A bed should not be made immediately after one wakes, but rather, left alone, preferably near an open window, to allow the sleeper’s perspiration to evaporate.

When laying out an employer’s clothing, drape the trousers over the seat of a chair first, with a dress shirt folded — unbuttoned and with cuff links attached — atop them, and underclothes in turn atop the shirt, in reverse order of the boss’s getting dressed. Shoes, without horns, to the side, socks laid over them. Leave out three ties — the boss’s only choice to make in the morning.

Meat tenderizer is good for blood stains in cotton.

These tricks of the lifetime trade have been rattling around in the shaved head of Christopher Ely, one of New York’s premier butlers, for so long he assumes that everyone knows them. It is a job he has done since his 18th birthday three decades ago, when he was hired on as a footman at Buckingham Palace and stayed just under four years. He is visible in a photograph sitting on a carriage carrying Princess Diana in 1984.

“I’ve stood in front of thousands of people,” the demure Mr. Ely said, “but I’ve been fine with it because I know they’re not looking at me.” But his most recent job ended with everyone looking, after his tenure under Brooke Astor, a job that veered toward the sensational after her death.