The Best B&B Writes A Short History about Maids and the Benefits of Hiding in a Closet.
- bestbedbreakfast
- Oct 26
- 3 min read
The Butler did it! But he had an accomplice, and of course it was the maid!
The scheming maid is a common trope in popular culture. The Maid can use their invisibility and access granted by their position as a servant to enact a plan for manipulation, theft or murder making it a staple for the whodunit mystery genre. The recent movie Parasite is about a whole family of servant class employees who attempt to overthrow their employers. On t.v., the character Rosario Salazar from the TV show “Will & Grace” is feisty, no nonsense and surprisingly loyal to her abusive boss Karen, but Rosario is mission control for all their schemes and conspiratorial plots.
In reality, domestic service has a much less conspiratorial history. Domestic service has always been one of the most common ways for women, especially from the lower class, to earn money. Maids were mostly young and unmarried and domestic work has had its roots in the slave trade for a millennium.
In Victorian England, maids worked long hours for low wages. They often started in childhood and lived below their employer in the same house. Their wages were 6 - 9 pounds a year with two days off a month. I had Romany Great Grandparents from this class, living in scarcity in London under their employer’s roof, frozen in place by strict class structure and not permitted to marry; they desperately stole some silverware and escaped to Canada for a better life.
There was a hierarchy of serving staff within the Victorian house. The Lady’s maid took care of the Lady’s hair and clothes and was often a confidant. There were house maids for cleaning, parlour maids for serving, scullery maids for peeling carrots and potatoes. Even modest homes had one maid. She took care of everything at once. This type of maid was called a skivvy from the Italian tem “schiavo” which means owned person.
In many Western countries in modern times, only the very wealthy can afford domestic help. Maids were probably one of the first classes of workers to fall to technology due to the use of home appliances.
While maids have not disappeared entirely from the workforce, it really does involve invisibility to be successful. Busy employers or guests are paying a lot to not see you or hear you. They want to return to their space, quietly, magically and perfectly clean without any mental distraction so they can finish their day and seamlessly move onto the next one. Being a maid is like being the protagonist in a Nintendo video game, earning your points and getting out quickly so that you too can advance to the next level without being discovered.
When I worked in the tourist industry for high end resorts famous people simply tagged as VIP’S (because we weren’t allowed to see them or even know their names) would come and go from their rooms. If they returned early, we were instructed to leave quickly out the backdoor and not to return until instructed. This would usually involve hiding in one of large outdoor linen closets with the very stoned room service staff, peering around the corner or through the louvers to see if the limo had slipped away down the driveway followed by a security detail. If it was the end of the day on a Friday and the procedure was taking too long, the room service staff would get a head start on their weekend sales.
At Best B&B at 2679 1st Ave in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island, we provide daily maid service, even though we are not a big resort. We don’t hide in the closet but we definitely get out of the way so that you can enjoy your stay and take a break from the minor inconveniences of life.
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