The trick to having it all: asking for help … and hiring a butler

The Guardian spent a day with a 21st-century-style butler supplied by Hello Alfred, a startup that takes care of life’s little chores so you don’t have to

‘Hello, it’s Monika!” a woman next to me calls out as we enter an empty New York City studio apartment. Neither of us lives here. Neither of us has ever met the owner. We are not breaking in. We are here to help.

Monika, 46, is an Alfred – a modern-day butler – and I am tagging along to one of her jobs.

Related: How London’s booming ‘butler class’ takes care of the wealthy elite