IF you thought butlers belonged to a bygone age, Downton Abbey and The Windsors, you might want to think again.
It turns out the art of the butler is in high demand and that there is a shortage of these fine fellows.
That’s according to Simeon Rosset, who has been in the trade for 16 years and runs Rosset Bespoke Butlers from an HQ in Paisley. He was on Radio Scotland just the other morning saying that demand is high for butlers and that women are welcome to enter a profession which was traditionally a male domain.
In fact, should you wish to turn your white-gloved hand to a new career, Rosset can train you. The courses he runs start at £2000. By jove, Jeeves, that’s a pretty penny, you might exclaim. But for the aspiring butler, this 12-day course offers training in such skills as service at table, care of the wine cellar, care of antique silver, looking after the gentleman’s wardrobe, etiquette and protocol, and the logistics of arranging private jets, yachts, drivers and hotels. Oh, and shoe polishing.
Is it surprising that there’s a shortage of wannabe butlers out there willing to shell out to gain the skills required to wait on the wealthy hand and foot?
Had I been swithering about a change of career, I’m not sure I’ve got what it takes. My student job as a waitress reached its nadir when I served coffee in sugar bowls. (Well, they were the same shape as the coffee cups and it’s easy to miss the absence of a handle.) And a visit for tea at a friend’s house at the tender age of four left me bamboozled over cutlery due to the presence of fish knives. “Mum, they had funny bent knives!”. I should add that it was fish fingers on the menu, so I have no idea what my friend’s mother was thinking of, although her daughter probably has a butler of her own by now.
Further inspection of the Rosset Bespoke Butlers website has opened up to me a new and very strange world. As well training butlers, Rosset hires them out, along with all kinds of other swanky staff, for special occasions. Struggling with the finer points of your shooting party? Worry not. Rosset can rustle up butlers, waiting staff, chefs and drivers and will also source and deliver fine food – “anything from caviar to camels’ milk”.
And the next time I travel, I’ll be sure to check out the Passepartout Service, named after Phileas Fogg’s loyal valet in the Joules Verne novel Around The World In Eighty Days. The travelling valet service “will make sure your every need is attended to, even if you are travelling to areas of the world where luxuries are few and far between”. Examples of trips covered include skiing in St Moritz, hiking the Inca Trail in Peru and the Monte Carlo Classic Rally (for which your man will be an experienced driver and mechanic to boot). There’s no mention of Easyjet to Alicante, but I’m sure that would not preclude me from enquiring. Prices are bespoke and start at £190 per day, with travel and expenses extra. The website also notes that valets who are needed as bodyguards will cost considerably more.
Actually, I think I’ll pass. This is getting more oligarch by the minute.
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