Vearlene Gist

VEARLENE GIST | 54 | BRONZEVILLE ROOM SERVICE ORDER-TAKER, RITZ CARLTON

In 30 years, I have provided this hotel and our guests with over a million orders. One million, two hundred.

I have seen a lot of people that I have seen on television. Some use alias names, but I can look on the sheet and know exactly who they are. It's kind of cute because they don't realize you really know who they are. You go along with it.

You'd be amazed. You get the guests that really admire their pets. One wanted caviar, and she wanted my waiter to actually hand-feed it to the feline when we were upstairs. Beluga. Nothing but the best. $95 an ounce. On a china plate. It was gorgeous. The cat loved it.

The waiter was kind of shocked. When we first told him, he thought it was a joke -- until he actually got up there and saw the little cat was actually waiting on him. Diamond bracelet on her neck.

We've got chopped burgers for the dogs. Evian water, we serve our pets. Chicken breast. We have a whole [pet] food menu, not so much from the can. Hand-prepared by my chef. I'm not kidding. Most of the time it's filet mignon, liver pate.

For me, personally? It would be the Dom champagne, of course. Fresh strawberries with whipped cream. That's after I've eaten that steak, that baked potato and a salad. And I'll be all good.

One point we had to order three cases of water for a famous person because she only bathes in Evian. We had to pour it in the tub, while she was there, to make sure it was Evian. They filled the whole bath up. I can't give out names. It was a famous musician. Pellegrino would have given her more bubbles.

Another guest, he wanted a ton of whipped cream. What do you think he wanted that for? We won't ask, but we provided. Two large buckets. They came down empty.

The average cost for breakfast will run you anywhere from $32 on up. That's for juice, coffee, fruits and pastries. If you go for meats, $60.

The visiting NBA teams stay here. They try to eat like normal people -- and some not like normal people. But Vearl is here, so I make sure they stay normal. . .. They'll go, ''I need this.'' And I say, ''Do you think you really want that? You've got a game."

The waiters get 18 percent of the bill.

I have stayed once upstairs. I called downstairs. I got my service. My waiter came. Fantastic. We didn't let them know it was me. When they came up, they said, ''You!?''