Robotic rules of Maxwell’s house
WHAT can we learn from the Household Manual inflicted upon staff by Ghislaine Maxwell and brought to light in court in her ongoing trial? Instructions to the people employed to keep Jeffrey Epstein’s assortment of monumental mansions pristine include: “Remember that you see nothing, hear nothing, except to answer a question directed at you.” “SMILE!” “Checklists will assist you in making sure all tasks have been completed and not even the smallest details have been overlooked.”
Staff are even provided with a script. “You do not say: ‘Yeah. Sure. No problem. You bet. Gotcha. Right or I dunno.” You do say: “Yes Mr. Of course Ms. My pleasure. It is no trouble at all.” Amid emphatic diktats about privacy and keeping Epstein’s behaviour and whereabouts confidential while spilling the beans about the conduct and conversations of guests is this gem. “All guestrooms must appear as though the arriving guest is the first to stay in the room.”
You may regard this volume as a paradigm of perfect service. You might be waiting for a cascade of publishers desperate to make their fortunes unleashing it on an eager market.
YOU may even wish you could get your hands on a copy to hand out to new recruits in your own business. You might think it is packed with invaluable information which should be offered to new employees everywhere.
To me, however, it is a frighteningly vivid example of the real way in which bosses and corporations view workers. Workers must not have faces, voices, fragrances or personalities. Their individuality must be concealed. They must be automata, human robots, programmed to do a flawless job without impinging in any particular way upon the consciousness of those who pay their wages.
Maxwell insists on staff obliterating all idiosyncrasies. They must plaster smiles all over their faces even if they are sad or sick. They must use the words provided, never their own dialect or chosen vocabulary. They must eliminate all trace of themselves, their origins, their families, their passions, their beliefs.
The message is clear. “We don’t care who you are or where you are from. Do the job. Shut up. Get out.”
It is rare to see a dehumanisation plan bound between hard covers. Yet how many feel their bosses would gladly give them a copy of the Epstein/Maxwell Manual for Christmas?