Henchmen and Hirelings

 Once again, due to a post in an online forum,  I want to go a little more into a topic which interests me.

This time, the discussion is on "What is the difference between a Henchman and a Hireling?"

I look at it this way. A henchman is someone I would put on my personal payroll. He's one of my "posse". There is more than just money there, there is some degree of "I got your back, you got my back" loyalty there.

A hireling is someone I hire a service out to. Like the guy who details my car. He's just a guy I pay to do a job, that's it. I may hire him on a regular basis, but there's not the same relationship as one of my "Henchmen" has with me.

I might hire a tailor to make a fitted suit for me, he is just a hireling, regardless of his skill or ability level, he'sJust a guy I pay to get something.

I wouldn't have one of my "boys" to make a suit for me. I might ask one of my boys to hang out while the tailor is working and make sure he doesn't try to cheat me with lower quality stuff once my back is turned.

Even someone I might have on my personal payroll to do specific tasks for me, like a cleaning lady.  She's not one of the people in that trusted "inner circle", she just cleans the place.  I might give her an extra tip or a gift at Christmas, but that's as far as it goes.

One of my "boys" on the other hand,  I might not even be paying him directly at all.  I might just be letting him take a cut of the profits for doing something for me.

Say I loaned some guy a thousand dollars and the fella is late and avoiding me.   I might ask one of my "boys" to go take care of the situation for me and in return, he can keep the "interest" that I charged the guy, so long as I get my money back.  That is a henchman.   I wouldn't ask a hireling to do that for me.

I might hire a courier to deliver a letter to the guys house telling me he better pay me or else.  That's just a hireling, perform a specific task, service or provide a product for me.

I find it very interesting to see some of the notions that have been discussed in the thread which seem to, in my opinion, make much more confusion of the two than needs to be.

Would  iever consider making a hireling one of my henchmen?  it's possible.

Say the guy who details my car has been doing a good job at it for awhile, he's friendly and over time, I find I can trust him.  There is potential to maybe let him be one of the "boys" and maybe let him hang around or even put him on my personal payroll as a driver and maintenance guy for all my cars.  It builds up the relationship from there.

This is where Henchmen and loyalty checks are so important where there is no loyalty check really for a hireling.  The Hireling is just there for the cash.  The Henchman, because there is more of a trust thing there, might take more guff from you if you have a bad day or something whereas the Hireling would just take a walk.

But if you get to treating the Henchman like crap, being a punk to him, being demanding and pushing him to do stuff he doesn't really want to do.   Then the loyalty check comes in.  A Henchman will put up with some crap from you.  Mostly it depends on how you've been to him.  Treat him like a punk, he will walk quicker.  Treat him like a "goodfella"  and he'll stick with you even on your bad days.