MetaChat REGISTER   ||   LOGIN   ||   IMAGES ARE OFF   ||   RECENT COMMENTS




artphoto by splunge
artphoto by TheophileEscargot
artphoto by Kronos_to_Earth
artphoto by ethylene

Home

About

Search

Archives

Mecha Wiki

Metachat Eye

Emcee

IRC Channels

IRC FAQ


 RSS


Comment Feed:

RSS

03 October 2014

Friday Question from the Book of Questions If you could have free, cheerful, unlimited service for five years from an extremely good cook, chauffeur, housekeeper, masseuse or personal secretary, which would you choose?
I'd opt for the housekeeper, though a (nutritarian) cook would be close behind. We do pay a neighbor woman who has a cleaning business to visit us every two weeks, and that is definitely my most valued personal luxury.
posted by bearwife 03 October | 15:58
Housekeeper. I'm a contradictory mess from being a lazy neat freak :-(
posted by dg 03 October | 17:20
Without a doubt a housekeeper. As most of you know, I have lived a good portion of my life in Brazil. There, I have housekeepers. I am not fancy-rich, but if you are middle class or higher in Brazil, you have someone help you keep your house clean. This is rather common throughout South America, and indeed, a large portion of the developing world. My housekeepers have all become valued friends, and some are even as close as family. We keep in touch, even when I am out of country, and I miss them when I am away.
I value the time they free up for me to do other things. When I am stateside, I find housework a drag, and I have a hard time hiring someone, because it just isn't part of the culture where I currently reside. I wouldn't hesitate to hire a housekeeper. I don't need a cook (I love to cook), I don't need a driver (I hardly go anywhere), and I don't need a masseuse (please don't touch me). A secretary would die of boredom in my household. Give me someone to help me keep my house, and I would be super grateful.
posted by msali 03 October | 17:35
Cook. No contest. Housekeeper would be nice, too, but a cook's three meals a day (plus cupcakes!), and we love to eat. : )

Of course, now that I found out my parking at work is going away for FOUR YEARS due to school construction/repair work, perhaps the chauffeur would be more prudent. : (
posted by Pips 03 October | 17:41
Housekeeper! Who has time to clean? Not me.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero 03 October | 18:17
Definitely a housekeeper
posted by bluesapphires 03 October | 19:19
Definitely housekeeper. We have been thinking about hiring someone who works for a friend who does a once-a-month deep clean for $150, though that is steep for us. But as we both get busier and busier, this seems like a good investment in making daily life saner and preserving some of our time for other things. We work hard, come home exhausted, and when we get a rare day off together it is really disheartening to think of spending it on housecleaning.

I don't like to give up cooking - it's something I enjoy and find relaxing, and there's an intimacy to cooking that is important to me. I can make things to our exact preferences, and tailor the menu to fit our moods and routines. I don't think I'd enjoy that as much, outsourced. And I don't drive enough to want a chauffeur. I think the biggest impact would really be from the housekeeper: never coming home to see a bathroom that really needs scrubbing, floors that are past need for a good wash, dusty mirrors...sounds amazing.
posted by Miko 03 October | 21:56
Cook. Definitely a cook. I will live in a dump if I could just ask someone to make me whatever I want to eat all day. Yes please.
posted by Firas 03 October | 22:51
A secretary. They'd keep me organized and they could do the drudgery that comes with paperwork and putting papers away and remembering that I said I'd do X by Y.
posted by lysdexic 03 October | 23:03
Not a cook. I love cooking and except for a few very talented souls like my food better than others.

Housekeeper would be nice but they would have to work on my time frame. Say between 2 and 5 PM and then only on the days I want them to and those can vary. So housekeeper is not really practicable.

Masseuse is just a once and awhile thing.

Secretary? meh.

A Chauffeur would do well because I hate driving and car travel and she could pick up all my stuff and drive me to the places I just must do by car.
posted by arse_hat 04 October | 01:22
If I could keep my existing cleaning ladies, then I'd go for the chauffeur. Travelling into London is getting increasingly more stressful - packed trains, breakdowns, line suspensions (I can't go into London this weekend as there are no trains on my line - and the odds are good that the engineering work won't be finished by Monday morning, leading to more chaos). I don't mind driving, but I dislike long journeys on busy roads with crazy drivers. So if someone else could take the strain, that'd be great. I'd love being dropped off at my destination and picked up when I needed it, someone else to worry about parking, the cost of petrol, navingation around roadworks ... Lovely.
posted by Senyar 04 October | 04:43
Housekeeper. No question.
Neither the missus nor myself are very good at keeping this place tidy.
posted by Thorzdad 04 October | 07:39
Cook for sure. My house is a mess, but I can live with that. But after 5 years, how could I adjust to life without them?
posted by wens 04 October | 11:46
Housekeeper in the sense of housecleaner -- I can keep things tidy but I hate cleaning.
posted by JanetLand 04 October | 16:22
I'm going contrary to everyone else here and opting for massages every week! I've had one massage in my life, and it was wonderful! I'd love to be able to splurge on a "me" thing.
posted by mightshould 04 October | 19:39
Chauffeur! In fact when I was earning a lot at MeFi I wanted to get one. I spend a lot of time in cars getting to/from airports and to/from Jim's and my dad's place. I'd love it if that time could be productive time and not just "drive the car" time.
posted by jessamyn 05 October | 22:20
Get a good enough massage, and you will blissfully do all the housework, chauffeuring, cooking and organizing yourself. And if the bliss fades before you're done, it must be time for the next massage.
posted by serena 05 October | 22:59
Does the cook take care of all shopping, storage, cleaning and equipment? Does the chauffeur take care of the vehicle, fuel and upkeep? I can't think of a situation where I would not be taking advantage of this situation. Dinner parties, breakfast meetings, working lunches, all day brunches, deliveries, escorting, going cross country-- I'm torn between cook and chauffeur but i'd milked to death either.
posted by ethylene 08 October | 21:38
Photo Friday : Round || Does MetaChat still do "OMG BUNNY"?

HOME  ||   REGISTER  ||   LOGIN