现代管家职业揭秘

    艾伦•米勒25年前刚入行那阵子，完全不知道当管家应该做些什么。如今，当他在学生们面前畅谈自己的职业生涯时，学生们甚至不知道，在当今时代，管家这个职业依然存在

    尽管如此，全世界依然有成千上万的人在当管家。他们有的打理私人住宅，有的坐镇度假酒店，其职责与电视剧《唐顿庄园》和古装片《高斯福庄园》刻画的管家大相径庭。他们需要做的，可能是监督工人安装新的供暖系统，或者负责所有的家庭开支，而不是擦拭银器、接待客人这类传统的活儿。

    如果是在酒店做管家，就得随时满足客人的需求，比如为客人订购他们钟意的某个品牌的啤酒、配一对链扣、收拾行李箱、悬挂喜宴横幅。“无论客人需要什么，我们都能为他们弄到手，”乔治亚州海洋岛The Lodge酒店的管家艾克•波德列斯内表示，“只要不是违法、违反道德的事情，我们都会尽力去办。”

    波德列斯内和其他九名酒店管家平日里为客人张罗求婚仪式、打理高尔夫球场、服侍客人在客房用餐，营造高级餐厅的氛围；待客时能叫出对方的名字，能为客人寻找丢失的行李，能像私人助理一样贴心服务。

    还有的管家专为丽思卡尔顿酒店等众多豪华酒店的富豪贵客服务。不过一说到管家，人们最容易想到的，还是为富豪打理私宅的人，就像《唐顿庄园》里的卡森一样，掌管着众多维护花园、泳池及各种供暖设施和安全系统的承包商，张罗大大小小的宴会活动。

    很多管家喜欢别人用“家政总管”或“地产总管”来称呼他们，因为这样听着更体面，感觉像是在一个比普通民居大10到15倍的别墅或大户人家里提供家政服务的人。

    “人们到现在还是认为管家是一个很枯燥的活，尽管事实根本不是这样。有些人把男管家称为‘妇男总管’。”家政猎头公司Feigon Hamilton的创始人苏珊•乔伊•费贡表示。Feigon Hamilton的业务是为职业家政人员安排工作。至于安排什么样的工作，得看对方家庭的情况，比如户主有多少房子，一家人的生活方式是什么样的，家里有没有雇佣仆役长、家政总管或者管理员——无论是仆役长、家政总管还是管理员，都得全权负责所有家政事务，管家也是一样。

努力使存在感降到最低？

    51岁的艾伦•米勒开了一家小烧烤餐厅之后，在机缘巧合之下当上了管家。“亚特兰大有名叫威尔的男士给我打了电话，”他回忆道。他未来的老板在大学期间患了脊髓灰质炎，颈部以下完全瘫痪，但此人在生意上非常成功。“他对我说，‘你会从你服侍的人身上学到很多东西，比如如何设定目标……如何管理时间，如何理财。’”米勒说。

    他很快意识到，要想做好这份工作，必须具备很强的多任务处理能力。他说：“这份工作强度很大，你需要同时处理很多任务，掌握智能家居技术。”米勒现在住在西雅图附近，他依然认为自己是个传统的管家。

    “在公司，你的奋斗目标是为了得到认可。而在家政服务界，你的目标是把存在感降到最低，”他说，“如果事情的进展非常、非常的顺利，人们甚至没有注意到你的存在，那么你就是成功的。”

    When Allan Miller started as a butler 25 years ago he had no idea what he was getting into. Now, when he talks to students about his career as a butler or estate manager, they have no idea his job even exists.

    Yet thousands of butlers work at private homes, resorts, and in consulting roles that look only a little like those portrayed in the television show Downton Abbey or period movies such as Gosford Park. Instead of polishing silver or greeting guests, the butler may oversee installation of a new heating system or pay all the household bills.

    Or if a butler works in a hotel, he or she may fetch a favorite brand of beer or a pair of cufflinks, pack suitcases, and hang banners for guests. "Whatever it is, we can get it for them," says Ike Podlesny, a butler at The Lodge at Sea Island in Georgia. "As long as it's not illegal or immoral, we'll get it done."

    Podlesny and the nine other butlers at the resort have helped with wedding proposals, on the golf greens and off, and serve room service food so that it seems like it's in a fine restaurant. They greet guests by name, track down lost luggage, and serve as a sort of personal assistant.

    Butlers also cater to well-heeled guests at Ritz-Carlton and many other luxury hotels. But, like Mr. Carson on Downton Abbey, they're best known for their work overseeing private households of the very rich. There they may manage a raft of contractors keeping up gardens, pools and all kinds of heating and security systems, and orchestrate parties and events.

    Many today favor a broader title -- household manager or estate manager -- that fits into a field called private service, working in mansions and homes that are 10 to 15 times the size of average American abodes.

    "People still think of butler as a very stuffy position, even though it's not. We have some people calling it majordomo," a male domestic, says Susan Joy Feigon, a principal with Feigon Hamilton, which places professional household staff in positions. The job can vary quite a bit, depending on the family, how many homes they have, what their lifestyle is like, and whether they employ a chief of staff, family office manager, or director of residences -- all of whom tend to oversee everything, including the butler.

Striving for invisibility?

    Alan Miller, 51, started as a butler by accident after owning a small barbecue restaurant. "I got a call from Atlanta, a gentleman named Will," he recalls. His future boss had contracted polio in college and was paralyzed from the neck down, but also very successful in business. "He said, 'you're going to learn from the people you work for, learn about goal setting ... time management, money management,' " Miller says.

    Alan Miller, 51, started as a butler by accident after owning a small barbecue restaurant. "I got a call from Atlanta, a gentleman named Will," he recalls. His future boss had contracted polio in college and was paralyzed from the neck down, but also very successful in business. "He said, 'you're going to learn from the people you work for, learn about goal setting ... time management, money management,' " Miller says.

    He quickly learned that the job required the ability to handle many projects simultaneously. "The job is much more intense in terms of multitasking and smart technologies," says Miller, who lives near Seattle and still considers himself an old-school butler.

    "In the corporate world you strive for recognition. In the private service world, your goal is invisibility," he says. "When things are going very, very smoothly and they don't notice you, then you're successful."