Tech

ManServants lets you rent a man for $125 an hour to wait on you hand and foot — here's what it's like to use

Maya Kosoff

2015-08-13T14:26:42Z

Last year, a startup called ManServants launched, promising to give women what they really want: a man for hire to anticipate their needs and pamper them.

CEO and cofounder Josephine Wai Lin tells Business Insider her service "started as a joke, and it became way too real."

Last fall, ManServants launched in San Francisco, and then in Los Angeles. Most recently, the very real startup launched in New York City. Soon, Wai Lin says, it will expand to Las Vegas.

When might you need a ManServant? Anytime, really. ManServants gives a few examples on its website: bachelorette parties, girls' nights out, pool parties in need of a cabana boy, just to name a few. Wai Lin says ManServants have been hired for a few same-sex weddings, too.

We were curious about the service, so we decided to round up some friends and try it for ourselves.

Wai Lin and her cofounder Dalal Khajah were working in advertising last year before ManServants launched. The two were trying to hire a "hot male assistant" for one of their girlfriends' birthdays. After failing to find what they were looking for on Craigslist and TaskRabbit ("There was no handsome help available on TaskRabbit," Wai Lin recalls), they turned to a stripping agency for help.

josephine manservants — Josephine Wai Lin, right, is a cofounder of ManServants. Instagram/DearJosephine

After the botched attempt to hire a stripper to perform menial office duties, Wai Lin and Khajah's coworkers started asking the two women to help them find and hire more of these men for their bachelorette parties in lieu of actual strippers. So last year, Wai Lin and Khajah quit their jobs to bootstrap ManServants.

ManServants are "not just handsome," Wai Lin tells us. "They're very multidimensional, multitalented. He can't just be good to look at. He has to be hilarious and entertaining as well."

There are only about 12 ManServants per city, Wai Lin tells us. She says the number of ManServants is intentionally small, because she's more interested in recruiting a small number of high-quality ManServants. "It's harder than you'd think to find a man who's both easy on the eyes and then witty, charming, emotionally intelligent, and a gentleman," she tells us.

To recruit new ManServants, the company sends its "cutie collector" to local bars and restaurants. This recruiter hands out business cards to potential ManServants that say, "I'm not hitting on you, but we could use a charming gentleman like yourself." ManServants also has a director of talent who is a former model with lots of industry connections.

Down to business (cards)

A photo posted by ManServants (@manservants_co) on Jul 23, 2014 at 4:06am PDTJul 23, 2014 at 4:06am PDT

This isn't an escort service; it's a chance to be waited on hand and foot, to be pampered, the startup insists. Common requests for ManServant duties include hair braiding, serving drinks, assisting with Instagram photo shoots, painting nails, and fanning customers with a banana leaf or an actual fan.

His patriotic duties included referring to everyone as, "My fellow American," and when asked if he'd like a drink, he responded with, "That wouldn't be very presidential." 🇺🇸🎩🇺🇸 #thelandofthefree #homeofthebrave #and #ManServants #TeddyRoosevelt

A photo posted by ManServants (@manservants_co) on Jul 6, 2015 at 9:02am PDTJul 6, 2015 at 9:02am PDT

Wai Lin says the main criticism she receives about ManServants doesn't usually come from women — it's from people who hear the name of the service and assume ManServants is a way for women to boss guys around.

How's this for @pornforwomen ? It was a pleasure serving you & @rachelstrugatz last night 🍕🎩👅 #ManservantsInLA #wwd

A photo posted by ManServants (@manservants_co) on Mar 28, 2015 at 11:22am PDTMar 28, 2015 at 11:22am PDT

When you hear the term ManServant, Wai Lin says, you think of women dominating and men being submissive. But, she says: "That's actually just because of gender dynamics that it doesn't work like that. We say he'll do anything to make your dreams come true with a tuxedo on, and what women ask for is hair braiding."

We'll take it from here, thanks.

A photo posted by ManServants (@manservants_co) on May 12, 2015 at 10:44am PDTMay 12, 2015 at 10:44am PDT

Wai Lin says ManServants considers itself a feminist startup because it has created an experience designed specifically to cater to women's needs.

#ManServants shall hold a lady's purse at her request, no matter how small, heavy, or sequined. 👜 #ManServantsCodeofChivalry

A photo posted by ManServants (@manservants_co) on Jul 16, 2015 at 8:11am PDTJul 16, 2015 at 8:11am PDT

OK, enough about the company. What's it like to hire one of these ManServants for yourself? We had to try it out. After you enter in some information about the kind of event you're hosting, you're given the chance to name your ManServant. You can call him anything you want, from Fabio to Ryan Gosling. After much debate, we named our ManServant Alejandro.

This part felt a little weird to me — assigning a name to another human you're hiring? What about the person's real name? You're not allowed to know your ManServant's real identity, the startup's cofounders told TechCrunch last year. “Women can sometimes get hung up on one of our guys, so we have to protect the men," Wai Lin said.

A blushing bride to be and there's not a single penis decoration in sight. #ManServantsInLA

A photo posted by ManServants (@manservants_co) on Apr 6, 2015 at 12:22pm PDTApr 6, 2015 at 12:22pm PDT

Source.

ManServants customers also must agree to the company's Acceptable Behavior Policy, which indicates among other things that interactions with your ManServant remain nonsexual.

After we named our ManServant, we got to pick what we wanted our ManServant to look like.

Right now, Wai Lin says, she's getting lots of requests from women for ManServants who can braid hair. Lots of women are also requesting man buns and lumbersexual guys.

Hope everyone's having a wonderful Mother's Day. She's your ManServant all year, today's her day. 👸🏼🙌🏻💓💐

A photo posted by ManServants (@manservants_co) on May 10, 2015 at 5:06pm PDTMay 10, 2015 at 5:06pm PDT

ManServants are rigorously tested and vetted before they get hired. Besides an online test, they also go through scenario and role-playing training and interact with women in real life, who then rate each ManServant. Here's just one of the questions potential ManServants take as part of an online training test.

Each ManServant costs $125 an hour. ManServant pay is based on a graduated wage, starting at $50 an hour and going up to $80 based on feedback and the number of events each ManServant completes. Right now, ManServants are contractors, though Wai Lin says the company is switching them over to W2 employees in the coming months.

Our ManServant showed up just on time. Here's "Alejandro." He always wears a tuxedo, and he travels with a fan and a parasol.

Right now in New York, ManServants is only serving Brooklyn and Manhattan, but "Alejandro" made the trek out to Queens to come cater to me and my friends. He introduced himself — complete with a fictional backstory — and immediately launched into helping out around my apartment, serving us snacks. Most ManServants, like Alejandro, are working actors, models, and comedians, Wai Lin told us.

I had expected ManServants to be an awkward experience — I can't say I'm used to being waited on hand and foot, and I felt really weird about hiring someone to do that for me — but my friends and I later agreed it was anything but. ManServants are trained to anticipate their clients' needs, Wai Lin told us.

Alejandro immediately made himself comfortable in my cramped kitchen, and he wasted no time preparing drinks for us (my friend and I supplied the booze). True to ManServants' word, I didn't lift a finger for the entire hour Alejandro was at my place.

Alejandro entertained us with dramatic readings of our horoscopes. There wasn't an awkward moment the entire time Alejandro was over — he did his best to keep us entertained.

Alejandro also insisted on fanning us.

He also helped arrange (and put up with) our music requests.

"Alejandro" took a bunch of pictures of me and my friends ...

... and then insisted on a group selfie, too.

Then we went for a delightful walk around my neighborhood. As Alejandro held his parasol over me and my friends, we definitely got some questionable looks from my neighbors.

After reciting a poem announcing his departure, Alejandro left. My friends and I agreed — it was a really fun experience, though with the steep price tag, ManServants is probably better suited for a birthday party or a bachelorette party than a random Saturday hangout.

Stairway to heaven? #wallofcompliments

A photo posted by ManServants (@manservants_co) on Jan 29, 2015 at 3:47pm PSTJan 29, 2015 at 3:47pm PST