Your job is served, sir

There are plenty of jobs to keep the servants busy on the popular PBS series, “Downton Abbey,” but does anyone really work as a butler or chauffeur anymore?

Of course they do!

The job description of a butler, according to the website, Butler Bureau, is ‘the supervision of other domestic staff in one or more households and he is often referred to as a House Manager or Major Domo.’

While today’s economy might seem a little middle class for butler skills, there are still rich people who need domestic help. Las Vegas and swanky hotels all over the world hire butlers to help their guests find everything from a toothbrush to a date, and butlers are needed on yachts and in private estates as well.

Besides being able to wear a fancy suit or tuxedo to work, you can make more than a few shillings by helping out.

The Lindquist Group, a domestic staffing company which screens and places butlers and other household staff reports that Jeeves makes $60,000 to $150,000 a year.

If you think you have what it takes to work for the Royal Family, Will and Kate are looking for a housekeeper to keep their new, four-story 20–room apartment running smoothly.

According to a London newspaper, the new housekeeper would “work 37 hours a week keeping all areas of the palace residence clean at all times, caring for the couple’s clothing, cleaning silverware and glassware, doing the laundry, running errands, preparing basic meals and, of course, feeding and walking the dogs. Must have a current valid UK driving license.”

They’ve only received 15 applications so far, which is less than your local Starbucks receives in a week, so you have a chance.

Formal housekeepers, who work every day on an estate or in say, a palace, can earn an annual salary of $35,000 to $55,000.

There are actual people out there who are really rich and want to make an impression by hiring a driver. Spoiled movie stars who have lost their driver’s license also need someone to drive them to the 7-11 so you might snag a job as chauffeur/driver. You’ll drive your employer to work and the clubs and clean and polish the car while they’re studying their lines, and for that you’ll be paid around $40-$100,000, depending on the star’s box office receipts.

Kelly Margolis of Orange County graduated from UCLA with a degree in politics three years ago and now works as a driver for a well-known hip-hop artist.

“I kept finding jobs that required 50 plus hours a week for pretty much no pay in law offices,” Margolis said. “Then a friend introduced me to a guy who knew someone who needed a driver. I figured I could drive so I applied. I think I got the job because I’m tall and blonde, but whatever, I’m paid really, really well and I meet interesting people. I had no idea this is what I would do with my life, but so far it’s working out.”

Other upstairs/downstairs gigs are nannies for the children, cooks/chefs to feed the elite, along with gardeners and estate managers. Some of these jobs are more posh than others, but if you find the right employer, you may have health insurance - all for washing the dishes or driving to the store.

While you might think you already know how to vacuum or make a martini, there are actual schools that will teach you the correct way to serve your boss a cup of coffee.

Magnums Butlers (magnumsbutlers.com) trains and places professional butlers, valets, hotel concierges, marine and yacht stewards, household managers, and hotel butlers.

Delivering a celebrity to a red carpet affair isn’t exactly like driving your kids to school in the minivan, but there are schools such as chaufferschool.com and chauffertraining.com to teach you the proper methods of racing away from the paparazzi.

So if you can relate to the household help on Downton Abbey and want to make almost as much money as the lords and ladies, look for a job downstairs.