What the butler saw could end his career
A FAX arrives at the Keeping Posted desk from Ivor Spencer, the famed UK toastmaster who provides butlers to those who can afford them.
Spencer reminds us that ''butlers must sign a confidentiality agreement when working for the rich and famous'' - something we would have thought is of interest only to a few households scattered about the Peak and some parts of Shek 0.
The fax has an ominous warning for Hongkong's growing band of butlers.
Says Spencer: ''A former royal valet who wrote two books about his former employer was never able to find work anywhere in the world.'' Spencer, who we understand has placed a butler or two in Hongkong, adds: ''My school is proud to say that since it started not one of its butlers has ever been indiscreet. If this secrecy rule is ever broken the butler concerned would be crossed off our agency register for ever.'' That's certainly food for thought for any Hongkong butler repairing to his room after pouring the master a nightcap and entering a few jottings into a notebook.
