History Main / HaughtyHelp

* DependingOnTheWriter, [[ComicBook/Batman Alfred Pennyworth]]'s ServileSnarker tendencies may veer into this, especially if he's dealing with a new addition to the Wayne household.

* Meeting expectations: Some "haughty" servants may actually just be playing a role since an appearance of stuffy perfectionism might make a place look classier and more exclusive. If they think it's a sign of high standards, employers, guests, and customers might ''expect'' haughtiness.

-->'''Jeeves''': The tie, if I might suggest it, sir, a little more tightly knotted. One aims at the perfect butterfly effect. If you will permit me--\\

* The Kokonoe twins in ''LiteratureGirlsKingdom'' may be maids in training, but they take no lip from anyone and tend to act a bit haughty when they're not molesting other students. This is largely because, due to unexplained circumstances they're on the Domestic Arts track, which is for maid training, instead of the Societal Arts track which is for the daughters of rich donors to the school which they would normally be expected to be on.

** When Anna and Mr Bates go to a restaurant, the maître d' attempts to dismiss them despite them having a reservation. He claims that the establishment caters to the elite of Yorkshire society and is currently hosting the Countess of Grantham. Cora Crawley - the said countess, to whose daughter Anna is lady's maid and to whose husband Mr Bates is valet[[note]][[BandOfBrothers And more]]; Bates was Lord Grantham's batman (military valet-cum-bodyguard) when both served in the [[BritishRoyalGuards Grenadier Guards]] during UsefulNotes/TheSecondBoerWar, and so Bates was a man the Crawleys would almost literally move Heaven and Earth to help, having literally put his life and body on the line to protect His Lordship.[[/note]] - suddenly appears and says she knows the two very well, using the maître d's own snobbishness to gently browbeat him into seating the couple.

** When Anna and Mr. Bates go to a restaurant, the maître d' attempts to dismiss them despite them having a reservation. He claims that the establishment caters to the elite of Yorkshire society and is currently hosting the Countess of Grantham. Cora Crawley - the said countess who also happens to be Anna and Bates' employer - suddenly appears and says she knows the two very well, using the maître d's own snobbishness to gently browbeat him into seating the couple.

* Offended sensibilities: Despite not actually being members of the elite themselves, servants may be just as fastidious (if not more so) about upholding "proper" etiquette, protocol, and aesthetics. People who get mud on the fine carpets, scratch the expensive woodwork, draw moustaches on the paintings, and use the wrong fork at dinner may prompt a clash of SlobsVersusSnobs, with the servants being the latter. This variety may be the most justified, as lot of the failures of etiquette create more work for the servants--e.g. cleaning/repairing the carpet, woodwork, and paintings fall on their shoulders. Since servants aren't paid more for the extra work, it's a pure annoyance.
* Meeting expectations: Some "haughty" servants may actually just be playing a role, since an appearance of stuffy perfectionism might make a place look classier and more exclusive. If they think it's a sign of high standards, employers, guests, and customers might ''expect'' haughtiness.

** Mrs. Whitlow, the [[WizardingSchool Unseen University]] head housekeeper in Wizards books, who speaks very pretentiously and has exacting standards for the rest of the staff. Even the wizards aren't quite sure how to deal with her in ''Literature/TheLastContinent''.
** ''Literature/UnseenAcademicals'' goes into further detail about below-stairs at UU, including that the Bledlows (porters) and the Candle Knave not-so-secretly believe that they basically run the University, and the guys in pointy hats would be lost without them. The Candle Knave in particular is the reflected glory type, deferential to the wizards (at least to their faces) but ruthless to the workers in the candle vats. At one point, Archchancellor Ridcully ruefully reflects that, as the person from whom the Candle Knave's authority derives, he has to go along with this in order to maintain the heirarchy, even though his sympathies lie rather more with the dribblers. The Bledlows, meanwhile, seem to be the flawed-employer type, at least in their own opinion. They refer to the wizards behind their backs as "pointies", and seem to feel that senior wizards are just former students, and they ''definitely'' have authority over students.

* ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'': In Blackadder the Third, Edmund (Prince George's butler/manservant) makes his contempt for subordinates (such as Baldrick) and the lower orders of society (such as actors and the French) clear. Clearer than his contempt for most everyone else that is, barring the Prince whose peculiar understanding allows him to blur the standards of what is clear and what is not.

* Gilbert in ''The Train at Platform 4'' is an offended sensibilites type. He is responsible for the First Class carriage, and the passengers in First Class are better than other passengers, so he must maintain the standards he assumes they expect. His EstablishingCharacterMoment is hearing that there is free coffee in Standard Class for one day, being outraged that the masses are getting a perk that should be reserved for ''his'' passengers, and calling it an "experiment in socialism".

* In the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' episode "[[Recap/DuckTalesS1E55HotelStrangeduck Hotel Strangeduck]]", Scrooge buys an old castle with the intent to turn it into a luxury hotel. As part of his preparations, he has Mrs. Beakley teach Huey, Dewey and Louie how to put on snooty airs as bellhops.

** White Pearl [[MouthOfSauron speaks directly for White Diamond]], and by extension will boss around everyone, even ''the other Diamonds''. Like her master, she keeps her body frozen is a striking pose, [[GhostlyGlide gliding around without moving her body]], giving both an ([[UncannyValleyGirl eerie]]) air of superiority. [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope This isn't really Pearl being haughty]], rather it's White Diamond [[PeoplePuppets directly controlling her (up to channel her voice through her)]] to use her as a proxy. The real White Pearl (or rather Pink Pearl) [[NiceGirl is anything but haughty]].]]

** Stowell, butler to Lord and Landy Sinderby, seems to go out of his way to be rude to everyone; he aggressively talks down to Barrow, refuses to serve Tom Branson because of his Irish background, and even harbors resentment towards Lord Sinderby for questioning his judgement (all in the span of a single episode).

** Thomas Barrow is an example of Reflected Glory. When given a promotion in season 2, he takes great pleasure in reminding the other servants that they are beneath him. Yet as his life and backstory are explored in more detail, he becomes a more sympathetic figure, with Edna openly helping him through his struggles.

Servants, waiters, and other such attendants tend to be humble and deferential -- it's considered part of their job description. This trope is about the exceptions: servants who are proud, patronising, or snobbish, and who will treat people with subtle contempt or even outright disdain. Sometimes their aloofness will be carefully restricted to people who occupy a lower position than them, or whom their employer doesn't care for -- other times, it will extend to everyone, their employers included.

This can have various causes and forms (not mutually exclusive):
* Reflected glory: They might gain power or prestige from their association with their oh-so-important employer (or at least, their employer's office or title). They may have had a relatively high position within a hierarchy of servants, or may have been delegated some authority by their employers -- and they get DrunkWithPower. Just because they have to be a SycophanticServant to their employer, doesn't mean they can't turn around and be a petty tyrant to servants on the next step down. Even if they're cleaning boots, the boots belong to someone important, and that's a closer association with power than many people can claim. Getting to sneer at people who have no access to their illustrious employer is a perk of the job.

* Offended sensibilities: Despite not actually being members of the elite themselves, servants may be just as fastidious (if not more so) about upholding "proper" etiquette, protocol, and aesthetics. People who get mud on the fine carpets, scratch the expensive woodwork, draw moustaches on the paintings, and use the wrong fork at dinner may prompt a clash of SlobsVersusSnobs, with the servants being the latter. (Also, a lot of the failures of etiquette create more work for the servants--e.g., well, getting mud on the carpet, scratching the woodwork, and drawing moustaches on the paintings. Since servants aren't paid more for the extra work, it's a pure annoyance.)
* Meeting expectations: Some "haughty" servants may actually just be playing a role since an appearance of stuffy perfectionism might make a place look classier and more exclusive. If they think it's a sign of high standards, employers, guests, and customers might ''expect'' haughtiness.

* ''Series/DowntonAbbey'':
** Carson has good intentions and is fair for the most part, but he can be quite snobby about enforcing traditions and keeping up the image of the estate.
** Thomas is an example of Reflected Glory. When given a promotion in season 2, he takes great pleasure in reminding the other servants that they are beneath him.
** Ethel could count as an example of the above as well, given how often she talks about how she deserves more than a life of service.

* In ''Series/YouRangMLord'', the servants are deferential to their employers but have their own hierarchy of snobbery. In particular, James the valet and Mrs Lipton the cook can both be quite unpleasant towards Mabel the charwoman and Henry the boot-boy, who are at the bottom of the heap. By contrast, Mr Stokes the butler (nominally at the top of the servant hierarchy) is usually quite nice to the junior staff, only taking a hard line when it's necessary to keep up appearances. A certain amount of the conflict between him and James comes from their differing attitudes on this subject -- Stokes is something of a closet socialist, proud of his working-class background and secretly disdainful of his wealthy employers, while James fully believes in the class system and his place in it.
* In ''Series/WorzelGummidge'', Sue defines a butler as "a person who serves drinks on trays and looks down his nose".

* ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'' has the sketches "The incredibly posh people who are still unaccountably waiters", and "The incredibly aristocratic and intimidating people who still unaccountably sell clothes".
* Several in ''Series/DowntonAbbey'':

* Captain Peacock from ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'' is stuck-up and treats the floor as if it were his own domain, speaking down to the sales staff and being utterly dismissive of the maintenance staff. He's frequently shown wanting to gain greater prestige, only to be rebuffed by his seniors, who genuinely have the status he craves.

** White Pearl [[MouthOfSauron speaks directly for White Diamond]], and by extension will boss around everyone, even ''[[UpToEleven the other Diamonds]]''. Like her master, she keeps her body frozen is a striking pose, [[GhostlyGlide gliding around without moving her body]], giving both an ([[UncannyValleyGirl eerie]]) air of superiority. [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope This isn't really Pearl being haughty]], rather it's White Diamond [[PeoplePuppets directly controlling her (up to channel her voice through her)]] to use her as a proxy. The real White Pearl (or rather Pink Pearl) [[NiceGirl is anything but haughty]].]]

-->'''Gifa:''' The sap-drinking dirt-shot drab likes of you must address her as "my lady".

-->--''Creator/DaveBarry'', ''"Skivvying Up The Profits"''

* In ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'', Lord Treavor Pendleton's servant Wallace is probably the snobbiest character Corvo meets. Although a commoner, he thinks that his family's long history of service lifts him above his fellow servants, and he speaks of commoners with disdain. This includes people of much higher rank than him, such as Admiral Havelock, whose achievements Wallace considers irrelevant next to noble birth.

* Gilbert in ''The Train at Platform 4'' is an offended sensibilites type. He is responsible for the First Class carriage, and the passengers in First Class are better than other passengers, so he must maintain the standards he assumes they expect. (He would almost qualify as "reflected glory" except that he's perfectly polite, if reserved, when dealing with the other train staff; after all, he's ''not'' the one in charge, Sam the train manager is.) His EstablishingCharacterMoment is hearing that there is free coffee in Standard Class for one day, being outraged that the masses are getting a perk that should be reserved for ''his'' passengers, and calling it an "experiment in socialism".

* Gilbert in ''The Train at Platform 4'' is a mild reflected glory/offended sensibilites example. He is responsible for the First Class carriage, and the passengers in First Class are better than other passengers, so he is better by association and must maintain the standards he assumes they expect. His EstablishingCharacterMoment is hearing that there is free coffee in Standard Class for one day, being outraged that the masses are getting a perk that should be reserved for ''his'' passengers, and calling it an "experiment in socialism".

* Gilbert in ''The Train at Platform 4'' is a mild reflected glory/offended sensibilites example. He is responsible for the First Class carriage, and the passengers in First Class are better than other passengers, so he is better by association. His EstablishingCharacterMoment is hearing that there is free coffee in Standard Class for one day, being outraged that the masses are getting a perk that should be reserved for ''his'' passengers, and calling it an "experiment in socialism".

* Gilbert in ''The Train at Platform 4'' is a classic reflected glory example. He is responsible for the First Class carriage, and the passengers in First Class are better than other passengers, so he is better by association. His EstablishingCharacterMoment is hearing that there is free coffee in Standard Class for one day, being outraged that the masses are getting a perk that should be reserved for ''his'' passengers, and calling it an "experiment in socialism".

** According to ''The Compleat Discworld Atlas'', the highest honour given to [[FrenchCusineIsHaughty Quirmian restaurants]], the Cordon Octarine, has the rudeness of the waiters as one of the criteria.

** According to ''The Compleat Discworld Atlas'', the highest honour given to [[FrenchCousineIsHaughty Quirmian restaurants]], the Cordon Octarine, has the rudeness of the waiters as one of the criteria.

* Several works by Creator/AgathaChristie set in post-war times feature gardeners who barely avoid qualifying as CrookedContractors, but consume a lot of tea compared to the little work they do, and rarely if ever obey their employer's orders when it comes to changing the kinds of flowers and vegetables being planted.

** ''Literature/UnseenAcademicals'' goes into further detail about below-stairs at UU, including that the Bledlows (porters) and Candle Knave not-so-secretly believe that they basically run the University, and the guys in pointy hats would be lost without them.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' has Mrs. Whitlow, the [[WizardingSchool Unseen University]] head housekeeper in Wizards books, who speaks very pretentiously and has exacting standards for the rest of the staff. Even the wizards aren't quite sure how to deal with her in ''Literature/TheLastContinent''.

* ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'': In Blackadder the Third, Edmund (Prince George's butler/manservant) makes his contempt for subordinates (such as Baldrick) and the lower orders of society (such as actors and the French) clear. Clearer that his contempt for most everyone else that is, barring the Prince whose peculiar understanding allows him to blur the standards of what is clear and what is not.