Season 5, Episode 5 - "Maid to Order" - Army of Ducks

Staci Keanan (0:52)

Hi, and welcome to Keanan And Lakin Give You Déjà Vu. This is our Friday TGIF post recap chat. So this week, we covered season five, episode five, Maid To Order.

So you had some thoughts.

Christine Lakin (1:09)

Yes, I had some thoughts. Well, a couple of things came up for me watching this episode. There's a new thing. You know, first of all, Carol and Frank hiring a housekeeper. They have, we've constantly seen them, especially in this season with the new baby, really struggling with all of the kids, all of the tasks, the housework, et cetera. Yes. And I've been noticing, maybe it's my feed, but I've been noticing, I've read a couple articles recently online about house managers, not even housekeepers, but house managers.

This is sort of a new role. It's like an executive of the house, someone that's hired to come in and deal with the functioning of the household.

So I don't know. I mean, what do you think that role, I guess it depends on every family, but in general, what do you think that role entails?

Staci Keanan (2:08)

Well, I think, look, here's my experience with the house manager when I was working for a fancy Beverly Hills company as a private tutor, helping kids get ready for the SATs.

This was, I was still acting, I was auditioning, so it's a perfect job, it's very flexible. So they would sell these private programs and you would just be, you just show up at somebody's house and then go in there, tutor the kid. It was a 90-minute lesson, it was good money and yeah, it was very flexible. So when I was still auditioning back in the day, this was the job that I did. And I encountered my fair share of house managers way back then.

Christine Lakin (2:47)

Oh wow, okay.

Staci Keanan (2:49)

Yes, I mean, because the people were, the clients were, all had money, it was just a range of like rich to crazy rich. I had one student who, her house was the house in The Godfather where the guy ends up with the horse head in his bed.

Christine Lakin (3:07)

Shut up.

Staci Keanan (3:07)

And years ago, that house went on the market for $167 million, which at the time was the highest, it's not anymore, but at the time, that was the highest priced private residence that had ever hit the LA market.

Christine Lakin (3:21)

Did you have to tutor in the room that the horse head was in?

Staci Keanan (3:25)

No, we were in a downstairs dining room or something. This, I mean, she had a convertible Mercedes. It was, she was like 16 It was ridiculous. Anyway, so just to give you an idea, you know, that was sort of a clientele.

Christine Lakin (3:38)

So yes.

Staci Keanan (3:39)

So sometimes there was another household that I would go to. I won't say who this person was, but they're pretty famous, but they're kind of famous for being rich.

Christine Lakin (3:48)

Okay.

Staci Keanan (3:49)

In and of itself, at least in the LA area, they're just sort of like a famous rich person. Their name is on stuff here and there. Anyway, at this particular household, it was always the house manager. And it wasn't the only one, but this one sticks out in my mind because it was always the house manager that came to meet me.

I would kind of pull into the gate and then he would come out the front door and he had a uniform. And the uniform was, I mean, it was khakis and a certain color polo shirt, and the polo shirt was tucked in. He had sneakers, but they were very clean, you know, like kind of white sneakers. And he had a walkie talkie that was clipped to his belt.

Christine Lakin (4:29)

Okay.

Staci Keanan (4:30)

He was a young guy. He was probably in his late 20s, and he would come out and meet me. And then he would walk me to the kid's room, which is where I worked with this particular kid. And the kid's room was enormous. I mean, it was the size of a lot of people's entire LA apartment. You know, there was a sitting area, there was a whole desk area, all that. So he would walk me through the house, I guess, to make sure what? That I didn't like steal some artwork on the way back there? I don't know. So he would walk me to the kid's room, sit me down at the desk area, offer me a drink, and then leave. And then when it was time, when our lesson was over, the kid would pick up the phone, the house phone, we were at a hotel and call the guy that we were done. And then the guy would come and walk me back out of the house.