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I can’t believe there are many people who want to be “waited on” by servants. I just want someone to cook and somewhere to sit and hangout with friends without

I can’t believe there are many people who want to be “waited on” by servants. I just want someone to cook and somewhere to sit and hangout with friends without needing to cleanup.

AmericanChopper 6y ago
So you want servants, but just described slightly differently...
- pfundstein 6y ago
  Hiring a chef and a butler is a far cry from having servants.
  - AmericanChopper 6y ago
    All of those people are servants, it’s just kinda rude to say it that way. Saying “I don’t want servants, I just want people to cook for me and clean up after me” is really just saying “I want cooking and cleaning servants, but I don’t want to use that word”.
    - wayneftw 6y ago
      They generally do not use that word in the restaurant industry. Instead they use “server”.
      - AmericanChopper 6y ago
        Of course. Because the word servant had all sorts of negative connotations. Nobody wants to be called a servant, and there’s all sorts of judgements to be made about people who call others servants (or even just make implications in that direction). Like in the parent comment I was originally replying to for instance, which could essentially be rephrased to “why would anybody want to have servants? I myself prefer to have servants”. On the surface the comment as it’s written appears to be a criticism of having unreasonable demands. But I’d say it’s just a criticism around phrasing used to project a sense of moral superiority.
        wayneftw 6y ago
        Yep. I guess some people thought I was disagreeing I was just stating a fact though.
  - thwarted 6y ago
    It's literally in the definition of "butler". Butler: 1 : a manservant having charge of the wines and liquors. 2 : the chief male servant of a household who has charge of other employees, receives guests, directs the serving of meals, and performs various personal services.
    - deathlight 6y ago
      "Will you require buttling today, sir?" "No, you can go manserve elsewhere for now."
    - pfundstein 6y ago
      I think the distinction is usually drawn at (a) payment is exchanged for services, and (b) the person providing the service is free to leave the role at their discretion (possibly with a contractual requirement to provide advance notice).
  - Melting_Harps 6y ago
    > Hiring a chef and a butler is a far cry from having servants. I was a private chef, and in my situation (off-season Historical European Hotel) no, it really isn't... what experience do you speak from to make such a statement? Culinary work, after you strip all the romanticism, is at it's core slave labour.
    - baggy_trough 6y ago
      What a grotesque remark.
      - Melting_Harps 6y ago
        > What a grotesque remark. You want the truth, or the BS story you get from the banal Food Networks or Top Chefs of the World that lets you delude yourself that its ok to not tip much or at all when you go out in what is horrible Industry attached to an even worse business model? And BOH (cooks, dishwashers) doesn't get any of that mind you. Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential was, at times clearly embellished for attention grabbing purposes to sell books, a very accurate depiction of the Industry. Which is why he became the patron saint of sorts to the Culinary World, despite being an admittedly mediocre chef. There was a time I really wished everyone had spent a summer working in a kitchen to gain perspective on what that thing really is, now it's very unlikely to occur after COVID. Still, it's pretty eye opening.
        baggy_trough 6y ago
        Bad working conditions don't equate to slave labor.
    - cgrealy 6y ago
      Slave labour? I’ve said millions of times that I love exaggeration, but even I think that’s taking it a bit far. Were you paid? Could you leave the job if you wanted? Then it’s not slave labour.
      - Melting_Harps 6y ago
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- mbg721 6y ago
  So does anybody who pays someone to mow the lawn or clean the gutters.
ramblerman 6y ago
It seems you've redefined "waited on" to be some weird thing. For most people it means precisely what you said, ie. someone to cook, bring you drinks and food, and no cleanup.
softwaredoug 6y ago
That’s my definition of being “waited on”

I can’t believe there are many people who want to be “waited on” by servants. I just want someone to cook and somewhere to sit and hangout with friends without needing to cleanup.

AmericanChopper 6y ago

So you want servants, but just described slightly differently...

pfundstein 6y ago
Hiring a chef and a butler is a far cry from having servants.
- AmericanChopper 6y ago
  All of those people are servants, it’s just kinda rude to say it that way. Saying “I don’t want servants, I just want people to cook for me and clean up after me” is really just saying “I want cooking and cleaning servants, but I don’t want to use that word”.
  - wayneftw 6y ago
    They generally do not use that word in the restaurant industry. Instead they use “server”.
    - AmericanChopper 6y ago
      Of course. Because the word servant had all sorts of negative connotations. Nobody wants to be called a servant, and there’s all sorts of judgements to be made about people who call others servants (or even just make implications in that direction). Like in the parent comment I was originally replying to for instance, which could essentially be rephrased to “why would anybody want to have servants? I myself prefer to have servants”. On the surface the comment as it’s written appears to be a criticism of having unreasonable demands. But I’d say it’s just a criticism around phrasing used to project a sense of moral superiority.
      - wayneftw 6y ago
        Yep. I guess some people thought I was disagreeing I was just stating a fact though.
- thwarted 6y ago
  It's literally in the definition of "butler". Butler: 1 : a manservant having charge of the wines and liquors. 2 : the chief male servant of a household who has charge of other employees, receives guests, directs the serving of meals, and performs various personal services.
  - deathlight 6y ago
    "Will you require buttling today, sir?" "No, you can go manserve elsewhere for now."
  - pfundstein 6y ago
    I think the distinction is usually drawn at (a) payment is exchanged for services, and (b) the person providing the service is free to leave the role at their discretion (possibly with a contractual requirement to provide advance notice).
- Melting_Harps 6y ago
  > Hiring a chef and a butler is a far cry from having servants. I was a private chef, and in my situation (off-season Historical European Hotel) no, it really isn't... what experience do you speak from to make such a statement? Culinary work, after you strip all the romanticism, is at it's core slave labour.
  - baggy_trough 6y ago
    What a grotesque remark.
    - Melting_Harps 6y ago
      > What a grotesque remark. You want the truth, or the BS story you get from the banal Food Networks or Top Chefs of the World that lets you delude yourself that its ok to not tip much or at all when you go out in what is horrible Industry attached to an even worse business model? And BOH (cooks, dishwashers) doesn't get any of that mind you. Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential was, at times clearly embellished for attention grabbing purposes to sell books, a very accurate depiction of the Industry. Which is why he became the patron saint of sorts to the Culinary World, despite being an admittedly mediocre chef. There was a time I really wished everyone had spent a summer working in a kitchen to gain perspective on what that thing really is, now it's very unlikely to occur after COVID. Still, it's pretty eye opening.
      - baggy_trough 6y ago
        Bad working conditions don't equate to slave labor.
  - cgrealy 6y ago
    Slave labour? I’ve said millions of times that I love exaggeration, but even I think that’s taking it a bit far. Were you paid? Could you leave the job if you wanted? Then it’s not slave labour.
    - Melting_Harps 6y ago
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
mbg721 6y ago
So does anybody who pays someone to mow the lawn or clean the gutters.

ramblerman 6y ago

It seems you've redefined "waited on" to be some weird thing. For most people it means precisely what you said, ie. someone to cook, bring you drinks and food, and no cleanup.

softwaredoug 6y ago

That’s my definition of being “waited on”