Having Servants... It Doesn't Feel Weird?

[meemiathai]

A couple of questions about having servants in your home.

1. Doesn't it feel weird to have a non family member in your home and personal areas and spending large amounts of time around your family?

2. Doesn't it feel weird to order someone around and have them below you? To be honest, I feel strange just going into a restaurant and spending 5000 baht when I know the person serving me makes that in a month and will never be able to afford dining in the same restaurant. I guess that is the nature of the world and I am not going to pay 5000 baht for him to eat dinner with me, but that constant reminder of how bad some people have it that would come with having servants living with you... it seems like that would get depressing.

This brings me to a third question. I am only 22 so maybe I have more learning to do but....

Whenever I go to stores or restaurants or just walk down the street and see people doing minimum wage type jobs, or the types of jobs a monkey could do, or the type of job you wake up and go to for 40 hours a week until you die, the types of jobs that 90% of the people on earth do it depresses me. I don't know these people do it everyday. So, I am sort of cynical towards them like "What is wrong with you that you can come here everyday and do this?"

I am seriously suspicious of your age. 22? really? And why do you have a chinese name?

[Dakhar]

On another thread, which was pulled, he stated he was 45, and still makes high school girls..."moist."

I must admitt, that was one of the most disgusting posts I have ever seen on TV. Seemed like something right out a of John Kar fantasy.

Either way, he is a Troll and I pitty him.

[mr_hippo]

TonyLeung: You may have money now but that does not mean that you will always have money. Please copy the following underlined quote, print it out and put it in a prominent position "Be careful how you treat people on your way up - you never know who you'll meet on your way down."

You seem to equate money with class - I have met more road sweepers, shop girls and factory hands with a lot more class and dignity than you. Where would you be without the garbage collector, the rice farmer and others doing mundane jobs?

If you do lose your money and have to survive by sweeping the streets or blowing a whistle in a car park, I won't look down on you.

[Heng]

A couple of questions about having servants in your home.

1. Doesn't it feel weird to have a non family member in your home and personal areas and spending large amounts of time around your family?

2. Doesn't it feel weird to order someone around and have them below you? To be honest, I feel strange just going into a restaurant and spending 5000 baht when I know the person serving me makes that in a month and will never be able to afford dining in the same restaurant. I guess that is the nature of the world and I am not going to pay 5000 baht for him to eat dinner with me, but that constant reminder of how bad some people have it that would come with having servants living with you... it seems like that would get depressing.

This brings me to a third question. I am only 22 so maybe I have more learning to do but....

Whenever I go to stores or restaurants or just walk down the street and see people doing minimum wage type jobs, or the types of jobs a monkey could do, or the type of job you wake up and go to for 40 hours a week until you die, the types of jobs that 90% of the people on earth do it depresses me. I don't know these people do it everyday. So, I am sort of cynical towards them like "What is wrong with you that you can come here everyday and do this?"

It's all relative, Tony. Having employees in the home is not so different than having employees in the office or factory. They have their responsibilities and they have their off limits zones if it's privacy that you're concerned about. It's not like they sit around in the bedroom with you lounging, sipping bourbon, watching UBC, etc. It's no different than you getting used to most gas stations here being "full" (more like 3/4's) service instead of self service (like in many other countries). Kind of strange, but you kinda like it. After awhile (yeah, I kind like not having to wash my car, water the lawn, mow the grass, make my bed, peel apples, etc.), you prefer it this way.

As for that above and below thing, there are always folks above and below and I think it is better to be reminded of that than to shield oneself from it.

As for the last part, that's kind of a glass half empty point of view. What should they be doing? Staying home moping about being poor?

Edited December 15, 2007 by Heng

[OlRedEyes]

TonyLeung: You may have money now but that does not mean that you will always have money. Please copy the following underlined quote, print it out and put it in a prominent position "Be careful how you treat people on your way up - you never know who you'll meet on your way down."

You seem to equate money with class - I have met more road sweepers, shop girls and factory hands with a lot more class and dignity than you. Where would you be without the garbage collector, the rice farmer and others doing mundane jobs?

If you do lose your money and have to survive by sweeping the streets or blowing a whistle in a car park, I won't look down on you.

Well put. The lad seems to be excruciatingly superficial.

[grantbkk]

This guy could have gone to comprehensive school before his father made a killing in the macaroni market which would account for the OP's sentence structure and my run-on sentence.

Having trusted staff provides extra security for you and your stuff.

You don't have to be home for deliveries.

You rooms are clean. I don't recommend maintaining a personal staff for rooms less than 30 square meters.

Once you learn to manage people you will have no trouble managing a household staff. At 22, no matter how much Baht your parents gave you to leave home, you probably lack the interpersonal skills to properly train and manage (read control) your staff. You can eliminate the valet here in Thailand if you're the shorts, tee shirt and flip-flops kind of young man. Save your money for beer and girls.

The number one rule regarding household staff is not to get to close. Many wonder why the staff always eats separately or does not travel with the family for no good reason. The answer is that once you include them in family activities their skills begin to deteriorate commensurate to their degree of inclusion and you will eventually have to let them go. If that happens you have no one to blame but yourself.

[Dakhar]

The number one rule regarding household staff is not to get to close. Many wonder why the staff always eats separately or does not travel with the family for no good reason. The answer is that once you include them in family activities their skills begin to deteriorate commensurate to their degree of inclusion and you will eventually have to let them go. If that happens you have no one to blame but yourself.

Yep, I have seen that too.

[Chloe82]

My family has had butlers and other domestic personnel, game keepers and gardeners etc working on the estates in England and France going back centuries. How is one supposed to maintain a high quality lifestyle without help from others

[cm-happy]

My family has had butlers and other domestic personnel, game keepers and gardeners etc working on the estates in England and France going back centuries. How is one supposed to maintain a high quality lifestyle without help from others

And does your personal secretary do your TV posting for you, and perhaps think for you as well? What do you do when you have to take a dump? Have help to do that for you also?

Estates in UK and France. You havn't turned then into tourist hotels yet??

[MrSquigle]

A man servant knows where to aim the bum gun just right.

[Naam]

Doesn't it feel weird to have a non family member in your home and personal areas and spending large amounts of time around your family?

it doesn't feel weird but even after many years of having servants i don't feel really comfortable having them around all the time but that does not mean that i don't appreciate the services i receive and the advantages having servants.

my best guess is, that when you grew up a poor boy (like me) you can never adopt the same attitude towards servants like others who grew up with nanny, drivers, cook and maids (like my wife).

but mind you, i am talking about domestic servants and not employees in a company.

[Mosha]

If you spend 5000 Baht in a restaurant on a meal. I can suggest a nice room in a certain establishment in Surat Thani. It's where the Thais in the nearby provinces take people like you. My wife and I can live for 2 weeks on that. That includes her cigs and a meal out.

[Dakhar]

Game keeper?

What do they do, X box repair work?

Game keeper, dosn't game roam around free and eat what they want where they want? If they don't I would call those animals pets. So your family members shot pets? Wierd concept for a poor bayou boy to grasp. We never kept game, played games, shot game... but never kept game. Had some pets though.... never ate them. Guess we were just too civalized?

[answer]

A couple of questions about having servants in your home.

1. Doesn't it feel weird to have a non family member in your home and personal areas and spending large amounts of time around your family?

2. Doesn't it feel weird to order someone around and have them below you? To be honest, I feel strange just going into a restaurant and spending 5000 baht when I know the person serving me makes that in a month and will never be able to afford dining in the same restaurant. I guess that is the nature of the world and I am not going to pay 5000 baht for him to eat dinner with me, but that constant reminder of how bad some people have it that would come with having servants living with you... it seems like that would get depressing.

This brings me to a third question. I am only 22 so maybe I have more learning to do but....

Whenever I go to stores or restaurants or just walk down the street and see people doing minimum wage type jobs, or the types of jobs a monkey could do, or the type of job you wake up and go to for 40 hours a week until you die, the types of jobs that 90% of the people on earth do it depresses me. I don't know these people do it everyday. So, I am sort of cynical towards them like "What is wrong with you that you can come here everyday and do this?"

I'm having stress seeing how they clean the house and clear things. They don't do it as clean as I do. I haven't seen anyone doing a great cleaning. All persons who can do things well find better jobs.

[YangYaiEric]

A couple of questions about having servants in your home.

1. Doesn't it feel weird to have a non family member in your home and personal areas and spending large amounts of time around your family?

2. Doesn't it feel weird to order someone around and have them below you? To be honest, I feel strange just going into a restaurant and spending 5000 baht when I know the person serving me makes that in a month and will never be able to afford dining in the same restaurant. I guess that is the nature of the world and I am not going to pay 5000 baht for him to eat dinner with me, but that constant reminder of how bad some people have it that would come with having servants living with you... it seems like that would get depressing.

This brings me to a third question. I am only 22 so maybe I have more learning to do but....

Whenever I go to stores or restaurants or just walk down the street and see people doing minimum wage type jobs, or the types of jobs a monkey could do, or the type of job you wake up and go to for 40 hours a week until you die, the types of jobs that 90% of the people on earth do it depresses me. I don't know these people do it everyday. So, I am sort of cynical towards them like "What is wrong with you that you can come here everyday and do this?"

Hey, Tony!

You say you're only 22? Well, may I suggest you GROW-UP a little and stop making such infantile comments?

[mrtoad]

Hey, Tony!

You say you're only 22? Well, may I suggest you GROW-UP a little and stop making such infantile comments?

Last week he said he was 45 and handsome. It is clear that he is a Troll.

[thai_narak]

i don't usually call someone a TROLL...

[wilko]

A couple of questions about having servants in your home.

1. Doesn't it feel weird to have a non family member in your home and personal areas and spending large amounts of time around your family?

2. Doesn't it feel weird to order someone around and have them below you? To be honest, I feel strange just going into a restaurant and spending 5000 baht when I know the person serving me makes that in a month and will never be able to afford dining in the same restaurant. I guess that is the nature of the world and I am not going to pay 5000 baht for him to eat dinner with me, but that constant reminder of how bad some people have it that would come with having servants living with you... it seems like that would get depressing.

This brings me to a third question. I am only 22 so maybe I have more learning to do but....

Whenever I go to stores or restaurants or just walk down the street and see people doing minimum wage type jobs, or the types of jobs a monkey could do, or the type of job you wake up and go to for 40 hours a week until you die, the types of jobs that 90% of the people on earth do it depresses me. I don't know these people do it everyday. So, I am sort of cynical towards them like "What is wrong with you that you can come here everyday and do this?"

It really depends on what you're used to doesn't it/ If you've always had staff, you've grown up with it it doesn't seem strange

- BTW I didn't dictate this one, I wrote it myself.....

[PhilHarries]

don't have any feelings of superiority over people doing low class work.

i dont see any work as low class. work is the proper means to put food on the table and kids through school. wheeling and dealing and lying and manipulating, well, THAT IS LOW CLASS. manual labour is good honest labour . (i've been on kibbutz 22 yrs so socialist ideals have stuck ).

bina

israel

I know what you mean bina. I struggled with coming up with an alternative to "low class" but the only one I could think of at the time was "menial" which I also don't like. Still can't come up with an acceptable description for unskilled work, even that term is a bit degrading to the people doing the tasks thus covered. Even "manual labour" doesn't really cover tasks like supermarket checkout operators.

btw, my father told me I was starting out in my working life "work hard, study hard at college, get your qualifications and you'll be sitting in an office with others getting their hands dirty at your bidding". So I worked hard, studied hard, got my qualifications and I'm sat here back in the office after an inspection , sweating bucket loads and covered in guano but happy as a pig in sh1t. I've done the nine to five desk jockey grind, commuting and hour in the morning and evening and it aint for me.

[bina]

i have to admit, even sweeping is semi skilled; i actually have to teach people the proper way to use a road broom (push, make short movements, small piles, with the wind in your back - getting feathers and straw and dirt in your face is not fun,- keep your hand over the edge of the broom so u dont poke any passers by's eye out..) ... so there u go...

i think in hebrew we call ourselves 'hourly wage earners', as in making minimum (actually not me as kibbutznik but in the 'real' world thats how 'menial' or 'manual' labour is called or identified here: hourly wage earner as opposed to global or independant earners...

thanks tony for an interesting subject

i will never forget the thai woman i was staying with when we went shopping (in ban chiang i stayed with a wealthy thai woman for a few days) and her maid followed a few steps behind carrying all the shopping... i kept trying to help but she refused. i cant have someone serve me. i'm used to carrying my own tray to the dishwashing machine, etc so even in restaurants i have this urge to clear the table off...

[xyborg]

<br />so youre shagging everyone but your wife?<br />

<br /><br /><br />

Thats cuz Im shagging his wife mind you his maid used to be my wife and my wife used to be a fella!

I dont see the problem with servants except the word "servant" after all we are all servants to someone, I dont look down on them they do a good job.

[xyborg]

<br />

<b>This brings me to a third question. I am only 22 so maybe I have more learning to do but....</b>

<br /><br />I think I'll take most of what you say with a pinch of salt. Last week you claimed you were 45 years old. <img src="style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" /><br />

<br /><br /><br />

Maybe he means "dog years"?

[meadish_sweetball]

My family has had butlers and other domestic personnel, game keepers and gardeners etc working on the estates in England and France going back centuries. How is one supposed to maintain a high quality lifestyle without help from others

Good question. A guy I know solved it by learning basic video editing and writing articles for periodicals. I think he's doing alright.

[sriracha john]

[

I'll take most of what you say with a pinch of salt.

this OP "troll"

What a total load of utter pretentious drivel.

the OP is a dill.

the OP is a dill.

Agreed

the OP is a dill.

AMEN

[sriracha john]

post another feeble troll

little man that likes to TROLL

little man that likes to TROLL

Honestly, its about time the mods kicked him out

he is a Troll

GROW-UP

It is clear that he is a Troll.

i don't usually call someone a TROLL...

[wilko]

My family has had butlers and other domestic personnel, game keepers and gardeners etc working on the estates in England and France going back centuries. How is one supposed to maintain a high quality lifestyle without help from others

No Chloe...they're called scientists....the ones who set up your test-tube and got it all wrong!

[cm-happy]

Surprised the OP has not stepped up to the plate to defend himself! NO BALLS??

[JetsetBkk]

My family has had butlers and other domestic personnel, game keepers and gardeners etc working on the estates in England and France going back centuries. How is one supposed to maintain a high quality lifestyle without help from others

Good question. A guy I know solved it by learning basic video editing and writing articles for periodicals. I think he's doing alright.

I think I know that guy.

[nidge]

Surprised the OP has not stepped up to the plate to defend himself! NO BALLS??

I believe he was given a "vacation" by one of the mods.

It's a big shame for me. His pathetic juvenile threads and comments often created entertaining threads which help me while away the hours at work. My post per day rate has dropped considerably since he was booted. Roll on 6th January when i can go home

[Furbie]

If you spend 5000 Baht in a restaurant on a meal. I can suggest a nice room in a certain establishment in Surat Thani. It's where the Thais in the nearby provinces take people like you. My wife and I can live for 2 weeks on that. That includes her cigs and a meal out.

At the risk of starting a "have, have not" debate or a debate about "how expensive Thailand is or isn't", for God's sake, at least don't sound so proud about not being able to afford a meal at an expensive restaurant. Quit smoking and maybe you can take your woman for a nice meal out. Personally, I could not live a week on 5,000 by myself, especially on the weekend, much less including my GF in movies and meals.