The Janitorial Diplomat

Nannies. House Keepers. Cooks. Free housing. Free utilities. Good health insurance. Pension. Free rest and relaxation flights (R&R). Paid home leave. Free moving services, including overseas air and sea freight. 

Do these sound attractive? Do they sound American? These are the primary benefits that attract "the best and brightest" people to the foreign service to act as diplomats on behalf of the United States. To the list of servants above we could add drivers, gardeners, dog walkers, pool cleaners. Granted, the range of servants are only free for Chiefs of Mission, who also have a free car. Because servants are paid out of salary they are generally only feasible in the developing countries of Africa, Asia, Central and South America. The same goes for R&R flights. 

I've been embarrassed to write or speak about these benefits. I don't think they sound very American, at least not my America. I hate having house help - cleaners and cooks. I didn't give birth to our girls so I don't begrudge my wife seeking help from nannies. We had two: Xiao Hu in Shanghai and Raquel in Rio. There is a complicated range of other benefits as well, so complicated I don't bother with most of them. I admit the free hosing in exotic places abroad attracted me to the foreign service, and the R&R flights. My in-laws are in Malaysia. It had been a major financial planning hurdle budgeting travel to visit them once every year or so. 

Recently one of my Army colleagues (Defense Attaché Office in the Embassy) stopped to say hello on an  run as I was leaving work for the evening. He said he would share an objective opinion with me: Foreign service officers are spoiled and ungrateful. The Army officer was an immigrant to the United States from Ivory Coast. He had a relatively well off upbringing. This was his first overseas tour at a U.S. Embassy. His wife, born in the USA, had joined a Facebook chat group for foreign service officer spouses called Trailing Houses. His objective opinion was based mostly from content in the Facebook group, which is mostly people complaining about not having this or that benefit. That's life though. No matter who you work for or what country you live in people complain about paychecks, benefits, social security, medical care, insurance...it's a never ending part of life. That's my subjective opinion. 

My friendly Army officer colleagues shared his objective opinion with me because he had just asked me what I did before joining the foreign service. I informed him that I had a full life before starting this career with several previous careers and many different jobs. I was a janitor three different times in my life, up to this point. I might be one again after leaving the foreign service. It's because I was a janitor that my friendly Army officer colleague shared his objective opinion. Now that I really think about it, there are probably not many foreign services officers who previously worked as janitors. I might the the only one who gave it a go three different times in my adult life.