Book the slot the night before. Nine, not half eight, not whenever.
Headphones in on the pavement outside, not at the rack.
Learn which of the two entrances the smokers use, and take the other one.

None of that is training advice.
All of it is how to arrive without having to say anything,
and it works, which is where the trouble starts and not where it ends.

The Book of the Ghost — Arrival 35:2