# Is "Lady's Maid" actually a profession any more?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ladys-maid-actually-a-profession-any-more/808698
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 12, 2018, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ladys-maid-actually-a-profession-any-more/808698 "2018-02-12T18:01:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ladys-maid-actually-a-profession-any-more/808698/1 "2018-02-12T18:01:29Z")
At least, in first world countries? I’ve heard mention of some wealthy people having assistants, secretaries, butlers, valets, gardeners, chauffeurs, housekeepers, and general house maids – heck, personal pilots, why not? – but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a current reference to a wealthy woman having a personal maid.
You’ve got to think it would still be of use, even if it’s not still the pattern to change your clothes five times a day as a routine, day in and day out thing.
Why shouldn’t, say, Mrs. Buffett have someone who hands her clothes, does up zippers, handwashes her delicates, and takes care of reordering basics so she always has a good supply of underwear and stockings and such on hand and ready for that impromptu jaunt to Saint Tropez? And it’s much easier for someone else to wield the hair blower and curling iron for you, while you devote your attention to your correspondence or whatever.
And whatever else the traditional lady’s maid duties consisted of.
So… has anyone ever heard mention of one? Seen an employment ad for one? How much would a top notch one make, anyway?
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### Author:  [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ladys-maid-actually-a-profession-any-more/808698/2 "2018-02-12T18:20:32Z")
Of course it exists. [This recent article](http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20180201-the-entourages-of-the-travel-elite) mentions the “personal assistant” as part of a billionaire’s entourage. Do you think a busy businessperson has time to buy groceries or wash clothes? It’s ultimately cheaper to pay staff to take care of it so she can concentrate on work.
The article doesn’t give an example of the assistant’s salary, but mentions a personal chef earning $65000/yr, personal security $1-2k per day per guard, and a personal trainer $900/day.
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ladys-maid-actually-a-profession-any-more/808698/3 "2018-02-12T18:37:31Z")
And for someone with a single servant whose position gets the same name regardless of duties, those duties can vary a lot and can be more similar to those of a maid than those of a cleaning lady or a cook. My mother’s current “cleaning lady” does more cooking and ironing than cleaning, but she’s still called “the cleaning lady”; that of one of her neighbors shops for groceries, does light cleaning, handles the washing and plays cards with the client, with the cooking and heavy-duty cleaning done by the client’s daughters. Her job title? Cleaning lady. Because that’s what they’re called locally so long as their main duties aren’t medical, it’s not a job description.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ladys-maid-actually-a-profession-any-more/808698/4 "2018-02-12T18:49:02Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#):
>
> Why shouldn’t, say, Mrs. Buffett have someone who hands her clothes, does up zippers, handwashes her delicates, and takes care of reordering basics so she always has a good supply of underwear and stockings and such on hand and ready for that impromptu jaunt to Saint Tropez? And it’s much easier for someone else to wield the hair blower and curling iron for you, while you devote your attention to your correspondence or whatever.
Some of that stuff is unnecessary today. In the Downton Abbey days, the clothes were complicated enough that you needed help to get dressed. Now, anyone can dress themselves.
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### Author:  [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ladys-maid-actually-a-profession-any-more/808698/5 "2018-02-12T20:38:50Z")
Maybe it’s a combination of things?
Some of the tasks the maid did have been eliminated by technology, style, or shifted off to outside specialists.
Other tasks remain, but are now divided up differently among other servants. For example, all laundry may be handled by a housekeeper. No matter what, SOMEONE has to see that the dry cleaning gets dropped off and a fresh bottle of skin cream is ready on the dressing table.
But I bet the biggest part of it is simply relabeling. It may seem too self-indulgent to have a “personal maid” to wait on you – What, you can’t hang up your own coat? You’re too lazy to brush and style your own hair? – so you call the person who does do it something else.
Plus I bet the person in question feels better saying she’s a “personal assistant” or “secretary” rather than a maid.
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ladys-maid-actually-a-profession-any-more/808698/6 "2018-02-12T20:48:53Z")
I agree with the above two posters. Some of the listed duties are split up between “personal assistant”, “housekeeper”, and “launderer”, and no longer needed, and sometimes a general servant does many of these at once on top of other activities, so “lady’s maid” is both a subset and superset of other servant positions.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ladys-maid-actually-a-profession-any-more/808698/7 "2018-02-12T21:33:14Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#):
>
> Some of the tasks the maid did have been eliminated by technology, style, or shifted off to outside specialists.
>
> Other tasks remain, but are now divided up differently among other servants. For example, all laundry may be handled by a housekeeper. No matter what, SOMEONE has to see that the dry cleaning gets dropped off and a fresh bottle of skin cream is ready on the dressing table.
>
> But I bet the biggest part of it is simply relabeling. It may seem too self-indulgent to have a “personal maid” to wait on you – What, you can’t hang up your own coat? You’re too lazy to brush and style your own hair? – so you call the person who does do it something else.
Case in point; that huge house that Bill Gates built outside Seattle has all kinds of space and technology and has room for a nanny but no other servants’ quarters. A house built a hundred years ago would have accommodated a bunch of live-in help.
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### Author:  [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ladys-maid-actually-a-profession-any-more/808698/8 "2018-02-12T21:43:58Z")
Right, but nowadays the style is for “the help” to not live-in. You have a bunch of landscapers, drivers, cooks, and housekeepers but they go home at 5:00, or 8:00 or whenever. Even if you’re the type of asshole who calls up your assistant at 1 AM with a list of tasks that assistant doesn’t literally live in your house with you.
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### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2018, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ladys-maid-actually-a-profession-any-more/808698/9 "2018-02-12T22:18:17Z")
I subscribe to a British women’s magazine on my kindle called _The Lady_. There are indeed many [ads](http://www.jobs.lady.co.uk/jobs)looking for various types of domestic help, not specifically labeled “lady’s maid,” but close.
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### Author:  [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2018, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ladys-maid-actually-a-profession-any-more/808698/10 "2018-02-13T00:12:02Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#):
>
> At least, in first world countries? I’ve heard mention of some wealthy people having assistants, secretaries, butlers, valets…?
A lady’s maid is to a lady what a valet is to a gentleman. Outside of royalty I doubt either job title is common; the closest thing in the modern world would be a personal assistant. High level American politicians also have a [body man](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_man) which can be very similar to a valet/lady’s maid; especially at the very highest levels.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2018, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ladys-maid-actually-a-profession-any-more/808698/11 "2018-02-13T00:43:15Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#):
>
> Some of that stuff is unnecessary today. In the Downton Abbey days, the clothes were complicated enough that you needed help to get dressed. Now, anyone can dress themselves.
Not only that, but you had to change clothes throughout the day. Dinner called for white tails, a walk for tweeds, etc.
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### Author:  [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2018, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ladys-maid-actually-a-profession-any-more/808698/12 "2018-02-13T00:47:52Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> I subscribe to a British women’s magazine on my kindle called _The Lady_. There are indeed many [ads](http://www.jobs.lady.co.uk/jobs)looking for various types of domestic help, not specifically labeled “lady’s maid,” but close.
I found those ads fascinating! I’d quite like to be the manager of a Fan Museum. If I were younger I’d be trying to figure out how/if an American can work in England.
Though I wonder how well my “traditional cooking” would match up with what they are expecting…
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### Author:  [@toast\_pakora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toast_pakora)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2018, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ladys-maid-actually-a-profession-any-more/808698/13 "2018-02-14T12:13:25Z")
It was years ago but when I lived in London with a bunch of other backpackers from Australia, South Africa, Canada, several of them got live-in jobs via The Lady. Cooking/light housekeeping or nannying mostly. There was a pretty high turnover, they’d stay a few weeks to a month or two at most and then find another position. I don’t think anyone was ever asked for a work permit, as long as you didn’t overstay your tourist visa. (I know that people from commonwealth countries can work there legally)
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2018, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ladys-maid-actually-a-profession-any-more/808698/14 "2018-02-14T12:17:34Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> Not only that, but you had to change clothes throughout the day. Dinner called for white tails, a walk for tweeds, etc.
I know people who still do that. Their clothing isn’t as complicated as 150 years ago, but the amount of clothing changes they go through tires me just from hearing it.