I got caught up in the SF Chronicle piece this morning about how the games played around making a reservation at SF restaurants.  I never gave much thought to the dance between patrons and restaurant managers in reservation-making.  Basically what happens is that a lot of people want to eat at the same time (Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm) and basically every restaurant patron wants to feel special (i.e., he hould be able to eat whenever he wants to and stay as long as he wants!). 

However 8pm is not a good time for restauranteurs since it is right in the middle of the evening rush, which means that one might only get one party through at the table.  Better to get one set of patrons to come in earlier and another to come in a bit later. 

I was especially surprised by the strategies taken by restaurants to coax patrons into taking reservations that 15 minutes earlier or later than originally requested.  In the future, I'll appreciate how I'm being sweet-talked into something that is in the restaurant's interest, while at the same time agreeing to their offers because, hey, it's helping the restaurant out without putting that much of an inconvenience on myself.