Maids in Heels and G-Strings? Go Figure

The maids are late. The house they are looking for this evening, in a warren of partially blocked streets behind the Beverly Center, isn’t easy to find.

It’s a modest home with a well-landscaped front yard. Inside is nice too, decorated with rough-hewn Mexican furniture and folk art. Messy, but nice. Dirty dishes are stacked in the kitchen. The floor around the bird cage in the living room looks as if the finches have been at war. The bathroom is what you might expect from two divorces who look blank when asked where the hamper is.

At the dining-room table, Richard Reitz, 32, vice president for a long-distance phone company, and Mike Shafer, 42, an insurance agent, are chugging Dom Perignon and anticipating the maids’ arrival. They aren’t nervous exactly, but there is a heightened sense of expectation. Odd, really, for people who are about to have their house cleaned.

But Bubbles (not her real name) and Michelle (her real name) are not your average cleaning ladies. They work for Bust Dusters, a cleaning service with a twist.

When they arrive at 7:15 p.m., Bubbles, 25, is wearing a lavender nylon boudoir robe. Michelle, 19, is in a short black dress. They disappear into the bathroom, then re-emerge in uniform: high heels, fishnet stockings, G-strings, teeny lace aprons, delicate lace collars. And nothing else.

I don’t know how you’re supposed to mop a floor in three-inch pumps.

But they do. And they wash the dishes, they vacuum, they dust, straighten and scrub.

As the maids work, Reitz and Shafer chat, but mostly they watch them intently. Stare at them, actually.

When done a certain way, housecleaning can be absolutely fascinating .

Jerry Springer certainly thought so.

Last month, he flew Bubbles to Cincinnati for a segment of his TV talk show, “The Jerry Springer Show.” The articulate Bubbles, who says she was “made redundant” at her executive secretary job when her company merged with another, appeared with Cindi Paolini, the wife of one of her bosses, and Tammy Delwarte, a disgruntled client.

Delwarte claimed she had hired the topless maids as a joke for her husband. It backfired. He secretly continued to hire the maids every week.

Delwarte: “He promised he wouldn’t do it again, but now I come home and the house is spotlessly clean. It’s shining. And I know he never lifts a finger.”

Paolini: “Well, maybe he wants something he’s not getting at home!”

Delwarte: “Maybe mine aren’t enough for him, but everything else is fine in our marriage.”

Audience member: “Why don’t you do it?”

Delwarte: “You know what? I am gonna go home and try it!”

A television conversion to toplessness? Not exactly. It turns out Delwarte is the daughter of Bust Dusters’ owner Al Paolini. Cindi is her stepmother.

Jerry Springer, you were had.

But you provided excellent publicity for Bust Dusters, which received about 100 inquiries the day the show aired in Los Angeles. Owners Paolini, 50, Denny Favreau, 49, and Lloyd Wafer, 34, were delighted. About 10% of the calls resulted in jobs.

Paolini and Favreau, Boston natives, are longtime partners in a downtown employment agency. Wafer, who grew up in Beverly Hills and plans a career in state politics, is the son of an evangelist. He says he’d rather his father not know what line of work he’s been pursuing. Paolini says he would be too embarrassed to hire Bust Dusters himself.

The company has a roster of 25 women and three men--one of whom, dressed like a Chippendale’s dancer, served hors d’oeuvres at a recent Tupperware party. Bust Dusters keeps six women busy full time.

Paolini says he hires women who are “in proportion.” If Bubbles, Michelle and Yvette are any indication, Paolini likes his proportions top-heavy. Clients pay $125 for 90 minutes of cleaning. For most customers, it’s a onetime lark, but about a dozen have become regulars. The maids receive $30 each, plus tips, usually $20 per maid.

Sometimes, if a partner is suspicious of a client, he will accompany the maids, who always work in pairs for safety’s sake. Clients pay first and sign a contract prohibiting prostitution or other illegal acts. Also, they may not take pictures or videos, and they must maintain a “respectable distance” from the women.

Not all clients get the idea.

During 21-year-old Yvette’s first job for Bust Dusters, she was followed closely, then touched by an overly enthusiastic client. Which was odd, since one of her bosses, curious to see how the business worked, was sitting in the man’s living room. He delivered a gentle reprimand.

“He was harmless,” says Yvette, who also works as a bill collector. “He wasn’t an old guy. He wasn’t like in his 70s. That would be creepy.”

Yvette’s mother knows what she does and isn’t happy about it. “You know how you look when you’re undressed,” Mom tells her. “You’re just asking to be raped!”

But Yvette doesn’t worry about that. And she isn’t embarrassed about working topless: “This is the closest thing to keeping your dignity.”

Ah, yes, dignity. Will a topless maid respect herself in the morning?

Or as Jerry Springer put it: “Aren’t you being their slave? Isn’t it degrading?”

Bubbles is ready with the standard response: “Oh, absolutely! But if a man is willing to pay for it, then I am exploiting him!”

She is charming, the secret to good tips. “So,” she says to Reitz and Shafer, now on their second bottle of champagne, “who is the messiest? Who is the biggest womanizer?” The charm doesn’t work too well tonight. She ends up with a $10 tip.

But the clients are most satisfied. They have already booked the maids again.

“It’s a fantastic idea,” says Reitz, nibbling on Brie and French bread. “It makes a tedious chore enjoyable.”

Yeah. Pity the poor slob burdened by a fully clothed cleaning lady.