Butler

Description

A butler or someone also known as Chauffeur is the one who is in charge of a large house. They basically are known as the head of the servant community because they are given the highest rank in that community if a male servant is chosen to be a butler.

Now, what is the actual work of a butler? Well, usually a large house is further categorized into smaller departments to keep everything well-managed. Butlers are basically responsible for three main areas of this large house; wine cellar, pantry and mainly dining room. They have no concern with the housekeeping because that is considered to be the work of females. Male servants are given these three main areas and the one leading the males is a butler.

Similar Jobs

Since butlers are the most respected humans in the servant community, they are often called with a whole bunch of names. These names are often given on the basis of the work duties they perform or the way they perform or the way people perceive different kinds of butlers.

A butler may be called a majordomo or a house manager or even an administrator if he is playing a major role in managing the whole house. He may be referred as a staff manager if he is guiding all the servants below him and making sure everyone is working efficiently and effectively. Butler is often known as the manservant because a woman gets to be a house keeper only. Staff captain, head of house hold staff, are some of the names that people have come up with for butler depending on his job description.

Under-Butler

Now, what is an under butler? Usually what happens is that a house owner owns an estate in which he has two or more residences. They all require a different butler to manage their regular duties. Managing all the residences by one butler would mean putting plethora of burden on just one shoulder. Therefore, different butlers are appointed for different residences. The one that heads all these butlers is known as either estate captain or estate manager. In this case, the individual butlers managing the individual houses are known as under butler.

Common Duties/Routines

If we go a little deep and really understand the roles of a butler then these are as follows:

1. Butler is the head steward of the whole house and entrusted with managing all the work going on in the areas they were made responsible.
2. The concept of having a butler goes way back in time when people actually had wine cellars. Since at the time, collecting wine bottles was considered a huge deal, house owners really needed someone to take care of those wine bottles.
3. Butler is the chief of all the male servants so he is entrusted with the responsibility of guiding all the servants, handling disturbance between them, dealing with chaos and settling all disputes between them.
4. A butler is also given the title of a Silverman where he is supposed to make sure all the silverware is safe and tidy in the house. He can perform this duty himself or appoint another servant for it.
5. A butler is, also, responsible for catering personal needs and requirements of the owner of the house and his family.
6. As the title of an admin is given to the butler, he has to attend guests, calls, arrange events, and make sure everything is going well in a party or gathering.
7. When it comes to staff management, a butler is also responsible for hiring and firing servants.  He decide their salary and is accountable for that.

Work Atmosphere

In the early days, butlers were supposed to wear proper uniform that distinguished him from the rest of the servants. However, some trends have definitely changed as time has passed. One of those trends includes not having an actual uniform on ordinary days. Butlers can wear casual clothes, a professional suit or a uniform. However, on occasions, it is necessary for them to wear uniforms.