Uptown girl

Royal York hotel

100 Front Street West, Toronto, Canada

Tel: 001 416 368 2511

Owner: Canadian Pacific

Number of rooms: 1,384

Room rates: Cdn$149 to Cdn$1,950 (£59.71 to £781.40)

Restaurants: 11

Employees: 1,100

I wake up at 5am and the first thing I do is look at the weather channel. This morning it was minus 4ºC, but it can get much colder. Some mornings on TV, they tell you not to go out. But I just wrap up warm and go to work. I live in what we call uptown Toronto, it's about 15 minutes on the subway to the hotel.

We open the breakfast room at 6.30am, but I like to be here half-an-hour early so that I am totally set up. I always say hello to the chefs when I come in - they treat you a lot better if you're nice to them in the morning.

During a weekend, we serve anything between 400 and 500 people. A lot of business meetings go on, because we are in the central business area here. When I work weekends, I spend more time talking about the city than serving.

If I'm really busy, I'll walk around to every table, give everyone a map and say: "OK, everyone - listen. This is where we are now," and I'll hold a little meeting.

When I travel, I also like to get the information from a local, rather than by reading a tourist book.

I am taking a course at the hotel, called Service Plus 2000. It takes five days and they teach you that you can do anything for a guest as long as it's not a health and safety issue. By 2000, everyone in the company will have gone through the programme.

We also get trained on a wide variety of food issues, such as allergies. I sometimes work in the bar, so I had to learn about over-serving alcohol. If you give people too much and they have an accident, they can sue you.

At 11am we switch over to lunch, which is a big rush. We get half-an-hour's break, but often I decline to take it and work straight through, because if I eat, I want to take a nap.

I'm considered what we call a "closer". Between 2.30 and 3.00pm I take over all the tables so everyone can leave work on time.

Customers are fine when you are busy, as long as you keep speaking to them and telling them you will be with them in a minute. If you've got a sense of humour, you'll get away with just about anything.

If a customer is really horrible, I try to find out what's wrong. I like to think I can turn them around by the time they leave. If people have a problem, they generally want to talk. If it's an issue with the room, I'll find out for them if they can switch rooms.

I've been with Canadian Pacific hotels for nine years. I had a management role for three-and-a-half years, but I like the guest interaction more. People consider this a less senior job, but it makes me happy.

I do an eight-hour shift in the restaurant, finishing at 3pm. When I leave here, I go to my other job. I do computer work for the government and, in total, usually do an 80-hour week. Both jobs are flexible. Sometimes I'll work until 1am and live on about four hours' sleep.

I work so hard because the cost of living is high in Canada, plus I love to travel as much as possible. I have recently been to England, Amsterdam and Ireland.

My mother consistently tells me that I should quit my job because I'm killing myself, but, right now, I'm having too much fun. n Brist