I know we're all busy this week preparing for the onslaught of family and friends for the annual Thanksgiving feast, but I just wanted to drop in for a moment and say hello. Things are buzzing around here as well, but nothing so glamours or exciting as when the former Missus was here.
The new girlfriend is having a few of her trashy friends in and out during the four-day holiday, including Thanksgiving dinner itself. Compared to the haute couture seen around here in previous years, we're talking off-the-rack cocktail attire, faux furs, and costume jewelry for days! (I could black out just thinking about it!)
Knowing I'm not going to cooperate, she at least had the good sense to hire a caterer to take care of everything, and I'm taking the opportunity to duck out of here for a few days.
In a rare move on my part, I didn't ask but rather announced that I'm going to be with my family this year for Thanksgiving - daring them to rebut. In the six years I've been here I've had only one holiday off a few years back. Other than that I've been here for every holiday event - Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's. It's more or less part of the job description to be around for the holidays, and I knew that before I jumped in.
But this déclassé party coming up is too much to bear, and it's about time I had a break. One holiday off every six years isn't too much to ask, is it?
In any case the old man (my teetering employer) seemed to take it well and truth known, the new girlfriend is probably glad to get rid of me anyway. Surely she's weary of me looking down my nose at her and her doltish friends.
I know I'm skating on thin ice and may not have a job when I get back. But so be it. The lack of glamour around here has become boring anyway, and I know I should move on. If there's any blow back at all, I'll just call up the agency and ask them to get me out of here!
All I know right now is that I have four glorious days off - away from them and with my own family! Which allows me to truly and happily say Happy Thanksgiving!
Hope your celebrations go well, and thanks for stopping by tonight,
Andrew
My sisters and I have been reading your blog for quite awhile and we're happy to hear you're getting some time off. The new arrangements with the new girlfriend all sounds like quite a challenge. We are enjoying the insights you give us into the lives of the rich. Cheers from London.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for your comment Annabeth! And cheers to you and your sisters as well! Please stop by here anytime.
DeleteAndrew
Enjoy the holiday! I have to wonder though, when you sit down to dinner with family, do the butler jokes ever stop?
ReplyDeleteYou nailed it Ben - I'm the butt of butler jokes. But the truth is I exacerbate it by being hyper critical or the way the table is set, how the napkins are folded, cloudy unpolished wine glasses, anything I can think of to make them crazy and get even!
DeleteHappy Thanksgiving! (I'm sure ex-pats in Australia will celebrate, right?)
Wow, I need some of your hutzpah. I haven't had a holiday off in years. My mister would never accept my announcing I was going to be gone for the Holiday. Good for you Andrew - enjoy your family.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I get the butler jokes as well. I agree that it's fun to be hyper critical of the table settings at any family gathering. I figure the family is going to make the jokes, so I will set it up for them.
Have a great Thanksgiving.
I appreciate this note, Michael. But don't follow my lead. The truth is I've reached burn out with this particular family and don't care one way or another what happens.
DeleteAs for being hyper critical around our families, it's not just fun but more or less expected. In fact, this is one of the few professions wherein the employer lives in terror of his own employee - the all-knowing and ever-wise butler. (And therefore the high salaries they pay to cover their own ignorance and lack of social grace.)
Hope you have a good Thanksgiving with lots of left-over caviar and champagne!
The former Missus just sounds so divine! Did she really never wear faux furs nor costume jewelry? And is the aspiring "new missus" a Real Housewife of no where type?
ReplyDeleteI hope we can read more about how these two women are so different.
My friends and I (who are all huge fans of the blog!) are so interested in the disparity of old and new rich, and these two women seem like the exact representation of each! The former Missus seems so alluring, graceful, subtle, and just the right amount of mysterious--something that isn't so visible anymore in our society of insta-me me me. We'd love to read more about these two women!
Anyway, we hope you move on to a more desirable environment. Glad you at least got to sneak out for four days for now!
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Thanks so much for this delightful comment! I've written extensively about the former Missus in the novel "The Billionaire's Butler: Mystery, Murder, and Romance in the Wacky World of the Super Rich", available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle. Hope you'll take a look, and happy holidays!
DeleteAndrew
Okay Andrew, it's the new week. So I hope you are still employed. I'm not going to lie. I hate feeling voyeuristic but I love those stories too. Especially after the picture hanging debacle. I've so often secretly wished that the Missus and Mister would get back together just so I could hear more of stories between you and her. You and her making the appetizers for that party was my absolute favorite. The height of selfishness I know, but this is what comes from an oversaturation of reality tv. You're up in everyone's business.
DeleteI do wonder though that perhaps that extra soupcon of class might be because of her British background. I don't think Americans have that je ne sais quoi. An American Downton Abbey would never really work.
What would you do if the Missus asked you to work for her now? Would you go with her? Or would you want to cut all ties to that family when you leave?
Actually the former Missus told me I'll always have a place with her, once I leave here and her former husband. Which is especially enticing since she lives half a year in New York and the other half on the Italian Riviera.
DeleteBut we'll see. I'm okay here at the moment, and the next move might be out of private service altogether. Five-star hotels and luxury yachts need butlers too, you know?