How to Get a Table in a Busy Restaurant
Today is Saturday night and you and your friends want to go to the most popular restaurant in the area. Here’s a little trick that can make this possible.
This tiny hacker from Redditor u / ashen808 on r / LifeProTips depends on a few things: you have punctual friends, and you are going somewhere that is not flooded from morning to night:
If you are heading to a busy cafe or restaurant where you do not need to reserve a table, arrange to meet with friends not at a specific time, but at 10 minutes (9:50 or 18:50). You will outrun everyone who made an appointment at one o’clock and sit down much earlier.
This is confirmed by u / 5x6Tomatoes , who claims to be the owner of the restaurant:
I can confirm. I have a very busy restaurant in Las Vegas. I recommend my VIP guests to dine 10-15 minutes before an hour or half an hour. Not only do you get your kitchen meal voucher before the hustle and bustle, but you also get the best table.
The responses to this advice mostly consist of people wondering how everyone can be made to arrive on time, plus complaints about pathologically late arrivals. But for people who are good at showing up, when they say they will do it, this is a great trick and can be applied to any number of activities where people tend to focus on the exact passage of the hour as a time marker. In fact, u / kgiann used it to clean up:
I applied the same logic to college showering. In my hostel there were 5 showers for several dozen people. I would set my alarm to 5:50 instead of 6:00, and in 2 years I have never had to queue for a shower. On weekdays, when I finished my shower, there was almost always a line.
And in our park room it was used for lunch:
Also, if you’re on your way to lunch from work, leave your office at 11:50 am. Somewhere from 12 to 14 seats will be filled / there will be queues. But these people begin to leave their offices at 12 o’clock sharp, not earlier.
Placing your plans on the most common time frames for these types of plans is a great way to avoid rushing.