Agatha Christie could afford a maid and a nanny but not a car

Re:Agatha Christie could afford a maid and a nanny but not a... by Little_Fish on Wednesday January 26, 2022 @06:01AM (#30084035)

I think this has a lot of truth. My brother was based in the Philippines for a while for work and was expected to have at least a housekeeper and a chauffeur. I think having a driver was a very reasonable safety measure given the traffic there too. At the time it seemed very ostentatious to us at home, but it was totally the norm.

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Re:Agatha Christie could afford a maid and a nanny but not a... by frenchy on Wednesday January 26, 2022 @11:40AM (#30087753)

Car ownership, especially in Manila, is also not the norm there. There's over 110 million people on a handful of small islands. Also, public transit is way more efficient there than anywhere in North America.

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Re:Agatha Christie could afford a maid and a nanny but not a... by Little_Fish on Wednesday January 26, 2022 @11:47AM (#30087869)

True - it was better to hire a chauffeur who had his own car than to buy a car (also traffic was crazy). He is from the UK - Public transport is pretty good in the UK and across much of Europe. As I recall, there were issues with terrorist bombing shopping centres and public transport in Manila at the time, so I think he avoided both.

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