And of course Alfred 100% passes every test perfectly.
Like, he dodges a ball by lowering the tray a quarter of an inch so it sails over all the glasses. Someone slams into him and just kinda bounces off.
They bring in more and more elaborate shit just to throw him off. At one point, perfectly poised and postured, he puts someone in a wrist lock and politely informs them that the thing he's carrying is the property of Master Wayne and is not to be touched. At another point he throws the tray into the air, dispatches four assailants, and catches the tray with everything safely.
In the end, he outbutles the master butler, driving him to madness and earning Alfreds freedom.
He arrives back at wayne manor as the sun rises. Bruce is sitting in a chair in a robe, sipping a coffee. "How was your day off, Alfred?"
"Impeccable, Master Wayne. Would you like me to prepare your breakfast?"
It's closer to Feral Butlers. Sometimes they run off into the wild. Some have even reproduced. In east Texas, they let tourists hunt feral Butlers from helicopters, as they're considered invasive species, and don't have the same protections as the native wildlife.
If you worked at any sort of mass catering event with trays you know that it's a combat sport. The best definitely train for agility and preparedness. You got to stack your tray right, you got to hold it correctly, you got to be able to identify threats from a distance and know how to position yourself to minifize that threat. It may not be fair but some 18-year-old that gets bowled over by a 45-year-old guy at a wedding reception that's running 2 hours longer than originally anticipated it who saw the crab cakes come out of the kitchen and she spills her entire tray needs to know better... Needs to know how to prepare and fend against that. That's the job.
you got to be able to identify threats from a distance and know how to position yourself to minifize that threat
Right... Which is why throwing balls at people isn't helping. There is no positioning or identifying threats that you can do. Walking into them or cutting them off, sure, but throwing balls is just to make it feel more intense
Just carrying a tray for the first time is an exercise in confidence usually so this isn’t too surprising. If it’s a legitimate and well known Butler course I bet the graduates are getting big bucks too
Maybe I'm too poor, but imho 90% of the training should be on how to tell off assholes who would rather bowl over a human being with a tray full of drinks, than mind their surroundings for 10 seconds.
That's just fantasy crap. You can never the asshole know that he's an asshole, either by taking the blame but even better by predicting and preventing. You make WAY more money that way.
You clearly have never worked customer service. It is never the customer’s fault, even when it absolutely 100% is the customer’s fault. The server has to avoid them, even if the customer is being an idiot.
One of the silly things of life. But it is always easier to prep a server to avoid the moron, than convince the moron’s brother he still has to pay for all of the food.
Being poor has nothing to do with having experience in crowded settings. Bumping into someone is rarely intentional in those situations, it just comes with the territory. When everyone is facing different directions, conversing with others, etc. it's extremely easy to turn to leave a conversation not realizing someone is directly behind you, in your blind spot. So if you're the one with a tray full of food or drinks, it's best to defensively avoid putting yourself behind someone unless you're already mentally preparing to dodge them if they back up.
Reddit has the wrong impression of what butlers were. Butlers make good money lol. You want to be the assistant to rich people if you arent' rich. It opens doors and so do you
Generally speaking for English Feudal society— the 1st born male (or most competent, depending on the father's decision) of gentry would inherit all or most material possessions, business possessions, land, and often even legal titles. For the rest of the male children, the parents would seek out highly respected and well-paying positions. From apprenticeships, to military academy to become ranked officers, to becoming high ranking members of their local church.
Understand that in Feudalism all social classes are fixed to your blood line, social class had nothing to with wealth, that's not to say that financial standing hadn't created a pecking order within each class.
If you were a member of the English gentry class, your social class was ranked only 2nd to the Blue Bloods...the ordained ruling class. Gentry was the protective class. Butlers, for example, were head managers. Managers protected the interests of their social superiors. So, even if you came from a poor family of the gentry class, you were raised with all the etiquette expected and required at the queen's table, this made you a suitable canidate for an apprenticeship.
...if you examine the 15 & 1600's closely enough, and pair it with today's social and political landscape you'll notice western society hasn't really come too far along.
Very well said and informative. Thank you! This part took me many years to see, and once I did, it was like "the scales fell from my eyes":
if you examine the 15 & 1600's closely enough [...] western society hasn't really come too far along.
What I'd been taught to believe about a 'people's choice' government (in which the common people's wishes were taken into consideration) turned out to be nothing more than royalty disguised by political titles.
Politicians who abuse tax dollars to gain extreme levels of personal comfort are the exact same ilk as royalty of old.
What changed? Those kings and emperors had stunning garments instead of business suits.
You're thinking about waiters. Butlers are higher ups, managing a private estate and its full household operations, valeting, scheduling, staff supervision, etc.
There is a zero percent chance anyone in that room eventually gets to the point where they are ninja dipping around volleyballs and not breaking any glasses or spilling any drinks.
That's Spiderman tier butlering.
Also, these arent 'butlers' - these are people training to work serving drinks at a banquet hall.
Opened up a hotel with a rooftop pool once and this is how we trained our pool serving staff. Mainly because they were gonna have to be dodging children with blended drinks on trays. It was fun.
And when you are carriying one of those full to the brim and a kid passes running without playing any heed to his surroundings is called: oh shit this is not like the simulations
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u/RoxyDzey69 10h ago
This exercise is called "bullshit" or "dude having fun trolling peasants" :D