That hour before the first guest stirs

There's a specific holiness to the 5am lobby — the coffee urn hasn't started its gurgle, the floor wax is still cool, and the city outside is doing its first real breath without an audience. I've been at this long enough to know nobody's going to walk in and ask for something impossible before 6:30, so I just sit there, holding the quiet like a half-empty cup. It's the only time my job feels like a secret.