, snub, shun, spurn, cold-shoulder, give the cold shoulder to. So rest easy, we all respect you. Respect."
By the way, we down the engine room invite you to a tasting of our favourite tipple, a silky little glass of "Kiwi". It is distilled from an exotic blend of black boot polish and hot milk,and demand has forced us to offer a "Skimmed Milk" option for the Weightwatching Ladies on board. Two and a half glasses and you will forget all about Capt Tom.".

If this saves your scrawny neck Tom, you owe us big.