In this line of work, all requests are a bit rich

The Life: Ever wondered what the super rich order from a concierge service? Pascale Aoun, operations manager at Quintessentially, a global company with an office in Abu Dhabi, reveals all.

Pascale Aoun keeps the super rich on track.

Ever wondered how the other half lives? Pascale Aoun, the operations manager at Quintessentially, a global concierge service with an office in Abu Dhabi, reveals the demands of the super rich during a typical working day.

7am

I get up and I'm quickly on the move because I live in Dubai.

9am

I check my emails to make sure that nothing is really urgent. If anybody has a request outside of working hours it will be sent to our inbox, which is managed 24/7. If it is urgent they proceed, if not they will assign it back to us. It can be a typical concierge request … for instance, a member once called a couple of hours prior to his arrival to the UAE and he had run out of business cards. He wanted them printed and ready waiting for him at the hotel. (We managed but) it was a stress.

9.30am

I reply to all the reports that I've been asked to do for our headquarter office. I just handle the elite (requests) which are usually more complicated. We have several levels of membership. In Quintessentially, the membership starts at Dh6,500 (US$1,770) a year and reaches Dh170,000 a year. You can meet people that during normal life you can never imagine that you would meet. Madonna is a member in Quintessentially, Prince Charles is a member in Quintessentially. I deal with our celebrities. You get to know about almost everything. If I wasn't in Quintessentially I wouldn't know how to import a dog. In London, a member called and asked how many words there were in the dictionary.

1.50pm

After lunch, we start receiving requests again. The most difficult request I have received was from an elite member. He is a very, very respectful gentleman, who was travelling to 12 different destinations with 10 friends and he had lots of luggage with him. Because he was travelling to most of the destinations by private jet the weight is really restricted and he had many suitcases, so what we did was send the suitcases to each destination separately (by courier), and this is difficult because you need a commercial invoice with what he has in each suitcase. Every destination had its own clothes. It was just a logistical kind of job.

Mid-afternoon

More requests. Usually we deal with members in Abu Dhabi. They're good spenders, but they spend on something valuable. The craziest request was from a member who travelled to London and he wanted his dog imported from Tokyo. Before proceeding we sent the member a list with a breakdown of the cost. He saw a container and was angry. He called the Japan office and said my dog will not stay in a container in the cargo. The alternative was to book the dog on a private jet (which is what he did).

5pm

I leave work if it is not peak season.

6.15pm

I take half an hour rest, because I need it. I swim three times a week. Sometimes I go out with my friends, but sometimes I just stay at home and cook.

* Gillian Duncan