When did the uber rich stop having live in servants?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rich stopped having servants after the World Wars. You should watch a movie like “The Remains of the Day” to understand why.

For the love of god it is a book. A book. Yes it was turned into a movie. But the book is phenomenal.

By a phenomenal writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017, Kashuo Ishiguru.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Quality of service in America is horrible across the board - domestic help, at stores, at work, at school, on calls. Many are illiterate and/or ESOL- more lost in translations (voluntary or involuntary!).

Think of how many times you find mistakes in orders, sizes, your instructions, the final product? Now multiply that for someone you give the keys to your house and your kids to.

Other countries people have more pride in their work- like Japan. No need to double check anything.

Other countries domestic service industry is more professional- se Asia, Mideast, Eastern Europe. No matter, they get here, act entitled, assume everyone is a multi millionaire, and quality of service declines— especially if you’re weak at managing people and tasks.

So many do-the-bare-minimum workers here. Such a PITA. Thus when and if you find someone who cares you pay more. But do not pay more for imposters.

That and they all too often take advantage of their employers. Steal from them, use credit cards inappropriately, betray confidences, etc. There’s low level of trust on both sides.

If you have any questions about the quality of support staff, compare the business class experience on American Airlines with Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, or Korean Air. The overseas carriers are significantly better. Also, Singapore is not a poor country, so the quality of service is not the result of cheap or exploited labor.

Accuracy check:
• Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, and Korean Air consistently rank higher than most US carriers for premium cabin service.
• Singapore is a high income, developed country.
• There is no evidence that service quality on Singapore Airlines or Korean Air comes from slave labor or anything similar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I visit relatives in Latin America every upper middle class & higher house has a small bedroom off the kitchen with its own bathroom for the live in maid who works Monday through half days on Saturday. It is just how every house is designed. Then there are day workers who also come for the day like a cook, gardener , etc.

Many houses in the US aren’t designed with having live in hired help.

I don't most Americans are comfortable with the idea of someone waiting on them hand and foot. We are much more likely to see other people as equals and not just the help designed to blend into the background.

This. And in modern times we just don’t need as much labor around the clock. If you want food you can order delivery. A housekeeper can be a
9-5 job.

[Anonymous]

They didn’t have a quality of support staff comment in Asia vs here. Their supplemental comment was that the poor quality of service players here America also have an attitude problem and theft issue. They simply do not care.

[Anonymous]

My rich Asian mom always says it's a hard and sad life in America that we have to live without helpers as we did overseas; she's shocked that I have to cook, clean, and do my own laundry.

I was also annoyed by this but i married an american spouse they seem to think i am entitled.

However, I bet once you experience the lifestyle of the asian upper class, you don't want to live in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Quality of service in America is horrible across the board - domestic help, at stores, at work, at school, on calls. Many are illiterate and/or ESOL- more lost in translations (voluntary or involuntary!).

Think of how many times you find mistakes in orders, sizes, your instructions, the final product? Now multiply that for someone you give the keys to your house and your kids to.

Other countries people have more pride in their work- like Japan. No need to double check anything.

Other countries domestic service industry is more professional- se Asia, Mideast, Eastern Europe. No matter, they get here, act entitled, assume everyone is a multi millionaire, and quality of service declines— especially if you’re weak at managing people and tasks.

So many do-the-bare-minimum workers here. Such a PITA. Thus when and if you find someone who cares you pay more. But do not pay more for imposters.

Um, no.

We're expats. I've had live-in help in multiple countries, including Russia, India, Singapore, and China. It isn't what you think. It isn't good for anybody, even the fortunate employers of the live-in help. In India, especially, you have to deaden part of your soul in order to share space with someone so very unfortunate, with so limited a future and so miserable a life, to have this, and EVERY lower to upper middle class to upper class person there has a maid. The maids are regularly taken out of school and put into live-in servant (slave) situations, and beating, rapes, and mistreatment of the help is, from what I saw, the norm. It warps something in the culture that embraces such a system.

That’s an exaggeration.

- multiple times expat and FSO

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My rich Asian mom always says it's a hard and sad life in America that we have to live without helpers as we did overseas; she's shocked that I have to cook, clean, and do my own laundry.

I was also annoyed by this but i married an american spouse they seem to think i am entitled.

However, I bet once you experience the lifestyle of the asian upper class, you don't want to live in the US.

Same in Turkey.
Grandma had a $20 USD/ day cook, nurse, cleaner daily. One divorced uncle would leach on and bring his dirty laundry plus eat the dinners there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Quality of service in America is horrible across the board - domestic help, at stores, at work, at school, on calls. Many are illiterate and/or ESOL- more lost in translations (voluntary or involuntary!).

Think of how many times you find mistakes in orders, sizes, your instructions, the final product? Now multiply that for someone you give the keys to your house and your kids to.

Other countries people have more pride in their work- like Japan. No need to double check anything.

Other countries domestic service industry is more professional- se Asia, Mideast, Eastern Europe. No matter, they get here, act entitled, assume everyone is a multi millionaire, and quality of service declines— especially if you’re weak at managing people and tasks.

So many do-the-bare-minimum workers here. Such a PITA. Thus when and if you find someone who cares you pay more. But do not pay more for imposters.

Um, no.

We're expats. I've had live-in help in multiple countries, including Russia, India, Singapore, and China. It isn't what you think. It isn't good for anybody, even the fortunate employers of the live-in help. In India, especially, you have to deaden part of your soul in order to share space with someone so very unfortunate, with so limited a future and so miserable a life, to have this, and EVERY lower to upper middle class to upper class person there has a maid. The maids are regularly taken out of school and put into live-in servant (slave) situations, and beating, rapes, and mistreatment of the help is, from what I saw, the norm. It warps something in the culture that embraces such a system.

That’s an exaggeration.

- multiple times expat and FSO

And I work in real human trafficking

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I visit relatives in Latin America every upper middle class & higher house has a small bedroom off the kitchen with its own bathroom for the live in maid who works Monday through half days on Saturday. It is just how every house is designed. Then there are day workers who also come for the day like a cook, gardener , etc.

Many houses in the US aren’t designed with having live in hired help.

I don't most Americans are comfortable with the idea of someone waiting on them hand and foot. We are much more likely to see other people as equals and not just the help designed to blend into the background.

This. And in modern times we just don’t need as much labor around the clock. If you want food you can order delivery. A housekeeper can be a
9-5 job.

Have you not read Project 2025

Republicans are planning for your daughters to have these jobs

Yes that is correct

Americans are so dumb

[Anonymous]

lol I mean stopping it. Mainly west Africa and SE Asia women and children trafficking (ex and slave)

[Anonymous]

In northern Virginia, a woman was caught not paying her "servant" (more like enslaved person) and had taken the "servant's" passport so there could be no escape. As you can imagine, this person was not treated well by their master and mistress.

Horrifying. So, this still occurs.

Overall, OP, I agree with you on this. You'd think people would have more security at least, yet maybe they did a risk assessment and decided it was not really necessary.

There was another famous person who died and was not discovered for days. His wife also died. They thought she died first and, because he had dementia, he did not report it. Then, he also died, maybe from dehydration because he could not care for himself. One of their two dogs died because it was in the crate. Only the dog out of the crate was able to survive.

[Anonymous]

And people say there's no use of humanities these days. This is a humanities thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I doubt there is an abundance of house keepers who want to do it. People have their own lives and families. And living in a home with your boss sounds like it sucks.

It depends. If you are a citizen with citizen rights, are treated and paid well, and get to use the family luxury car, maybe it is not so bad.

One of my students did this and was treated very well. They went on trips to other countries and got to use the family's Porsche for personal use. But this was just a job to have between college and grad school and not their long-term career choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even William and Kate don't have live in staff.

The Nanny lives elsewhere and comes to the house to work 5 days a week with them.

Do they live in the palace? Does the palace really not have in live in servants?

And I guess my second question is when did servants become "staff"?

William and Kate no longer live in the palace full time. They live in Windsor, I believe. The property there contains multiple homes, and the former Prince Andrew and Sarah lived in one of them...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My rich Asian mom always says it's a hard and sad life in America that we have to live without helpers as we did overseas; she's shocked that I have to cook, clean, and do my own laundry.

I was also annoyed by this but i married an american spouse they seem to think i am entitled.

However, I bet once you experience the lifestyle of the asian upper class, you don't want to live in the US.

So go live in Asia? I don’t know what to tell you. Asian, European and Latin American “wealth” just doesn’t get you much here. America is expensive and culturally we value privacy.