‘We get requests you couldn’t imagine’: Chris O’Conner, hotel concierge, London

In case you're working 12-hour shifts, four evenings on and four evenings off, you have to care for your psyche and your body. When I touch base at Brown's Hotel to begin at 8pm it's the busiest time for me: visitors need tables that night at eateries that get reserved a long time ahead of time and to be on the rundown at London's most elite clubs. We give a 24-hour attendant service, and we get demands you couldn't envision. Our activity is to dependably say yes – as long as it's lawful – regardless of whether something appears to be unimaginable.

By 1am things will in general be somewhat calmer. At home before a move I'll make a feast and part it into equal parts. When the night surge blurs away I'll eat my first feast. I'll eat the other half before we get occupied once more, typically just before 5am. Diet is essential – I eat strongly, bunches of protein. I don't drink espresso, so it's nourishment that keeps me wakeful and centered as the night progressed.

After dull, it tends to be a test to give everything our visitors may wish for. Be that as it may, you construct a system of contacts in the city and in attendant groups over the world. Two or three weeks back an individual from a Middle Eastern regal family needed Krispy Kreme doughnuts at 5am – well before any shop was open. A few days ago we were entrusted with orchestrating a helicopter in a call that came in after 12 pm to get our visitors at 7am. At that point there was the time we were requested to carry a visitor's wildcat into the UK without isolating it from its proprietor. We were looked with its lawful necessity being kept in a "zoo situation" so we felt free to had one based on his private home.

There's no mystery trap to the activity. In case you're pleasant to individuals, to everybody you meet, everything turns out to be so significantly less demanding. My contact book is a manual, a manual for the city during the evening.

I experienced childhood with a committee home in Islington. The way of life here was something of a stun at first. In any case, serving in the armed force set me up well for the activity: never say no, present yourself impeccably, and elevated expectations even in testing conditions are an absolute necessity. To join the Golden Keys Society – a universal system of attendants – you actually need to serve your opportunity to acquire your stripes.

And afterward we complete at 8am – and it's surge hour in the capital. It's a significant decent inclination, getting into bed when everybody will work. You can tell who else has worked the night – everybody has their head down. You test looking for the most effortless way home. It's the quickest as well as the calmest – where will you get a seat? I'm continually tweaking the course. Anybody getting off the train with you toward the finish of the line has completed a night move too. There's a solidarity there among the gathering of zombies.