Is Sam exclusively Frodo's gardener, or his general servant?

Question

Sam felt that he could sit like that in endless happiness; but it was not allowed. It was not enough for him to find his master, he had still to try and save him. He kissed Frodo’s forehead. ‘Come! Wake up, Mr. Frodo!’ he said, trying to sound as cheerful as he had when he drew back the curtains at Bag End on a summer’s morning.

This heavily suggests that Sam commonly "drew back the curtains" in Frodo's room back home, to wake him up, in the manner that one would assume that a butler/servant would for a rich person who has them hired to do all sorts of tasks to help them in general.

It does not sound like a pure gardener who is just keeping Frodo's garden trimmed.

This seems to conflict with what I thought I knew about Sam, and even with posts I've read here in the past.

What actually is Sam's relation to Frodo?

Answer 1

The early chapters of LoTR have a fairly strange depiction of Frodo's life in Bag End, which clearly dates from their origin as a sequel to The Hobbit rather than the much more serious work that it later developed into.

The initial chapter of The Hobbit, "An Unexpected Party", notably has Bilbo running around ragged trying to fetch food and drinks for all the dwarves that turn up; no sign of any servants at all. And similarly "A Long-Expected Party" in LoTR makes no mention of any servants in Bag End, just that the Gaffer looked after the garden and Sam was starting to take over.

But already by chapter 3, as part of Frodo's purported move to Buckland he is to be accompanied by Sam who will "do for Mr Frodo and look after his bit of garden". If Frodo in a small cottage in Buckland needs someone to "do for" him, why did he not in the much bigger Bag End?

And in the final chapter, The Grey Havens, Frodo encourages Sam and Rosie to move in with him, where they are basically the housekeepers, and it is noted that "there was not a hobbit in the Shire that was looked after with such care". Again, there is no reference to why Frodo needed "looking after" at that point and not before.

So, there isn't really any answer to your question from the book itself; it's just an inconsistency.