Manusje-van-alles

factotum, dogsbody, odd-job person, jack of all trades, mr/ms fixit
[noun]
[het ma-nus-je-van-al-les, de ma-nus-jes-van-al-les] 

A ‘manusje-van-alles’ is somebody who can do different jobs. It is often used derogatory for somebody who is basically almost ‘misused’ to do all kinds of stuff, but it can also be a positive statement saying that somebody is a jack of all trades. Somebody who’s good at the odd jobs around the house, DIY or home improvement is sometimes also called a ‘manusje-van-alles’.

Manus is a somewhat old-fashioned name in the Netherlands exclusively used for men, however ‘manusje-van-alles’ (little manus of everything) can be used for both males and females. It is an example of a ‘samenkoppeling’ (compound word) that has become a common expression with a meaning of its own. In Dutch, such cases are hyphenated.

Examples:
“Wat doe jij eigenlijk voor werk, je werkt toch op een kantoor?” – “Ja, dat klopt. Ik ben een beetje een ‘manusje-van-alles’; ik doe receptiewerk, vergadernotulen, ik organiseer bijeenkomsten en één dag per week zit ik bij PZ.” 
(“So what kind of work is it that you do, don’t you work in an office?” – “Yes that’s true. I’m a bit of the office factotum; I work at the reception desk, I take meeting notes, I organize meetings/assemblies and one day a week I do HR work.” Lit.: “… and one day a week I sit with HR”. Note the abbreviation ‘PZ’: personeelszaken (‘personnel matters’). You also often hear ‘HR’ these days (pronounced in English).)

“Hé, ik hoorde dat jullie hier hulp nodig hebben, wat kan ik doen?” – “Te gek! Even denken… Zou je het erg vinden om het manusje-van-alles te zijn? We hebben eigenlijk overal een beetje hulp nodig: schuren, schilderen, gaten in de muren vullen…” 
(“Hey, I heard you guys need some help over here, is there something I can do?” – “Cool! Let me think… Would you mind being the odd-job person? We kind of need a bit of help everywhere: sanding, painting, fill gaps/holes in the walls…”)

“Ik vind dat Frank iets meer is dan het ‘manusje-van-alles op kantoor’; hij heeft echt veel talenten! Hij is in feite een duizendpoot!” 
(“I think Frank is a bit more than just the ‘office dogsbody’; he is a man of many talents! As a matter of fact, he is a jack of all trades!” The Dutch word for centipede is ‘duizendpoot’ which literally means ‘thousand leg’.)

Related words:
– Duizendpoot: centipede, jack of all trades [noun] [de duizendpoot, de duizendpoten].
– Handige harrie: Mr. Fixit, somebody who’s good at home improvement [noun] [de handige harrie, de handige harries]. Although ‘Harrie’ is a name, we are no longer talking about a guy named ‘Harrie’ but a type of guy, which is why we don’t capitalize ‘harrie’.
– Persoonlijke assistent: personal assistant [noun] [de assistent, de assistenten].