[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('frankthetank', 'I')'ve been told moose tastes like crap. My brother makes jerkey out of every meat imaginable and he said moose was by far the worst tasting meat. Said it tasted like mud. Nothing like Wisconsin whitetail Fed on the finest of gmo corns!

[lowem]

There's always a hierarchy. I report to my boss, he reports to his boss, and so on all the way up to the group CEO, the shareholders, of which the Singapore government is a big one, which in turn is more or less answerable to the taxpayers. And my engineers report to me.

And at home I've got a maid who helps with looking after the kids, housework and cooking. The Manpower Ministry in its communications with me refers to her with the, I'd suppose, more politically-correct term of "Foreign Domestic Worker". Which is technically correct, I'd suppose.

We never really use the term servants around here. Maybe they use that in certain countries but not in Singapore. Here it's just talking about employers/employees, whether temp, contract, or perm staff. My FDW is on her third 2-year contract, she can choose to stay on if she likes, or move on.

[bodigami]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lowem', 'T')here's always a hierarchy. I report to my boss, he reports to his boss, and so on all the way up to the group CEO, the shareholders, of which the Singapore government is a big one, which in turn is more or less answerable to the taxpayers. And my engineers report to me.

And at home I've got a maid who helps with looking after the kids, housework and cooking. The Manpower Ministry in its communications with me refers to her with the, I'd suppose, more politically-correct term of "Foreign Domestic Worker". Which is technically correct, I'd suppose.

We never really use the term servants around here. Maybe they use that in certain countries but not in Singapore. Here it's just talking about employers/employees, whether temp, contract, or perm staff. My FDW is on her third 2-year contract, she can choose to stay on if she likes, or move on.

[AgentR]

Between contracted labor that does the yards, to the weekly made service; I think people are already comfortable with the notion; though it has acquired a bit of an American slant. You don't have a gardener who lives on property; you have Joe's Greenthumb, LLC. Which is really, just Joe and his pickup that come by weekly and mow/edge the lawn, and maybe weed the flowers if needed.

If the supply of domestic labor goes through the roof, I could see live in domestics coming back, and a lot further down into the upper middle class than folks might expect. But I think a lot of folks around here, who've never had such servants don't understand the drill. You don't have a domestic in-house so that you can live the life of leisure in domestic bliss; you have one so that you can burn your own job, full throttle, 12-16 hrs a day, every day, without having to worry about whether the kid(s) will starve, or the kitchen become a biohazard. You have the domestic so that you wake with a nudge and a cup of coffee at 6am, suit cleaned and pressed, and you headed to the office/worksite by 6:30. You have the domestic so that when you get home at 8-9pm after a nightmare Saturday, you can eat some non-offensive food, hug the kids and collapse a half hour later confident that there is someone who will make sure you are up and off in time in the morning.

BTW: American Version Authority Heirarchy:

Job/Boss -> Parents -> Domestic -> -> -> -> -> kids.

Which is generally a bit different than in a lot of other places in the world.

"Daddy Daddy! The maid made me scrub the shower."
"You don't look injured to me... *OUT*!"

[Maddog78]

I had a live in Phillipino maid the year I worked in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
It was great and I treated her very well with tips, etc.
She wasn't great looking and I had Malaysian g/f's so there was no hanky panky, it was a professional relationship.
We also had Indian guards in the complex I lived in and I also tipped them extra to do little things for me.
I had a lot of fun joking around with those guys. They thought I was a bit nuts I'm sure.
One of the "games" I'd play with them was there was a wooden pole blocking the entrance to the parkade.
It had to be lifted manually. I'd rev the shit out of the car in the morning and tear out of there. They'd run like hell to lift the pole in time and always managed to get it out of the way as I tore through.
I gave the head guard a 20kg. sack of rice at Xmas and his eyes welled up with tears.
I missed them all when I had to go back to N.A.

[Maddog78]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('frankthetank', 'I')'ve been told moose tastes like crap. My brother makes jerkey out of every meat imaginable and he said moose was by far the worst tasting meat.
I'm more into Salmon and Halibut then Moose, but if I get a moose I don't serve it as steaks....I like to season it up a bit and put it in sausage, hamburgers, and Moose stews.