MASTERS  & SERVANTS

-Still separate worlds?-

By Amandine Debus

The TV show Downton Abbey is once again nominated for many awards this year : the Screen Actors Guild Awards, The Golden Globes,… 2014 is going to be a busy year for the actors of the show, which shows servants' everyday life at the beginning of the twentieth century. Their living conditions are not all beer and skittles! Has it really changed today?

In order to help us to  understand better the main differences between servants today and a century ago, here are some rules taken from a website dealing with the history of Hinchingbrooke House and most probably from the beginning of the 20^th century:

Servants from downtown abbey

RULE NB 1: Servants have to be silent and just whisper if they want to talk.

RULE NB 2: Servants are supposed to let masters go upstairs or downstairs, “giving too” if they meet them on the stairs.

RULE NB 3: Servants should keep their hands folded and not do hand gestures when they are speaking.

RULE NB 4: Servants must be neutral and not give their opinion.

RULE NB 5: Servants are not allowed to invite anyone. If they would like to do so, they ought to ask the butler or the housekeeper.

RULE NB 6: Servants are forbidden to have a girlfriend or a girlfriend if they don’t want to get fired.

RULE NB 7: Servants had better pay for the things they damage or break.

Hinchingbrooke House

The web article talks in addition about the way the masters treat their staff. For example, they expect their servants to be respectful, whereas they give themselves the right to rename certain members of the staff because it would bother them to remember their real names.

Nowadays, the servants’ status has changed. The modern version of the butler is the PA, a personal assistant, who can help businessmen or businesswomen, actors or actresses, singers or other famous people. These PAs are given rules too such as the following ones:

RULE NB 1: Each time you see your boss, you have to greet your boss (be careful that he/she is not busy!).

RULE NB 2: You should make blue M&M’s available when your boss asks for some ones.

RULE NB 3: You must carry all your boss’s belongings.

RULE NB 4: Never wear red. It disturbs your boss.

RULE NB 5: Your boss’s bed must be tidied every morning at 8am in 2, 75 minutes exactly.

RULE NB 6: Don’t cry or sigh when your boss is near you.

RULE NB 7: The orange juice has to be made by yourself every morning (your boss can’t stand the pulp!)

RULE NB 8: You ought to be invisible when visitors come.

RULE NB 9: You had better read again these rules twice a day.

RULE NB 10: It is forbidden for you to ask for better wages. Your boss will let you know if he/she is ready to give you a rise.

These rules must have been dictated to a personal assistant by the way…

What we can conclude about the development of the relations between masters and servants? On the one hand, we can notice that there are lots of similarities between the rules even though the first ones are a hundred years older! Servants and assistants have to be completely submissive and available for their masters. Their entire life depends on their boss’s requests. Furthermore, they have to show that they are of a lower rank. Some rules from both areas are quite ridiculous too and are not useful for the tasks to be better discharged. On the other hand, the conditions faced by servants have varied throughout history. Thanks to the rules themselves, we can wonder if the bosses (particularly the stars) have become more whimsical, cruel and completely self centred. But perhaps it depends on the masters! Besides, the main difference between the two jobs and the two periods is the sharing out of the duties. The rules are more “general” for the servants from the beginning of the 20^th century. There were different jobs for each task: a chauffeur, a chef, a housemaid,…The PA has to do many different kinds of jobs! Even if he/she is not alone to satisfy his/her master, there are fewer people working for him/her. Last but not least, workers have rights nowadays. Movements for labour rights, women’s rights and immigrant rights brought the difficult working conditions to the foreground. In 2011, the Convention Concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers was adopted. But the servants or domestic workers are not necessarily PAs and sometimes they can be hidden. For them, it can be said that the situation didn’t improve. If we focus just on the case of the personal assistant, Lady Gaga is a good example since her PA shows that relationships between servants and masters are not really different compared to the ones in Downton Abbey! Admittedly, she lodged a complaint, but it was because she was exploited by the famous singer. Imagine if you had to work everyday without any rest, to stay with your boss even during the night, if you weren’t able to speak to any family or friends and if you had to do all the thankless tasks that your boss doesn’t want to do…Yet the story would surely be different from the master’s point of view…

Lady Gaga and her PA

 

  

 

 

Masters and servants :

 

Still separate world ?

By Sandra Zerez & Vincent Sarbach

 

 

 

In the 21 century, equality seems to be a right for citizens who live in democracies, but this was not the case  at the end of the 19th century. Even though slavery ended at the beginning of the 19th century, some human beings were still discriminated against, and considered as lower class by other people. They were paid for their work, of course, but salaries were  low. Those people didn't really have  a name, they were called" the servants".(or they were given conventional names such as: Emma , for housemaids and James for butlers). Servants at the end of 19 century were deprived of most of their personnal and human rights ; they had to work everyday , with very strict rules. We can read an example of those rules,  written by a real maid called « Isabella Beeton ». She started writing the book when she was 21, she died at the age of 28, her husband « Samuel Orchart Beeton » in 1856. In her book « Household Management » she wrote down some of the rules that she had to respect as a servant :

 

• Never let your voice be heard by the ladies and gentlement of the house, except when necessary, and the as little as possible.

• Always 'give room' if you meet one of your employers or better on the stairs.

• Always stand still and keep your hands quiet were speaking to a lady or being spoken to and look at the person speaking to you.

• Servants should never offer any opinion to their employers, not even to say good night or good morning except in reply to salutation.

• No servants is to receive any visitor, friend or relative into the house ; or to introduce any person into the servants hall without the consent of the butler or housekeeper.

• Any breakages or damage to the house will be deduced from wages.

• Followers are strictly forbidden, and any maid fraternising with a member of the opposite sex will be dismissed without a hearing.

 

 

 

 

 

We can notice that those rules control their entire personnal and sociable life, but is that sort of life behind us ? Is equality really present in our lives ? Well as a homework, we had to write somme rules for personnal assistant (PA). Here are the rules that I personnaly wrote :

 

• Thay are forbidden to wake up me before 10 am.

• They must be nice and helpful.

• They have to tidy my room everyday.

• They can't enter my room or call me after 10 pm.

• They sould listen to me and not to my parents.

• They have to keep the secrets I tell them.

• They have 5 days off  a month, except at the weekends, they may choose the time and the date of the day, but they have to tell me at least a week before.

• They give their opinion only when I ask for it.

• They can have boy/girlfriend, fiancé or husband/wife as long as it doesn't interfere with their work.

• They have to help me choose good looking clothes and be honest when I ask them about my outfit.

 

They are maybe unreal rules, rules that will never apply to anyone, but I had the choice to have a PA, I may not be nice to them either , I would probably also have strict rules

I think it is just because human beings  are lazy, and when they have the power, they use it to make people work instead of them Evenif PAs  are paid more than before, PAs are  the new servants of the 21st century, they must do everything they are told to do Sure,nowadays  the rules are  less personnal and less strict, but they are still rules that control the life of the PA.

 

 

Masters and servants: Still separate worlds?

Article written by Lehmann Anne-Laure, 1ES1

Hey guys! Have you ever wondered  what a celebrity's life might be? Or  what the job of a servant consisted in doing? Do masters or celebrities  still live in a different world from the servants or the  personal assistants' ones?. At first we'll see what the servants rules consisted of in the old days. Secondly we'll focus on what kind of rules could be given by a celebrity to her personal assistant! Then, we'll observe the evolution of those regulations of those two periods and infer if today the masters and servants are still in separate worlds!

 

         I made researches on an article which describes the servants' rules given by a master in an Edwardian Country House. This article was taken from the website of The History of Hinchingbrooke House, and the rules that are quoted date from the XXth century, exactly in 1901. You can read some of them below:

 

- Never let your voice be heard by the ladies and gentlemen of the house, except when necessary, and then as little as possible.

- Always "give room" if you meet one of your employers or betters on the stairs.

- Always stand still and keep your hands quiet when speaking to a lady or being spoken to and look at the person speaking to you.

- Servants should never offer any opinion to their employers, nor even to say good morning except in reply to a salutation.

 

Next, I'll give you some examples of what sort of rules  a star could set up for  her personal assistant:

 

- Always be respectful and punctual! I hate when people don't have a good behaviour!

- The lawn is to be mown and make sure there are flowers in the house.

- You had better protect me in the situations of danger!

- You should know how to cook, because I like to eat refined food!

- You must take care of my children with patience and tenderness!

- Never talk too loud! I don't want to be disturbed when I'm working!

Lady Gaga with her personal assistant

 

Now, I'll try to find the evolution of the rules of those two periods. First, in the past, the master needed several servants, nowadays, there's only one personal assistant which is supposed to do everything he's asked by a celebrity and whatever the field! As an example, formerly there was one servant who had his specific task to do. Indeed, the gardener  only had to take care of the garden!

Today, the personal assistant of Lady Gaga by the way of example has perhaps to cook for her but he has also to defend her in situations of danger! In the past, the servants had to be invisible to the masters unlike the personal assistant who has to stay  with his employer all the time! Today the PA may usually have  a close relation with the celebrity, unlike the servants with their master! Contrary to the servants, the PAs have the right to prosecute their master! Nowadays, the  PA's of celebrities are more likely  to assume their whims, but sometimes it could go as far as it is described on the website of "radar online" which is an entertainment and gossip site: http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2013/02/celebrity-personal-assistants-tell-all/   

 

To my mind, even though, the job of servant requires a lot of discipline and constraints, I think that the person was more respected and had more dignity as it isn't the case with the personal assistant.

        In the end, it can be deduced that as long as there's someone who has the power on somebody else, they will still live in a separate world, whatever the time! 

 

 

 

Master and servants : still separate worlds ?

Louiza Maameri 1ère S1

Renan Garcia  1 ère ES1

 

e read in class a document which was an extract taken from “A book of household Management”.  This extract, entitled “Servants' rules”, introduced us some of the servants' rules and are likely  to be published during the 20th century.   The extract is hereinbelow: 

  - Never let your voice be heard by the ladies and gentlemen of the house, except when necessary, and then as little as possible.

Ø - Always “give room” if you meet one of your employers or betters on the stairs.

 

al- Always stand still and keep your hands quiet when speaking to a lady or being spoken to and look at the person speaking to you.

Ø - Servants should never offer any opinion to their employers, nor even to say good night or good morning except in reply to salutation.

Ø - No servant is to receive any Visitor, Friend or Relative into the house; or to introduce any person into the Servants’ hall without the consent of the Butler or Housekeeper.

Ø - Followers are strictly forbidden, and any maid found fraternizing with a member of the opposite sex will be dismissed without a hearing.

Ø - Any breakages or damage to the house will be deducted from wages.

Servants in the 20 th century

 

C  Currently, the function of servants does no longer really exist. Nevertheless, the equivalent of servants matches nowadays to the PA, namely Personal Assistant. Indeed, all the celebrities have one. It becomes very common for the famous people to have a PA. A Celebrity PA can earn as much as £70,000 a year and has an exclusive jet set lifestyle. However, a PA is expected to accomplish some tasks. That’s why a personal assistant can be considered as a servant of the celebrity (master) for who he works Below is an example of what a PA could be asked to do :

Ø   - You had better  organize all events and parties I ask you to organize.

Ø - You have to plan my transportation knowing that I only travel in private jet and limousine.

Ø  - You are expected to set up my meeting and book my appointments.

Ø  - Do my personal shopping that is to say buy my gifts.

Y  - You should manage my fan mails, my office and my official website.

Ø   - You ought to screen my income calls and check my messages.

Ø   - My PA is supposed to be dressed in a fashionable way every day.

-

Ø - Whenever you get a call from me even if it is late in night, I want you to come immediately.

Ø  - Bring me a bottle of room temperature water every hour.

Ø  - You must plan my accommodation. However ,never book a hotel room; I only sleep in luxury lofts or villas.

Ø    You are forbidden to speak up   or show a bored attitude while you execute the duties.

Celebrity Personal Assistant

w  Now we may wonder  if  the relations between servants and masters have changed since the 20th century.

T   Masters could step in the servants' private lives . Moreover, servants had to be submissive and could not speak out their minds. Furthermore, the masters were very bossy. In fact, the servants were considered as slaves and were underpaid even if they had to work hard. Indeed, they only earned 40 pounds a year which is completely insane. They had better  be very careful, because if they broke something they had to pay the damages and risked being fired. Besides, they could not have any privacy. That included the fact they could neither receive visitors nor have a boyfriend or girlfriend.

Nowadays, all celebrities have a PA who has to accomplish tasks. Even if they enjoy an incredible lifestyle that most people can only dream about , they have to put up with the selfishness, whims and sometimes haughty attitude of celebrities which must be very annoying in the long run. Nevertheless, in the last century, there was no infringement of privacy and minds thanks to the speech freedom. What’s more  PAs earn a better salary than the servants in the 20^th century. Furthermore, PAs should accomplish everyday life spots which are sometimes foolish but also professional tasks such as the management of mails and of the website or the planning of transportation, etc.

Downstairs and Upstairs

In the end, there is still a separate world between the servants and masters. However, some things like the working conditions have improved. What's more the laws have changed and nowadays we have the  freedom of speech, that is to say the freedom of giving one's opinion. So the relations between servants and masters have rather changed, because first we do not say servants any more but professional assistants and because their relations are closer than in the last century. For instance, Lady Gaga wants  her Personal assistant to sleep in her bed, since she does not like sleeping alone. Thus, things have evolved over time…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Intrusive in the workers' lives ?

Written by Manon ARZIMAN & Mathilde WINNINGER

 

 

15^th December, 2013

Last week, I was contacted by Rebecca Witon who wanted me to write an article about her poor working conditions which led her to a few anxiety attacks and on the verge to quit her job after being fired and re-hired over and over again five times. She has been Paris Hilton’s personal assistant for four months and now she wants to speak up and to denounce the constrainable rules that were imposed to her.

 

Before I accepted her proposal, I made some researches and what I discovered was quite…interesting! I wondered if this issue Rebecca had been confronted to, was an isolated case or if it was quite usual.

I found a book, whose title was:“A book of Household Management” which tells us about the rules that the servants in the 19^th century had to follow. I compared a few of those rules with the ones, called “10 golden rules” that Rebecca had given.
For example, here is one of the servants’ rules:
“Always “give room” if you meet one of you employers!”

And hope is one of Rebecca’s rules:
“I shouldn’t see you if I didn’t ask for you, so always walk behind me!” quite similar, right?

Here’s another of the servants’ rules:

“Never let you voice be heard by the ladies of the gentlemen of the house!”

And one of Rebecca’s rules:

“Never try to talk to me unless you really need it badly!”

Here again, we can notice some similarities…

 

I’ve come to the conclusion that I would write this article. No only to bring to light Rebecca’s experience but also to say that though we could think that things have changed in our society, they haven’t.

 

Indeed, we noticed how the servants’ rules do not only control the servants’ work (which would be normal after all) but also on their private lives (“No servant is to receive any visitors!”). The rules were clear and precise.

 

Nowadays, there has been improvement on work regulation but as we noticed before, it hasn’t changed that much is some ways. The personal assistants’ rules not only rule the personal assistants’ job (which again would be quite normal) but also the personal assistants’ personal lives. What has changed is the way of doing it, though. It is quite implicit sometimes. By overwhelming the personal assistants with rules and expectations, and work, the employer can have control over the personal assistant’s life in the long run. It is done in a different way, but still.

 

The rules imposed to workers have always been quite as intrusive in the worker’s life and it hasn’t changed as much, as we  think it has.