The Butler(8)

    He went to the school and met with the admissions director. She was a thin-lipped, formal, uptight woman, who had him fill out a long questionnaire about his life experience so far, and why he thought he wanted to be a butler. She told him the school itself occupied two floors of a small house in Knightsbridge. There were proper classrooms, and a conference room set up with an enormously long dining table, where they practiced formal table settings and formal service. The students were all men, they wore white tie and tails in class, and were impeccable. Personal grooming was part of the course. Joachim thought it was funny, like a costume party. But no one else thought it was amusing. He was the only foreigner in the class. The other students were all English.

There was another room set up with every kind of silver serving piece imaginable, which students had to learn to identify infallibly. There was a class on the selection of proper wines, with regular tastings. There were seminars on running staff, and the proper hierarchy in a large formal house. There were still enough of them in England to make the school viable. And there was a class dedicated to running weekend house parties. In spite of wanting to laugh and make fun of it, Joachim was impressed after his visit. This was clearly a life choice, and a career, not simply something one did as a filler between odd jobs. It took concentration, skill, intelligence, and dedication.

    The head of students Joachim met with was a tall, dignified, fierce-looking man, who had served in two of the great homes in England for thirty years, and had come to teach at the school when he retired. He explained that in the old days, young men started as hall boys in their teens and worked their way up to footman, then first footman in charge of the others, under-butler, and eventually butler. And by the time they reached the top, they knew their job inside and out. Nowadays, staffs were smaller, there were fewer opportunities to train, and they could learn in the school in six months of intense, diligent study what might have taken them ten years to learn in the past. After that, they needed experience on the job to practice what they’d learned.

The school also offered a placement service for their graduates, much the way the Norland College for nannies placed their trained nannies, in their case, after a three-year course, with classroom and hospital training. The course for butlers was much shorter, but no less intense. They didn’t need the medical skills or hospital training that formal nannies did, but there was much to learn to become a butler. In the current world, butlers were expected to know more than they had previously, since they were often expected to take on additional duties as well, and the entire house staff might come under their supervision. It sounded daunting, but intriguing. Joachim submitted his application, and spent two more days in London, staying at a small hotel. He went to museums, visited the Tower of London and Madame Tussauds, ate fish and chips, and the hottest curry he’d ever tasted in his life. London seemed like fun. He’d been there before, but never on his own. He had visited the city with Francois and his mother when he was younger. The weather was bitter cold the whole time he was there to visit the school, but Joachim didn’t mind. London seemed much more exciting than Paris, busier, and more alive.

    He thought about it when he got back to Paris. It was a relief to get back to a familiar city, even to his tiny studio apartment, but it was his home. He called his mother that night and told her about the trip to London and his visit to the school.

“They take it very seriously,” he said, still surprised by it. “I kept wanting to laugh at some of the things they told me. They probably won’t accept me. Most of the students are older than I am, have previously been in domestic service, and were very intense about it.” But she could hear that part of him had liked what he saw. It was a career she wouldn’t have thought of for him, and she wished he wanted to go back to university, maybe for a teaching degree, but she knew he didn’t want to. “There’s a whole class on how silver should be polished.” She smiled, remembering her father’s house when she was a girl. They had had a very snobbish German butler and many servants. It was quite formal too. And then, from one day to the next, it was all over, and everything was gone.



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Much to Joachim’s surprise, he was accepted at the butler school. Then he had to make a decision. After a week of debating, he decided to meet the challenge, and try it. He accepted the place they offered him. The money Francois had left him made it easily affordable. For others, it was a financial stretch, and they had saved in order to pay for it.

    He was sent a list of the clothes he had to bring, including formal livery, which he could purchase in London. There was an advanced class for anyone who wished to work in a royal household. That sounded interesting to Joachim, but he considered it an unlikely possibility for him. He wasn’t even sure if he’d finish the six-month class. He accepted the place offered him anyway, sent in his tuition, and showed up at the school on the appointed day. He had to go to London a few days early to find lodgings. He got a room in the home of a woman who took in boarders. It was actually nicer than his studio in Paris, and close to the school. He arrived at the school the first day in white tie and tails, with several notebooks in his briefcase. It was much more straightlaced than the Sorbonne had been. Every move he made was closely observed and corrected the moment before another student made a mistake.

There were times during the six months that Joachim wasn’t sure he would last. Sometimes the whole curriculum seemed utterly absurd in the modern world. It felt like an anachronism. There were a few times when he was bored, but not many. For the most part, his classes were interesting and a challenge. He enjoyed learning about fine wines, the best cigars, and proper table service. Table settings he had to measure with a ruler were the hardest part. He always left out one thing, and absolute flawless perfection was vital. The hierarchy of guests was stressed and had to be learned, along with titles, as well as the hierarchy of the servants, who outranked whom and who had to be seated where, even in the servants’ dining hall. There were a million rules to learn and follow. There were no exceptions, and the attitude of the instructors was rigid and unforgiving, but Joachim was surprised that he genuinely enjoyed it, and when he did something right, it felt like a real accomplishment. At the end of the six months, he graduated with excellent recommendations from his teachers. There was satisfaction in it, because it hadn’t been easy. His mother was fascinated by everything he told her, and how much he was obviously happy there. She couldn’t understand why he would want to be a servant, but he had definitely been prepared for the very highest caliber of the job, and he took pride in what he’d learned.