Many people looking on would have thought that Ralph Samuels made a big mistake when he quit the army in 1976 in anger and eventually took a job as a porter, or ‘Red Cap’, as they are more commonly known, at the Norman Manley International Airport.

But Samuels, who had served 12 years in the job he had hungered for as a child, will tell you today that he has no regrets. In fact, says the 71-year-old, he would gladly repeat his actions if he could.

“Yes, I would do it over again, because I have met quite a lot of people and I have achieved some amount of satisfaction,” he tells the Sunday Observer.

And his years of toil have not been without its benefit, as Samuels’ peers appointed him president of the Red Cap Association, a position which, he says, comes with the responsibility of overseeing 57 workers.

But what motivated him to give up a sure pension and salary and take a job working to pay himself?

Samuels says he had to leave the army, his first love, because he was denied a promotion he felt he had worked hard for.

“I still reminisce on my days in the army and I still wonder where I would be today because I always loved the army,” he says, “but I just had to leave.”

Samuels was 21 years old when he left his home in rural Hanover and came to Kingston to fulfil his dream of being a soldier.

“The first years were great, and I used to do a lot of administrative work, but they just would not promote me, so I had to go,” he says quietly. “Sometimes I do wonder, if I had not left the army when I did what would I be doing now.”

However, his mood brightens as he recalls going to the Jamaica Tourist Board to apply for a job to train members of the Courtesy Corps, a uniformed group that walked the streets of Jamaica’s resort centres giving assistance to visitors whenever necessary.

“Someone had told me that they wanted a person to train the Courtesy Corps, and as an ex-soldier I decided to apply for the job,” he says.

“When I went for the interview I was told they never wanted anyone to do the training and they didn’t have any other job, and so they asked me if I would come out to the airport to do this and I accepted it because I wasn’t working then,” he adds.

To his surprise he discovered, only after taking the job, that he would not be paid but would have to work to pay himself. With nothing else to do, Samuels decided to give it a shot, at least until something better came along.

But what should have been a temporary job has turned into a career, with Samuels still undecided as to when he will finally call it a day.

“Through the years I continued working and before you know it I had gone into leadership because the men recognised I had the qualities for leading and they elected me as president of the organisation,” he tells the Sunday Observer proudly.

What has made his job even more satisfying, Samuel says, is the fact that he works at his own leisure and on his own schedule. “The job was satisfying to me, that is why I never run and leave it.”

For now, he works three days per week from 9:00 am until 3:00 pm, a schedule which he says he set for himself.

Samuels says his love for the job is also what has kept him there for so long, as the financial gain was not much to speak about in the earlier days.

“In 1967, when I first started there were not that many passengers and not that many airlines, just a few, so the work wasn’t as much as it is now,” he says.

In those days, he says, Red Caps would charge about 10 shillings ($1 at the time of currency conversion) for each bag they carried out of the airport. He recalls also that back then people would not complain about paying. Now, at $50 per bag, he says some persons are reluctant to pay.

“Now people telling you that the Airports Authority paying you so you have to point out that you are offering a service for which you should receive remuneration,” he says.

Apart from the hassle with a few passengers about payment, Samuel says Red Caps can now earn more money than before. “The cost of the bags gone up, and you have more people travelling, so you can work more,” he says with a smile while declining to say just how much he can make daily.

However, the job, he says, has allowed him to earn enough to live comfortably with his wife at their home in Harbour View where they have resided for the past 20 years.

Samuels believes the Red Cap Association has experienced tremendous growth as a professional organisation in the 39 years he has been in the job.

Not only have they moved from 18 employees to 57, but they have raised the standard of service offered, he believes.

“In those earlier days, up to 1978, if you wanted to be a Red Cap you had to apply to the Tourist Board and it was not something that they take on a lot of people [for], except for holidays when they might need excess persons,” he says.

Now, he explains, under his executive, they have made it possible for more men to be employed in the service.

In the past few years, however the association has not taken on that many persons as they rarely ever lose a worker.

“I have not recruited anybody in the past few years because no vacancy has come up for awhile,” says Samuels, “but I used to take on people because I believe that once there is something to be done for a man to earn a dollar or two to support his family, then I should try and offer him a job.”

Samuels adds that under his leadership a number of changes have been made, including to the uniform which, he says, the men wear with pride.

“The name Red Cap came about through the Tourist Board and I think is because we wore red cap and a red arm band,” explains Saumels. “I discarded the red arm band, but we still had to wear the red cap because that is what the service is about.”

“We wore gabardine brown and beige shirt for over 20 years, so we decided it was time for a change and so we now wear the same red cap, gabardine khaki pants and red striped shirt.”

No special effort, says Samuels, has been made to design a female uniform as they have never had women in the service, although the association’s constitution allows for the employment of women.

“It is all men in the service, and it is not because we discriminate against women, but we have never really reached the stage where we take on any women,” he says.

After so many years of service, Samuels says he now spends his days off at home watching television or helping his wife in their small family business.

“I am an old man now, 71 years old, so I don’t have anything else to do but to stay at home,” he laughs.

And although Samuels has had no regrets serving at the airport for this long, he does feel slighted at times as the airport’s administration, he says, has never sought to publicly acknowledge his years of service.

“I don’t see any recognition. If they have any function they will invite me, but they never really say you are working here for so many years and I think we could give you some token of appreciation or something like that,” he says.

But that, he says, will not deter him from offering quality service to passengers.

Adds Samuels: “I am just cooling out now, because at anytime I can just pack up, and as a matter of fact I was contemplating leaving at the end of the year, but some of the men are arguing that since I can move around and I am not doing any tedious work I should stay, so now I don’t know.”

browni@jamaicaobserver.com