#11 - at your service

A new game show called Maid, Tailor, Chef? has taken the UK by storm. It is a combination trivia/relay race contest between four contestants, each episode culminating in the winning contestant choosing between the services of a maid, tailor, or chef. Due to its success, one of the US networks is planning on launching an American version this upcoming fall.

This is where you come in. You have been selected to participate in a focus group for the US creation of the game show, the prize packages in particular. The network is curious to see whether or not there are any cultural differences in the perceived worth of the three prize categories. Your participation in this marketing exercise was predicated by your never having seen the original British show and having no awareness of the specifics of the existing prizes.

Here is how the winning contestant's choice will be defined:

The maid, if chosen, would clean your living space twice a month for a year, leaving it spotless, and would also provide guidance on how to better organize your rooms. The maid would give this advice and help with its implementation, but only if asked.

The tailor would design and create clothing especially for you. In the course of the year, you would be able to request up to "X" tops (shirts, sweaters, jackets, etc) and "Y" bottoms (pants, skirts, etc) for the tailor to make. You would only be responsible for paying for the material. The tailor would also dispense advice and would work with you on the garment design, but would not do anything without your approval.

The chef would cook and prepare your meals, "Z" meals a week for the next year. Dinner parties would be fair game, though under the "chef" option you would be responsible for the cost of any ingredients. As with the other choices, the chef could function autonomously, but would follow your suggestions (if provided) and would confer with you before finalizing any menus. You would also be allowed to participate in as little or as much meal preparation as you desired, with the chef noting helpful cooking tips.

It should be noted that the tailors and chefs that will represent the network are very skilled and would be able to work within a wide range of budgets. These individuals will not live at one's residence, but their contact information will be provided for the purposes of scheduling.

You task is to define the variables X, Y, and Z such that you would be equally likely to choose any one of the three options. So for example, if you are predisposed towards choosing to have a chef, your value for Z would be low because the chef would only have to prepare a small amount of meals for that selection to viably compete (in your eyes) with the maid's bimonthly cleanings.

The network's feedback sheet includes blanks for you to fill in X, Y, and Z, and ample space for comments. How do you answer?