To hope that in this day and age in the UK, servants no longer exist?

[angelos02]

I know the aristocracy will have chefs and cleaners etc but I hope that servants as they used to exist, don't any longer. I'm thinking of people sat eating at a table while their minions stand waiting behind them to cater for their every whim? Surely not anymore? Who in their right mind would bow and scrape to another human being, day in, day out?

For a fair wage I think many many many people would happily fill that role.

I'm sure working conditions have vastly improved but they still exist, I can think of much worse jobs to be honest.

Um, it still happens at some formal dinners. They are calling waiting staff.

Of course they still exist. Obviously not to the same extent as pre WW1 but they still exist.

Who in their right mind? Someone who's desperate for a job for a start.

I don't see the difference between that and working in a hotel for instance. As long as their pay and conditions are fair.

Odd thing to find yourself het up about out of know here before ten in the morning?

If they are paying fair money and providing decent working conditions what's the issue?

I think they probably do, of course less than 100 years ago though. Maybe not bowing and scraping, but housekeepers, cooks, cleaners?

Footmen and butlers are perhaps a bit more rare.

Slavery is alive and well in the UK, let alone paid servants.

My fraternal grandfather was a butler until he retired at 65 in 1992.

can't see the problem as long as they are paid a good wage and treated with respect.

People who really need the money?

as far as I am aware, most people (as you say outside of the aristocracy) don't have that. I don't think people ever did, apart from those. The most the slightly rich would have had would have been a housekeeper or maybe a maid (I am basing this on repeated viewings of Miss Marple though, so what the hell do I know? )

As an aside, many members of my family (on my husband's side) have servants. In their country it is still quite normal although I am happy to hear it is dying out. I hate it. I haven't heard a single name used when talking about them. It is 'the house girl' and 'the house boy'. I have asked my husband what is the name of his mother's 'house girl' and he doesn't know. I find it revolting.

what on earth is a fraternal grandfather?

of course there are still servants and slaves in the UK it would be naive to think otherwise.

I know the aristocracy will have chefs and cleaners etc but I hope that servants as they used to exist, don't any longer. I'm thinking of people sat eating at a table while their minions stand waiting behind them to cater for their every whim? Surely not anymore? Who in their right mind would bow and scrape to another human being, day in, day out?

Have you heard of the royal family?

Here's an article about modern day slavery:
m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25048307

I'm not het up about it. I was just wondering.

Fraternal grandfather is your dad's dad as opposed to maternal grandfather, your mum's dad.

how come when the OP asked about servants (paid people in employment) we have moved seamlessly onto slavery and links about people held against their will?

You can hire companies to provide this service for you for large events/formal dinners.

My aunt used to do it and the pay was good. Not at all just for those who "really really need the money" she was professionally trained.

What diving said. Also, I think we've just stopped using the word 'servant' - 'staff' is more usual now - but though having someone full -time and live-in is certainly far more unusual than before, say, WWI, it's not exactly unheard-of. The 'big house' local to where I live has a full-time live-in housekeeper and gardener, and I used to know someone who was a footman at Blenheim Palace. I doubt they think of themselves as servants, or feel the sense of duty, loyalty to their employers and a sense of their mutual 'station in life' as the servants of the past, but they are still providing live-in, full-time domestic services for people much wealthier than them.

I think you mean paternal, fraternal would be your siblings.

Shouldnt it be paternal grandfather? I thought fraternal was in reference to a brother. Like the fraternities in the US colleges.

Oh, and part of the footman's job was to stand around in knee breeches at formal dinners, so that still sometimes happens, even if the rest of the time his employers ate around the kitchen table with the dogs.

Aspiring isn't that paternal?

The term is paternal grandfather.