You’ve g ot it maid
Apparently even the help needs help, as posh New Yorkers send their domestic workers to Housekeeper Bootcamp
JILLWilpon will never forget the phone call she received this spring. “It’s done, it’s gone,” the voice on the other end wept. “My Balenciaga blouse was thrown in the wash. The housekeeper didn’t knowtohand- wash it.” And so, Wilpon, head of domestic staffing firm Chorz, launched “Housekeeper Bootcamp”— afive- hour, $ 150 course on the finer points of domesticity, from cleaning to grocery shopping and proper party behavior.
“They’re from Bhutan!” Wilpon exclaims of some domestic workers. “They don’t know our culture.”
Many high- net- worth NYC families are footing the bill for the boot camp themselves, hoping to get the help conversant with the innerworkings of Manhattan luxe life today. And apparently that goes beyond signing nondisclosure agreements and chatting up the doormen.
“They don’t knowall the services available— they don’t have a building concierge in the Philippines,” says Wilpon. ( If her surname sounds familiar, it should: Her husband’s father, Kenneth, is a cousin of the Mets’ principal owner Fred Wilpon.)
On Sunday, eight domestic workers convened in an uptown apartment to learn howto properly set a table, wash an Hermès scarf, and clean fine art. ( Hint: No Pledge allowed.)
Some lessons seemed lifted straight from “Downton Abbey,” as in Wilpon’s suggestion to “keep your personal opinions to yourself.” Still other tips are more specific: “A lot of Filipinos like cilantro, but families here have allergies,” Wilpon says. What’s at stake, of course, is their jobs. The average salary of a full- time hourly housekeeper in New York City is $ 50,000; the head housekeeper who directs the other staff can earn nearly $ 30,000 more.
Lottie Belmonte, a 62- yearold Filipinawho previously workedat a tony Roslyn, LI, estate for five years, is looking for a new job, and signed up because she “needs an edge” over the competition.
“Iwant to learn newtechniques,” she says.
Indeed, the demands made on domestics have evolved over the years.
“Twenty years ago, not everyone had a driver or four kids, or such complicated food,” Wilpon says. “Therewere no sophisticated menus ... Theydidn’t demand organic, fresh, daily food.”
Many of her clients prefer that the help hand- wash sensitive items instead of sending them out to high- end cleaners such as Madame Paulette.
“It’s expensive, not that these people care about that. It’s about the chemicals,” Wilpon says of the newly toxic- aware.
Another problem area is mastering today’s high- tech homes.
“There are no doorknobs— it’s digital!” says Mai Gaudite, 54, who, before arriving in the US 10 years ago, was a successful real- estate broker in her native Philippines.
“Itwas a different world to become a professional housekeeper in New York,” adds Gaudite, who’s one of five staff members employed at the Park Avenue duplex penthouse of a real estate magnate and his wife.
And Wilpon— a petite 49- year- old brunette with a background in corporate human resources— ismore than happy to help them navigate it.
Nextmonth’s class involves a field trip to Manhattan’s better food stores.
Says Wilpon: “They don’t know how to ask for help at Citarella.”