I don’t know what the OP meant, but to me the difference between a servant and a contractor or just some person you hire is that a contractor or some person you hire is also working for other people. A servant works for you, exclusively, until you terminate their employment.
So Alice from the Brady Bunch was a servant; the plumber is a contractor.
Ah! Right, that makes sense.
Yes, he has a servant that types his posts for him.
First, you didn’t tell US if you had servants. Second, you keep starting new topics and never reply to them, it seems. Stick to the ones you have open already, kiddo.
Is it? The guy asked a simple question; people have been answering. Doesn’t seem fair to me.
And no, I don’t have a servant. When I lived in southern Asia I had a housekeeper twice a week, and loved it. Other than that, I’ve never even paid someone to mow the lawn.
Nope never had a servant of any kind. If I could afford it? You betcha!
I can’t understand how this can be such a complicated question. We all know what he means, surely.
Well, for legal reasons, we have to call them servants, damn you Abe and your emancipation proclimation
I’m just wondering who the heck is Curtis?
Working/living in your house 6 days a week for pay? Yeah, that’s a servant.
To answer the OP, no I don’t.
Nope, never.
The only people I’ve ever known who might even qualify are a fairly well-off couple with whom I’m friends, who had a live-in nanny for their daughter until she was 2 or so. Both parents had careers, neither wanted to step away from their careers, and they had enough money to afford the nanny. Eventually, they put their daughter in full-day daycare.
I’ve never known anyone with a full-time butler, maid, etc.
The OP’s previous username, before changing it, was Curtis Le May. He ruffled a lot of feathers doing largely the same stuff he continues to do now, but decided to change his name for some reason.
If I could afford it, I’d have someone come in once a week to clean. I’m kind of weirded out by the idea, but I have enough things to juggle now that I could really use the help. That’s about as far as I would ever venture into the world of paid help.
No, I swear to you I have no idea how to define a servant in the U.S. other than a few obvious cases that are so rare they wouldn’t be worthy of a thread here. Since you apparently understand it intuitively, can you translate a definition for us so we will know too?
In my dreams.
Someone (I can’t find the thread) once posted about her father-in-law getting under her nerves by always saying “get me.” As in “Get me the remote” instead of “Can you hand me the remote?” or “Get me a cup of tea” instead of “Would you mind getting me a cup of tea?” But she endured it, she said, because it was the result of his always having had servants. So if that’s anything to go by, it seems that a servant does not get the same courtesy that an employee would.
I have an entire crew just to take care of my spacious grounds and their well placed beautiful trees, shrubs and flowers. I have another crew that takes care of my splendid swimming pool although their work is usually done in a day. I have a husband-wife team who cleans my pool house and its associated bath rooms and kitchen on a daily basis. Being the kind, generous sharing person I am, I allow them all to perform similar functions for my neighbors. And since I believe in democracy in action, I don’t allow them to do house cleaning functions; I do that for myself as so my neighbors. I also have a general factotum who directs the efforts of all the others; he also takes care of routine maintenance as needed; i also share him with my neighbors. He has offered to respond to threads of this sort but he isn’t as polite as I and I fear his expressions of disapproval of these threads might be misinterpreted. For instance, he would probably express some wonder as to why this thread appears in a forum calling for an opinion; he would probably want to know why an opinion is needed as people generally know for a fact if they have servants or not. He might also want to know why, exactly, it is any of your damn business.
I have in the past had a gatesman and a house staff member that took care of the garden, did repairs, managed home improvement projects and cleaned the outbuildings (including the kitchen, which was nice.) This was a one bedroom mud house, but stuff like “running water” was difficult and it is hard to spend all day running to the well when you have a job to do. Most families with any money had a guard, a housekeeper and a cook. I paid $2.50 a week for my staff.
The house I am in this summer now has two live-in groundskeepers and usually a cleaning lady and a laundress working in the day. It is the size of a US suburban home, but there are 11 family members in it and conditions are rough (for example, bath water is heated on a wood fire outside.) Even with all that staff, the women spend day on domestic tasks.
God, no. The very thought of some stranger puttering around my house is horrifying. I can barely stand my own family at times, and I love them.
Don’t have a servant and wouldn’t want one. The concept of being waited on, or have someone do my chores is one I don’t think I could ever become comfortable with.
Besides, I have pretty much everything I need here in my parent’s basement.