Butler Academy: Behind the rich "soap bubbles"
Reporter/Bao Anqi
Published in the 974th issue of China News Weekly on November 30, 2020
In a 30-meter-long restaurant, dozens of dishes of different sizes and shapes are placed on a long table.
The trainer demonstrated to the students how to divide the food from the large plate into the small plate in front of the guests.
"The large plate in your hand must be above the guest plate, because you don’t want to stain the guest’s clothes, nor the expensive tablecloths." He said as he demonstrated, “and the large plate must be flat so that the meat The soup will not flow to you."
This is a "table management" class of the Dutch International Butler Academy.
Just like the scene in the British drama "Downton Abbey", the butler students here wore black uniforms, white shirts, ties, white gloves, and their hair was not messy.
After class, it's lunch time.
After half an hour of table preparation, the principal, several trainers and ten students sat around a 12-meter long table.
Three students served as housekeepers at the banquet, and two assistant trainers assisted and supervised their work.
According to the teaching norms, the butler should place the appetizers, main dishes, and desserts cooked by the executive chef in front of the diners, and change the tableware of the diners from time to time.
The entire meal process lasts from one hour to one and a half hours. After the meal, the butler will spend another 30 to 45 minutes to clean up the dishes, glasses, knives, forks, and spoons to restore the table to its original state.
At the next meal, the roles of diners and butlers rotate, and every student has the opportunity to dine as diners and butlers.
During the ten-week training period, the trainees had lunch and dinner every day.
This is part of the training content of the Dutch International Butler Academy.
Assistant trainer Ian Hunt said that role playing is the most important part of training.
In this multi-million-dollar private house, the housekeeper is faced with practical problems in life every day.
Ian was born in England and settled in South Africa. He was originally a large conference planner.
He wanted to try different professions. In the process, he found that the job of a housekeeper and meeting planning had something in common. Both need to think of the needs of others in advance to ensure that people get the best experience, so he began to try to enter this industry.
After comparing the butler colleges in South Africa, Britain, France, the United States and other places, I finally chose to come here to participate in the training from January to March this year.
The Butler Academy is located in the Huize Damian Manor in the south of the Netherlands.
The manor was built at the end of the 19th century as a monastery, and the main building later became a mansion with 135 rooms and gorgeous decorations.
Ian said that cheap furniture cannot create an atmosphere. Only expensive antique furniture, crystals, porcelain, and silverware can really make people feel the actual working environment.
The house was purchased privately by the dean of the college, Robert Vinix.
He used to work as a butler at the US Embassy in Germany. He felt that the demand for high-end waiters was in short supply, so he discovered the business opportunities and founded the Butler Academy in 2000.
For the operation of the college, the biggest expense is not the training manpower expenditure, but the maintenance of the house itself.
The college starts three sessions a year. The course was 8 weeks at the beginning and then extended to 10 weeks.
Currently, the training fee for 10 weeks is 14,500 Euros.
Ian thinks that although it is expensive, if you rent a room outside, it costs a few hundred euros a week. The room and board are all-inclusive. It provides single rooms, uniforms, daily necessities, etc., without any other expenses for 10 weeks, so I think the price is acceptable. Up.
He likes the immersive atmosphere here, away from big cities, and the courses are intensive and free from interference.
Ian was fortunate that he switched careers ahead of schedule.
Affected by the global epidemic, the meeting planning business has almost ceased.
After the training, he stayed at the college and became an assistant trainer.
The Dutchman Paul Hausinga also switched careers.
Paul originally worked as a management in a multinational bank, but lost his job after the 2008 financial crisis.
He once started his own business and opened a consulting company, but also encountered many setbacks.
Encouraged by his wife, he decided to try what he had always wanted to do.
Being a housekeeper was one of his dreams when he was a child. He was attracted by the beautiful houses and elegant lifestyle when he saw those TV dramas that showed the life of aristocratic families.
In 2013, he came to the Butler Academy to participate in training.
Later, worked as a full-time housekeeper in a wealthy family in the Netherlands.
After the training, under the introduction of the college, he went to work for a family of two in The Hague, Netherlands.
There are many international institutions in The Hague. The couple often have to receive diplomats at home, so they need a well-trained butler.
As the only steward of this family, Paul has multiple roles.
He said that in the daily address, the host calls the housekeeper’s name, but the housekeeper must call the host’s last name.
He usually wears a shirt and slacks, but he needs to wear a housekeeper’s uniform or a suit when receiving important guests, serving a more formal dinner party, or picking up the hostess to and from formal occasions.
Paul said that as far as he knows, his classmates who are housekeepers working for rich or royal families in the Middle East are required to wear housekeeper uniforms all day long.
To prepare for a formal dinner, he doesn't have to be strict with a ruler to measure the distance between the cutlery, he only needs to visually check and arrange it, and he also has to work hard to match the cutlery, tablecloths, and flowers to make the table beautiful and elegant.
He has worked in this family for about a year.
Later, the owner moved to Spain, but he did not follow and returned to the college.
Now he teaches housing management courses half of the time and assists students in finding jobs.
Students come from all over the world, there are no language and work experience restrictions, as long as they can use English to teach.
The male to female ratio is about 3:1. The youngest student is 18 years old, and the oldest student is 68 years old when they enrolled. They come to classes with a pension.
Usually 18 students are enrolled in one phase, but one phase was closed this year due to the global epidemic. There were only 13 students in this phase that just started in September.
Most of the trainees are from the hotel industry, and many have changed careers.
According to Paul, the annual income of some outstanding graduates of the college is about 80,000 to 100,000 U.S. dollars, which is relatively high salary.
Paul said that the qualifications of butlers are strict and everyone must obey strict instructions.
Classes are from 8 am to 8 pm. The trainees should learn table service, wine service, finishing high-end fabrics, cooking, gardening, etiquette, house decoration, etc.
The college will also organize students to participate in a Christie's auction in London, visit the production process of brand-name shoes, learn how to maintain luxury cars, and learn about cigars.
The trainees should learn tableware placement, silver tableware cleaning and maintenance, ironing newspapers (so that people who read newspapers do not get ink on their fingers), and also learn to use modern technology to manage housework, and can use the online butler platform to set up schedules and do purchase management .
Students must be elegant at all times and meticulously dressed at all times.
Upon enrollment, the college gave out tailor-made three-piece butler uniforms, two white shirts with French cuffs, cufflinks and a few pairs of white gloves, as well as butler workbooks, ties, armbands, aprons, umbrellas, knives, Bottle opener, pocket watch, baseball cap, manicure, shoe polisher, etc.
During class time or on any formal occasion, students must wear a housekeeper's uniform, and also wear a suit during leisure time, and shirts must be ironed every day.
Anti-fatigue is also an essential skill. After several hours of standing service, you can't show tiredness on your face.
Hold the pen in your mouth to keep the muscle memory of a smile on your face.
After graduation, students can find a job through the school's "Steward Alliance" recruitment platform. Paul is the person in charge of the platform.
At present, there are more than 8,000 housekeepers including college students in this platform system.
When looking for a job, the housekeeper does not need to pay. After the match is successful, the platform will charge the employer 20%-25% of the housekeeper’s first year commission as a service fee.
Paul's mother worked as a maid in a middle-class household in the Netherlands in the 1930s. When Paul was a child, he said that he wanted to be a housekeeper. His mother was firmly opposed and often warned him that this job would make him a slave.
After 7 years in the industry, he feels that this job is not a slave, but it is not the inhumane fireworks in the TV series he watched as a child.
He described the work of a housekeeper as "soap bubbles". Behind the magnificence is the tedious and even boring day after day.
Sometimes, butlers are also responsible for supporting the employer.
Once a Chinese employer hired a housekeeper, his friend most happily called, because they would hear: Hello, I’m a housekeeper, how can I help you?
Now, Paul has a new understanding of the term "housekeeper".
He believes that this is a modern profession with multiple functions of housekeeping, secretary and etiquette consultant.
He laughed and said that from the eyes of a professional housekeeper, Trump had made many mistakes.
Every time he saw him wearing white socks under his tuxedo, Paul felt that he badly needed a good housekeeper.
China News Weekly, Issue 44, 2020
Statement: The publication of "China News Weekly" manuscript is authorized in writing