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.

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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. 

Mrs Breton's book of house hold

 

Mrs Breton’s Book of House hold Management was edited by Isabella Breton. Mrs Breton is known as one of the first and best cookery writers. Her book of house hold Management was published in 1861.

    We are going to study an extract from this famous book.

 

   In this extract, we can read servant’s rules which are :

 

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

  2. Always’ give room’ if you meet one of your employers or betters or the stairs.

  3. 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.

  4.Servants should never offeer any opinion to theiur employers, not even to say good night or good morning except in reply to salutation.

  5. No servant is to receive any visitor, frieznd or relative in to the house, or to introduce any person into servants’ hall withput the conent of the butler or housekeeper.

  6. Followers, are strickly forbidden, and any maid fand fraternising with a member of the opposite sex willbe dismissed without a heaving.

  7. Any breakages or damage to the house will be deducted from wages. ’’

 

 

 

These rules are more or less strict : here there are ten rules for an personal assistant, if we were a star.

     The star that I would like to present is Paris Hilton. Her personal assistant got a letter from Paris :

‘‘ Your rules :

1.      Never talk about my life

2.      Never take a picture of me or my family.

3.      You must take an appointment with my beautician EVERY DAY !!!

4.      You have to jog with me and my sport teacher every morning at 6 a.m

5.      You should take my dog, Tinkerbell to  her hairdresser.

6.      You ought to organize my holidays

  / ! \ Be careful, I would like to go to a place where my friends are.

7.      You had better supervise my others assistants.

8.      I think that you should do shopping with me and carry my shopping bags.

9.      You are supposed to do anything  I ask.

10.  You have to be avaible for me, just me , and my dog of course !

11.  You  must organize a lot of parties for me and my friends in my huge house or in my different hotels. You can choose !

                 

 

                                        

I hope that you’ll enjoy you new work ,

XOXO Paris Hilton ’’

 

  We can deduce that the  rules are different. The rules from the extract are more professional, serious ones. But some rules from the extract are very strict like the rule number 3. It may be  shock for me because  I don’t live in the same period as these servants. My rules are funnier ;  we talk about parties and holidays but some rules are hard like the rule number 4.

 

 

Manon Zingarelli and Lara Ergul

Master and servants : still separate worlds ?

 

December, 15th, 2013 , KUHM Mathieu

 

Thanks to an extract from A book of Household Management, we know the servants’ rules in the nineteenth century in Great Britain. For example, servants couldn’t have a boyfriend or a girlfriend, servants had to be silent and not “speak” with their hands either.

Nowadays, servants are called Personal Assistants, they are the modern version of the butlers. They take care of the stars (cinema, music, sport..). They must respect rules too. (doc)

 

Some things have changed in the last decades. Nowadays, the rules are more personal than before. Usually, there is only one PA while there were several servants in the 19^th century. Today, there is no interference in the PAs’private lives. They can have a boyfriend or other personal relationships. The stars, who have a PA, are more selfish and whimsical than the former masters. In the past, masters gave rules to get things sorted out. They had a different sense of duty and often felt reponsible for their staff.Now, it’s different, stars are whimsical and PAs have to satisfy them.

 

1. The house must be cleaned everyday 2. You are expected to be respectful 3. Never talk to the medias 4. You have to be well-dressed in any occasion 5. You aren’t allowed to speak with strangers 6. You are forbidden to smoke in the house 7. Feed my turtles everyday 8. Never forget to be polite with everyone 9. You aren’t allowed to welcome anyone without my consent  PA’s rules from Math Johnson

Both centuries  have differences but masters and servants are still in two different social classes.

 Masters and servants : still separate worlds ?

 

We read in class an extract from “A book of Household Management” entitled “Servants’ rules”. It was probably written in the last century, in the 1920s.

 Here is the extract :

   

• 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 night or good morning except in reply to salutation.

• 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.

 

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

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

 

 Nowadays the PA, that is to say the Personal Assistant, is the modern version of the butler. Here is an example of some rules which could be asked by a celebrity :

 

• Never look at me straight in the eyes.

• You should congratulate me after each scene even if you thinks I am bad.

• (you should boost my self esteem)

• Never take photographs of me when I am on the film set.

• The wall of my hotel room must be white because it gives me a better complexion.

• I want you to be in charge of my official website.

• My assistant is supposed to bring me water every hour.

• I expect you to bring me violets every morning.

• You had better choose private jets than business class in  planes .

• You have to make sure that The temperature of my dressing room is exactly 23 degrees.

• You ought have fashionable clothes every day.

  

  

 

 We can wonder  if anything has changed since the last century…

 

In the 1920s masters and ladies could intervene in the servants private life and their opinion. The servants were treated like slaves and the masters and ladies like kings and queens. In addition, they were tight-fisted too, because they gave a pittance and they demanded reparation for anything and everything.

 

Nowadays, the celebrities have only ONE PA who has to do all the things that the servants used to do . Moreover, the stars are whimsical and selfish and being a PA is an absorbing job. However, the celebrities can’t intervene in the PA’s private life and opinion because they are free people and they deserve -and usually get-a better salary than before too.

 

To conclude we can say that there is still an “Upstairs-Downstairs World” but that the working conditions and the workers’ freedom have markedly improved.

 

 

 
   By Camille Huppert and Emilie Mathis