errand boys
Runners for tasks
Errand boys are young men or boys employed to carry messages, deliver packages, or perform minor tasks for a business or household.
The term evokes an earlier era when such positions were common entry-level jobs, though it still appears in contexts describing someone who does menial work or runs errands for others.
He started as an errand boy and worked his way up to manager.
The phrase can be dismissive when applied to adults, suggesting someone is merely a subordinate doing another's bidding.
- messengersThose who convey communications
- runnersThose who race on foot
- goferMenial task doer
- courierDelivery person or service
- fetch and carryDo menial retrieval tasks
page · bellhops · delivery · assistant · servant · hired help · personal assistant · dogsbody · subordinate · footman · postilion · underling · at someone's beck and call · street urchin · valets · intern · tasks · batman
- underlingsunderling, underlings, subordinate, minions, minion
- Victorian childhoodstreet children, foundlings, urchins, waifs, destitute children
- easy targetssuckers, dupes, marks, patsies, rubes
errand boysmasterminds
Plans and directs schemes
principals · puppet masters · architects · orchestrators · decision-makers
errand boysspecialists
Focused field authorities
experts · professionals · skilled workers · consultants · brain trust
errand, boy, errands, boys, boyish, boyhood, boyishly, boyishness