Useless Butlers
I'm not sure if everyone else is having this problem but my butler is shit. She does nothing I ask her to do. She will do the surface swipe animation, stand there and rarely clean up a plate and if sh...
Forum Discussion
I'm pretty livid. I feel like the pack should have been advertised with warnings about it's functionality. IRL, mine wouldn't have been merely fired, she would have been fed to the lions. ;)
She has her own assigned and well appointed quarters, with her own bathroom, her own desk and a separate chair for sitting / reading / television, clock, book shelf, TV, bed, dresser, full-length mirror, etc., with the door set so that only she has access - so she has her privacy as well.
Here are a few of my complaints:
* First action as the new butler - plop herself down on my couch and watch some TV.
* She seemed intent to stay up all night, doing nothing, so I sent her to sleep.
* In the morning, I asked her to make breakfast. She did. Then she went into the dining room, and ate it.
* After that, I guess she fancied a good read, so she went to her mistress' bookshelf, got a book, went into her mistress' office, and plopped down in the easy chair to read it.
* The toilet in the main bathroom was an abomination. When I asked her to clean it (which, without instructions, I did by asking her to clean something, then asking her to clean something while her mistress stood right next to the toilet.) I got a dialog saying she couldn't reach it (it was not blocked by anything visible, on the floor, on the wall, or on the ceiling - the commode is used all the time) or that she had yet to finish her current task, which was, evidently, standing in the kitchen, staring at the wall. For hours.
* Evidently, she likes a good cocktail. She's fond of making them for herself, and sitting around drinking them.
* Answering the door seems to be beneath her.
* Later, her mistress needed to use the restroom. This was made difficult by the fact that the butler was in her bathroom enjoying a nice bath. She was fired, on the spot.
From a programming point of view, it would seem trivial to be able to have the butler NOT become an otherwise unemployed house-bum who felt entitled to use the common areas in the main portion of the house. "Use This", "Do Not Use This", "Use Everything But Things Restricted From", or "Use Only Those Things Assigned To" commands could be added. Don't use the facilities in the main house for your own off time should be a default setting. Even setting certain tasks on a schedule should be easy - do the gardening and the main cleaning while the employer is off at work (if they do) or whatever. You should be able to click a dirty or broken thing and have a "Clean/Fix This" option come up. If there's an obstruction stopping them from getting to it, it should be highlighted in red.
A "working relationship" selector could be added - if you want a bosom buddy who happens to wash a dish now and then, so be it - but if you want Downton Abby, where the butler bygod knows better than to address their employer by their first name, that should be easily available.
Hours should be able to be set - where the butler will retire to their quarters at a given time and show up ready to work at a given time. You should be able to set rules as to whether they can be called during their off hours. They should be able to ask for time off, if they want to leave the grounds.
Short version (I know, too late. I'm sorry, but I'm really annoyed.) is that this would all be pretty easy to fix, if they had any interest in fixing it.
I know I'm late to the party, but my first Sim is just reaching the last quarter of her "adult" phase, and this and "dine out" were my first add-ons (because you can't go eat at a restaurant without spending an extra $20 - that's reasonable. 9_9). And the way these two "work" (or, rather, don't) make me feel like there's really no point in ever buying the other five or six add-ons I wanted.
And, just to confirm - they don't ever answer here, do they? This is just a place to vent to make us _feel_ like we have support options, while crowdsourcing low-level support for free?
She has her own assigned and well appointed quarters, with her own bathroom, her own desk and a separate chair for sitting / reading / television, clock, book shelf, TV, bed, dresser, full-length mirror, etc., with the door set so that only she has access - so she has her privacy as well.
Here are a few of my complaints:
* First action as the new butler - plop herself down on my couch and watch some TV.
* She seemed intent to stay up all night, doing nothing, so I sent her to sleep.
* In the morning, I asked her to make breakfast. She did. Then she went into the dining room, and ate it.
* After that, I guess she fancied a good read, so she went to her mistress' bookshelf, got a book, went into her mistress' office, and plopped down in the easy chair to read it.
* The toilet in the main bathroom was an abomination. When I asked her to clean it (which, without instructions, I did by asking her to clean something, then asking her to clean something while her mistress stood right next to the toilet.) I got a dialog saying she couldn't reach it (it was not blocked by anything visible, on the floor, on the wall, or on the ceiling - the commode is used all the time) or that she had yet to finish her current task, which was, evidently, standing in the kitchen, staring at the wall. For hours.
* Evidently, she likes a good cocktail. She's fond of making them for herself, and sitting around drinking them.
* Answering the door seems to be beneath her.
* Later, her mistress needed to use the restroom. This was made difficult by the fact that the butler was in her bathroom enjoying a nice bath. She was fired, on the spot.
From a programming point of view, it would seem trivial to be able to have the butler NOT become an otherwise unemployed house-bum who felt entitled to use the common areas in the main portion of the house. "Use This", "Do Not Use This", "Use Everything But Things Restricted From", or "Use Only Those Things Assigned To" commands could be added. Don't use the facilities in the main house for your own off time should be a default setting. Even setting certain tasks on a schedule should be easy - do the gardening and the main cleaning while the employer is off at work (if they do) or whatever. You should be able to click a dirty or broken thing and have a "Clean/Fix This" option come up. If there's an obstruction stopping them from getting to it, it should be highlighted in red.
A "working relationship" selector could be added - if you want a bosom buddy who happens to wash a dish now and then, so be it - but if you want Downton Abby, where the butler bygod knows better than to address their employer by their first name, that should be easily available.
Hours should be able to be set - where the butler will retire to their quarters at a given time and show up ready to work at a given time. You should be able to set rules as to whether they can be called during their off hours. They should be able to ask for time off, if they want to leave the grounds.
Short version (I know, too late. I'm sorry, but I'm really annoyed.) is that this would all be pretty easy to fix, if they had any interest in fixing it.
I know I'm late to the party, but my first Sim is just reaching the last quarter of her "adult" phase, and this and "dine out" were my first add-ons (because you can't go eat at a restaurant without spending an extra $20 - that's reasonable. 9_9). And the way these two "work" (or, rather, don't) make me feel like there's really no point in ever buying the other five or six add-ons I wanted.
And, just to confirm - they don't ever answer here, do they? This is just a place to vent to make us _feel_ like we have support options, while crowdsourcing low-level support for free?
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