MAN ABOUT THE HOUSE
Serving tea, bailing water are all in a day’s work
Unflappable, sometimes informal — a 2015 butler’s tricks of the trade,
Ask most Canadians to imagine a butler and they’ll probably envision a version of Carson from Downton
Abbey; a middle-aged, ponderously formal, impeccably tidy vestige of olden-day wealth and social inequality. A character relegated to historical dramas, as opposed to here and now. They’d be wrong. In the spring of 2012, Steve Loretta left his job as a Toronto cater-waiter, enrolled in the Charles MacPherson Academy for Butlers and Household Managers and has been employed full time as a butler for the past 31⁄ 2 years. He let us in on some of the secrets of his profession — without breaking his industry’s strict privacy code.
How important is discretion in this job?
Discretion is essential. Like the old propaganda posters said, loose lips sink ships. I can’t reveal who I work for. I can’t say who they are, who visits, or any of that.
What are you allowed to reveal about what a butler does?
Briefly, a butler schedules and oversees the tradesmen, cares for the wine cellar, works on special events, dinner service, correcting anything out of place, personally sees to the various needs of the lady and gentleman of the house and so on. In my case I am specifically dedicated to the needs of the gentleman of the house, executing whatever might be requested.
Hollywood butlers are often portrayed as proper, formal, even uptight. How true is this in reality?
I think the popular view of a butler is someone in black tails with white gloves such as Alfred in Batman or Carson in Downton Abbey . . . you know, stiff and overstarched. The modern butler is not necessarily so. For instance, I feel one can still be highly professional while engaging in the use of humour at work. Both Alfred and Carson are unflappable. Is this an important part of the job?
You have to be unflappable to keep the house calm. Once, while I was serving tea, a piece of machinery in one of the mechanical rooms sprang a leak. I had to run back and forth to help the housekeepers manage the water until the tradesmen arrived to fix the problem. I’d straighten my uniform, enter the room, pour more tea and then calmly walk out of the room and hurry down to the basement to keep bailing the water. This is what modern butlers do. We ensure the standards of the house are always met and roll up our sleeves when we have to. If we had a motto it would be “Keep calm and carry on.” By the way, I did tell my principal of the leak in my weekly report. Do you have time for much of a life outside of work? Some butlers live in and some live out. Live-ins are on-call 24/7. Some principals have you work from 9 to 5, others longer. Some take you with them when they travel. No two houses are the same. In my case, I live out. I do enjoy my time off. I have formed the Wunderkabinett Collective with fellow artist Elizabeth Jackson Hall. We are currently working on an installation for the Harbourfront and their Day of the Dead celebration.