Maid

A maid is an NPC that can work for you for Simoleons. They come around at about 10:00 a.m. if hired early in the day or late in the day before, and just minutes later if hired mid-day, and they will leave when all their work is done or when it's getting too late. They come daily, doing such things as:
 * Cleaning up dishes
 * Cleaning up snacks
 * Cleaning up pet remains
 * Cleaning furniture (eg. the counter, the toilette, the shower)
 * Making beds
 * Serving meals

In The Sims 2 you can flirt with a maid, tell the maid to cook, talk to the maid, dismiss the maid or fire the maid. Maids can be either male or female - male maids wear half-unbuttoned pastel shirts with matching gloves, and black pants. Female maids wear short black dresses with white aprons, and have long hair with a small tiara. If a maid dies, is deleted, or is moved into a house and becomes a playable character, the game will automatically generate a new maid to replace him/her.

In Sims 1, the maid was fairly one-dimensional. Always female and dressed in a very impractical outfit with the same hair - but a different skin tone - she didn't even have a name! The maid could not be interacted with (except to be dismissed or fired), couldn't be killed, and did not serve meals.