Like having your own concierge: company offers offbeat find it, do it, buy it services for individuals and firms.Things can get kinky kink·y adj. kink·i·er, kink·i·est 1. Tightly twisted or curled: kinky hair. 2. at LA Concierge. They can also get downright tedious, like looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a needle in a haystack For the epidode of the TV series House, see . A needle in a haystack is an English idiom that refers to an object (or a person) that is difficult to find because it is lost, mixed in, or buried within a much larger space, mass, crowd, or group of some other objects. . But that's the way it goes at the 4-year-old personal services personal services n. in contract law, the talents of a person which are unusual, special or unique and cannot be performed exactly the same by another. These can include the talents of an artist, an actor, a writer, or professional services. company, which is run by 32-year-old Cynthia Meister. "Oh, of course, sometimes I just feel like giving up - throwing my hands up and saying I can't do it. When that happens, I tell the client. Sometimes you just have to admit you can't do it. That it's just not out there," she said. "There's no use wasting your time or the client's money." Basically, LA Concierge is a find it, do it, buy it service for individuals or companies. Among the chores the company has been asked to perform are:tracking down a serving dish with an unusual "blue willow" pattern, matching q lost piece to a brass key ring, getting a road paved for a rich neighborhood in Malibu and flying a wedding cake to New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . Then there was the client who wanted a special kind of dental floss dental floss n. A waxed or unwaxed thread used to remove food particles and plaque from the teeth. delivered to her in New York. Shipping saline to Japan Last week, the company was working on getting a saline solution saline solution n. A solution of any salt, usually an isotonic sodium chloride solution. Also called salt solution. Saline solution A solution of sterile water and salt used in a variety of medical procedures. for contact lenses contact lenses contact npl → verres mpl de contact contact lenses contact npl → Kontaktlinsen pl contact lenses npl to a client who was traveling in Japan. Then there is the run-of-the-mill work of buying airline or concert tickets, getting laundry cleaned and going shopping for clients who hire the company for $25 an hour, plus expenses. Those expenses include car costs of 25 cents per mile. The kinky stuff comes into play because the company, which operates out of Meister's Westwood apartment, is listed under the "personal services" heading of the telephone yellow pages. Alongside LA Concierge's ad are listings for escort services. Meister said her listing in the yellow pages is one of her company's major problems. "I've tried to get a listing under concierge services or something else, but the telephone company wouldn't do it," she said. Wary of illegal activity The listing has resulted in some unusual requests, like late-night calls from around the country from lonely hearts lonely hearts Adjective of or for people seeking a congenial companion or marriage partner: lonely hearts ads lonely hearts adj lonely hearts ad → . Once, a couple wanted to hire the company, but Meister turned them down after getting some "strange feelings. If it seems weird or if it doesn't feel right I'm not going to get into it," she said. Meister added that she worries about the possibility of people wanting to hire her to deliver drugs or do some other kind of illegal activity. LA Concierge has not had an easy time of it since Meister started the company just as the recession was setting in across Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, . The company has two employees other than Meister, plus a stable of part-timer workers who are called upon for special projects. "The personnel part of the business is difficult because the amount of work can be uneven. We can be very busy for one or two days and then have nothing," she explained. Meister said she has started keeping part-time help on call for certain hours, but that has been difficult as well because most part-timers do not want to work on an on-call basis. "It would just be better if the work is more steady, more consistent," she said. Last year, the company had revenues of about $70,000 and this year that figure will probably grow to about $90,000, she said. Is the company turning a profit? Plowing profits back "Profit is an interesting word," Meister said. "Are we making money? Yes, I guess we are. But whatever money we make just goes back into the company, like for the computers I just bought." Meister grew up in Santa Fe Santa Fe, city, Argentina Santa Fe, city (1991 pop. 341,000), capital of Santa Fe prov., NE Argentina, a river port near the Paraná, with which it is connected by canal. , N.M., and is the daughter of a charter airline pilot who flies professional sports The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. teams around. She was educated as an interior designer and worked in that field for a few years before being laid off from a design firm and then starting LA Concierge. "It was just before Christmas when I got laid off, arid I just started calling people asking them if they needed things done, like shopping or wrapping presents," she recalled. At the same time, Meister took on a waitressing job at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Marina del Rey. From working at the deluxe hotel, Meister learned about concierge services. She put her hotel and gift-wrapping experiences together and thus was born LA Concierge. Referrals are key The company, which also advertises in Los Angeles magazine, depends on referrals for a lot of its business, said Meister. And it markets itself as a time saver for busy people. The company's brochure reads, in part: "In today's global economy it is sometimes necessary to be in two places at once; to travel without putting our lives on hold. ... We can copy and collate col·late tr.v. col·lat·ed, col·lat·ing, col·lates 1. To examine and compare carefully in order to note points of disagreement. 2. To assemble in proper numerical or logical sequence. 3. your presentations ... pick up your dry cleaning ... act as your liaison for classified advertisements ... supervise home improvements and have your appointments scheduled." Despite the frustrations of operating LA Concierge, Meister said she has no regrets about starting the company and vows that she is in business to stay. "My parents raised me to be independent and not to depend on anyone," she said. |
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