Frat Housekeeper

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Frat housekeeper - chapter 1

My name is DeShawn McCoy and I am from a small town of McColloughsville in South Carolina. My family has lived in the area for generations and for the most part we worked for the McColloughs family down in their nearby estate. I am the youngest of my mother's seven children. I just turned 19. We live in a small house with my mom, my 21-year-old brother Marquis, and the grandma. Marquis is a senior in a nearby community college and he will be moving out soon after his graduation. All my other sibs are older and have left McColloughsville, except my 22-year-old sister Tanya who lives nearby with her 3 kids. My mom always worked very hard to support all her children and now also many grandchildren. McColloughs valued her highly as one of their best maids. All my sibs besides me went to college.

Unfortunately, my grandma got quite sick just before my high school graduation and we had to spend all my college moneys to pay her hospital bills. In addition, my mom went into debt and had a hard time paying her other bills, including the house mortgage. Long story short, I had to start working right around my high school graduation. Well, I had already worked for McColloughs part time in housekeeping and they generously allowed me to stay full time. In fact, I officially started working for McColloughs when I was 12. Yes, it is legal in South Carolina for minors ages 12 to work during non-school sessions in non-hazardous jobs with written parental consent. Of course, I was helping my mom in housekeeping here and there even before I turned 12. Old Mr. McCollough used to say that developing labor habits early will keep us house workers' kids out of trouble in the future. I generally worked after school and on weekends through my middle school and high school years, but when necessary I would've been pulled from school on occasion, such as when extra hands were needed to serve McColloughs' guest, wait at the parties and so on (my school principle would never object particularly keeping in mind all the philanthropic support that my school have received from McColloughs over the years).

I had continued my housekeeping duties and in addition I was assigned as a personal assistant to Mr. Cody McCollough, who is a 27-year-old son of Mr. and Ms. McCollough. Mr. Cody is their only son and he has been taking over many responsibilities on overseeing various family businesses and enterprises. He has other assistants, of course, to support those operations. Mr. Cody's personal needs, however, such as clothing, grooming and such have been served since when he was born by the old servant Trevon. Trevon is one of the best McColloughs' servants who used to be the valet of old Mr. McCollough, Mr. Cody's father, but he has recently turned 75. While Trevon is still in a decent state of health for his age, Mr. Cody decided that it's time for Trevon to step down.

I have to say that McColloughs and Mr. Cody have been very patient with Trevon allowing him to work way beyond the average age limit for this kind of job. He had, however, developed overt signs of severe arthritis. One day he was as usually helping Mr. Cody to dress up before the business meeting. Trevon kneeled to help Mr. Cody with a shoehorn to put out on the shoes and tie the shoelaces. When he was done he tried to get up but as he later said something like totally shut down his back and knees and he collapsed on the floor. At that point Mr. Cody still didn't have his tie and blazer on. His cufflinks were not in. Mr. Cody had to call his father's assistant to finish dressing up and was almost late for his meeting. Darius the housekeeper called the ambulance thinking that Trevon might have a heart attack. Fortunately, the paramedics said it's probably a "musculoskeletal" back pain, not an emergency, although they gave Trevon a painkiller shot. Darius scheduled a specialist appointment for Trevon for the next day. Of course, it was possible to schedule the appointment so soon only because of Darius' connections that he developed over the decades serving McColloughs.

Valet's job requires a lot of joint flexibility, as you need to serve your boss on different body levels. In fact you have to bend over and kneel quite frequently. You have to keep in mind that people of McColloughs' social circle almost never put on or take off heir formal shoes without assistance. It might be a bit easier for a valet to deal with their casual footwear. Mr. Cody could toss his sneakers and socks on the floor himself after his morning run (he is an active runner), before hopping into the shower, but he would be surprised to still see his athletic footwear on the floor when he gets out of the shower five or ten minutes later. He still relied on Trevon on putting his athletic socks and running shoes on though (soon I'd learn that there is a very special way you tie runner's sneakers - because either too tight or too lose may lead to an injury). I don't believe Mr. Cody had ever cut his toenails himself. He expects to step on a fresh floor towel each time he gets out of the shower (not the one he may have stepped on with his sweaty feet on his way into the shower) and have his flip flops set neatly right next to the towel, no matter where he kicked them off on his way in. Those are just few examples explaining that you do need to work down on the floor level a lot on this job, which Trevon was clearly not capable of doing any longer.

That evening Darius, the housekeeper told me that I won't go home tonight but will stay in house overnight in Trevon's room in the basement and will start serving Mr. Cody in the morning as Trevon has an early doctors appointment all the way in Charleston for his back pain tomorrow. Trevon will give me an orientation tonight. We then went over to Mr. Cody's living room. Mr. Cody just came down from dinner with a glass of wine and was talking on the phone. He sat back on the couch and stretched one of his legs on the coffee table. He glanced to us and briefly acknowledged our presence by waving us to wait. Meanwhile Trevon came in from one of the side doors holding Mr. Cody's flip-flops. He unlaced Mr. Cody's shoe, the one resting on the coffee table, loosened the shoe facing, lifted the leg slightly at the ankle and gently pulled the shoe off. He then carefully peeled the sock off and put the flip flop on Mr. Cody's foot. I was hoping that Mr. Cody would put his other foot up on the coffee table, so that it would be easier for Trevon to change the footwear on Mr. Cody's other foot. I am sure Mr. Cody would've done that if he remembered the recent Trevon's accident earlier in the day. Mr. Cody was, however, seemingly preoccupied with his conversation on the phone. I know that Mr. Cody is generally a very considerable gentleman who values us his servants and he probably wouldn't mind to simplify old Trevon's job. You have to keep in mind, however, that people like Mr. Cody honestly don?t usually notice the presence of their servants, especially the good ones like Trevon, who has been around Mr. Cody all his life. They tend to only notice us when something goes wrong, such as with this morning Trevon?s fall. You also don't usually pay too much attention to the usual stuff you see in your room every day, right? Like you would if let's say your came home and your bed is missing or your ceiling fell down, but if everything is in place you just move on. You also have to keep in mind that while not officially in place any more, McColloughs used to have a strict "invisible servant" setup in their house for decades (or perhaps I should even say for centuries). Obviously, for all of us it is still a common sense to be as little disturbing as possible to the people we serve.

Fortunately, Trevon seemed to feel better after the painkiller shot. He kneeled on one knee relatively smoothly before Mr. Cody and next to the coffee table, although it was obvious that Trevon is still in pain. He bowed down to Mr. Cody's left foot that was planted on the floor, ready to unlace the shoe. All of the sudden though Mr. Cody pulled his right foot back from the coffee table down on the floor and crossed his left ankle over the right knee so that his left shoe was now up in the air and out of Trevon's reach. I thought it was a miracle that Mr. Cody didn't hit Trevon's face which was so close to Mr. Cody's shoe ready to unlace it. Well, of course Trevon is super experienced with this kind of stuff, so he tilted his head away immediately, despite his back pain. I thought that I'll have to be very focused when serving Mr. Cody. Mr. Cody probably replaced his legs subconsciously as he was now listening to the other party on the phone, not actively talking, and he wanted to get some more wine.

Mr. Cody left his glass of wine on the coffee table and it was easier for him to reach the glass in his new position. I wish he changed his legs just few seconds sooner so that poor Trevon didn't have to kneel.. Trevon tried to get up but was not able first time around. I rushed to help him, but Darius caught me and I understood that I have to stay put. So stupid of me, I could've disturbed Mr. Cody! Trevon got up on his second attempt holding on the coffee table to help. I think I heard him moaning quietly. He moved around the coffee table, first took Mr. Cody?s wine as Mr. Cody was again talking on the phone, and unlaced Mr. Cody's left shoe. Trevon then pulled off that left shoe finally. To take off the sock, Trevon had to lift Mr. Cody's crossed leg slightly as the pressure from the ankle was holding the sock against the knee. Trevon then quickly wiped Mr. Cody's sole and toes with a small wet towel (I didn't even notice where Trevon got that wipe from) - probably wiping off some lint from the sock. He then put the flip flop on Mr. Cody's left foot and went to the next room with Mr. Cody's shoes and socks.

I was trying to use the opportunity and pay attention to all the details of how Trevon was working, as I knew how important the consistency of service is when a gentleman changes his assistant. I tried to memorize the shoe brand and color, the color and pattern of the socks, and how they were aligned with the rest of Mr. Cody's outfit. It would be inappropriate to offer Mr. Cody anything similar tomorrow, of course.

It looked like Mr. Cody finished the call. He turned his head our way.

• Good evening sir, - Darius said. - Apologies for the intrusion. I just wanted to kindly remind you that DeShawn will be serving you tomorrow morning as Trevon will have to see the doctor, sir.

• Ah, yeah, poor Trevon, where is he? Didn't he seem fine just now? Although dad and I finally decided that it's inhumane to keep him on this position any longer. You know what a busy life I live - not the pace an 80-year-old man (or however old he is) can support. God bless him, it's for his own good. Take care of him Darius.

• Sir, I am afraid Trevon will have to be around for a few more weeks to fully orient DeShawn.

• Sure, no one is kicking him out. But I told dad firmly that with all respect I am a fucking millennial and I need a younger and faster assistant.

As Trevon stepped back into the room Mr. Cody continued:

• Trevon buddy you are great you know how we value all your loyalty. Dude you will be in great hands. - Mr. Cody said to me.

• Thank you, sir.

• Dad was saying you're too young but I insisted that we give you a chance. You are what, not even 18 yet? That's fine, I saw you around the house for a while and you seemed capable. Besides, it's not a rocket science.

• Thank you sir.

• Text me his cell Darius.

• Yes sir, will do right now. Will it be okey if DaShawn shadows Trevon tonight, sir?

• Fine.

Mr. Cody then had another call coming and I understood that the introduction is over. I was honestly a bit nervous. I knew some basics of personal assistance as I was helping with the room service to McColloughs' guests before, but I was usually assigned to kids or teens, which is of course a totally different level of responsibility compared to serving Mr. Cody McCollough, the second and soon to become the first most important man in the family. I knew that I'll have to learn a million of nuances and get familiar with Mr. Cody's habits better than with my owns. At the same time I was sort of excited that I was given such a great opportunity and I said to myself that I'll make every possible effort to be worth the trust that Mr. Cody put on me. Darius walked me down to Trevon's room.

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