They just do it

By KATHERINE DYKSTRA

THE phone rang at 9 p.m. When he answered, Eddie, a concierge at 2 Gold St., heard a panicked tenant on the other end of the line.

"She said she dropped her engagement ring down the sink," Eddie says. "There was no handyman in sight, so I knew what I had to do. I had to get this ring for this lady." So with a coat hanger and more than a little dose of luck, Eddie rescued a $15,000 engagement ring from eternity in the New York City sewer system.

Though the bride-to-be was ecstatic, Eddie swears that he "was more excited than she was. I was so happy I could help."

Living in a building with a concierge is like having a personal assistant, a bodyguard and your mom all just a phone call away.

The concierge will plan your social life (theater tickets, flight reservations), keep out the riffraff (deflect your exes, intercept deliveries) and even help keep you in line (make wake-up calls, walk your dog when you’re away or when you just can’t bring yourself to trek downstairs).

"People call with requests from dinner reservations to where can they get all organic clothing to where can they find a purple limo, and we find the answers," says Julie Subotky, founder of "lifestyle management company" Consider It Done. Subotky runs the Personal Assistant Program at the Related Companies, whose rental buildings include the Sierra (130 W. 15th St.) and the Tate (535 W. 23rd St.), among others. (Other Related condo projects including the Time Warner Center and the forthcoming Astor Place have their own high-end concierge service.)

And Average Joe, take heart, this amenity is no longer just for the rolling-in-riches contingent. Lately, it seems that concierge service and more specifically, 24-hour concierge service, is as common to New York apartment living as having a nice bathroom.

Michael Fazio, co-founder with Abigail Newman of Abigail Michaels Concierge, whose clients include The Anthem (222 E. 34th St.) and 105 Central Park West, compares concierge service to "granite countertops a few years ago." It’s become expected.

At first blush, the idea of a round-the-clock concierge seems silly. Who’s really requesting jet service at 3 in the morning?

"Most of the time it’s pretty quiet," says a concierge who works in the East 60s. "We sit, we read. I look at the camera that monitors the back gate. If I find I’m getting woozy, I’ll have the deli bring me Red Bull."

But dig a little deeper and you’ll find they aren’t just playing poker online and guzzling coffee to stay awake. Quite a few requests,