July 20th, 2006 → 4:21 pm @ Seth Mnookin // No Comments
So, anyone wanna take bets on when we’ll see a story like this in the Times?
The hiring of personal assistants, according to the National Association of Hired Help, is at an all time high. And with the rise of men with increasingly hectic schedules come assistants in their mini-skirts, which, for many an employer, carry a romantic charge. (Women who don’t get it might want to consider the Speedo.) They invade living quarters, taking charge of the intimate details of their employers lives. Often, even today, these men are on the road for weeks at a time.
Who can blame him for harboring dreams of the assistant?
“It’s been totally sexualized, like the masseuse,” said John Franklin, the editor of the Robb Report.* “I can’t tell you how many times when I hear somebody give a recommendation for an assistant it inevitably ends with the five words, ‘And she’s so wicked hot.'”
Which only makes sense, he added. “It’s all very intimate. You’re making plans for how you are going to live your life with this person in enormous detail. And let’s face it, they often have great racks.”
Franklin Stilts, the assistant editor of Disposable Income Magazine**, says he has heard more and more stories of assistant-employer romance stories in the last few years.
“It’s fast, sexy, hot, but it doesn’t mean a lot — it’s like sexual chocolate, like sneaking out and getting that double scoop of ice cream in the afternoon,” Mr. Stilts said. He added that assistant-employer affairs are relatively safe: there is no need to worry about the assistant’s car being seen in a man’s driveway in the middle of the afternoon; it’s supposed to be in his driveway. And assistant-employer love, from what he’s seen, rarely threatens marriages because when the assistant gets a new job, the affair is over.
“Nobody knows,” Mr. Stilts said. “The assistant isn’t going to tell because she’s being paid, the employer isn’t going to tell, and you get a better job because he’s providing a fringe benefit. Everybody wins.”
Probably not anytime soon, right? Oops, wait: It actually ran today. (Start reading six grafs into the story.)
*Note: He is not really the editor of the Robb Report.
** Note: This is not a real magazine.
Post Categories: Gender roles & New York Times & Sex in the Hamptons
