On Demand

The boom in virtual valets lets us outsource irksome tasks in the time it takes to send a text. Or so Alexandra English thought ...

- Alexandra

The idea of having a butler is a touch antiquated — outside of Buckingham Palace, who really needs their newspaper ironed? — but if anyone tells you they haven’t dreamt of having someone on call whose sole purpose is to make their employer’s life as easy as possible and anticipate their needs before they have them, they are lying. Time is the ultimate luxury; convenience a coveted commodity. And in 2019, the lived reality of the 1 percent is no longer just the dream of the many.

Handballing your physical tasks to someone else isn’t new: anyone with a relatively small amount of money and a smartphone can outsource just about anything: a cleaner takes care of my household chores; groceries are delivered, perfectly proportioned according to the accompanying recipes and ready to cook; and a private driver (ahem, Uber) can be summoned at the lift of a finger (although, disappointingly, I still have to lift my finger myself ). But the idea of the personal virtual valet has only just emerged from the business sphere into the personal. I’ve hired Nadia*, who works remotely from India, as part of an experiment to see just how little is required from me for my life to keep running smoothly.