You are in the middle of a meeting in your office when suddenly you wonder if you have not turned off the tap in your bathroom as you rushed out of your home this morning.

Oh dear, what if you haven't, and the room is now flooding? The precious parquet floor will be ruined.

But no problem, you excuse yourself and call your personal concierge who, for $80, will check on your tap and, if the room is flooded, clean it up. Thank goodness there is such a service.

As someone who works 12-hour days, and is on call any time of the day on the Blackberry, whatever free time you have is precious.

You don't need the hassle of attending to mundane chores like going to the post office or sending your Beemer for servicing. You just call your concierge. His rates are reasonable: between $80 and $120 an hour.

You read in The Straits Times last Tuesday that there is a boom in errand-running services like your concierge's. People use them to buy birthday gifts, clean pond filters and even look in on their neglected grannies.

You are not surprised. There are many out there like you, members of the new executive class created by the knowledge economy, whose lives are defined by their work, but who can go about it full-tilt only because there is a whole array of support services. Besides your concierge, you also have a part-time maid who comes twice a week to clean your studio apartment and do your laundry.

And then there is the pampering service. High-tech, high-touch, they say, and how true. You need your weekly rub-down at the spa where the masseur expertly smoothens out the week's kinks in your body. Ah, it feels good. And at the gym where you go twice a week, you've got a personal trainer. He makes sure you sweat, yet provides the comforting personal touch. You are grateful for all these personal service providers because then nothing comes between you and your all-consuming work.