Our book:
Defensive Design for the Web: How To Improve Error Messages, Help, Forms, and Other Crisis Points
Available Now ($16.99)
Most Popular (last 15 days)
Looking for old posts?
37signals Mailing List
37signals Services
Syndicate
We Can Seat You Now
13 Apr 2004 by Matthew Linderman
There’s a classic scene in Curb Your Enthusiasm where Larry tries to bribe a Maitre ‘d for a table but accidently hands over his wife’s prescription instead of the $20 bill he intended to give. If you’re looking to do a smoother job then check out this Gourmet magazine article where Bruce Feiler finds out if it’s possible to walk in and get a table at top NYC restaurants with a green handshake. [via Kottke]
Two minutes pass two minutes! and the woman approaches. “We can seat you now,” she says, and leads us to a corner booth. “This is one of our best tables,” she adds. Suddenly I’m Frank Sinatra. I’m King of the Strip. I exude aftershave and savoir faire. Call it the fedora effect. My girlfriend looks at me in a way she hasn’t since I surprised her by uncharacteristically demolishing a friend on the tennis court…
…Increasingly, I was struck by how much impact the experience was having on me. Surmounting this challenge night after night was actually giving me a certain self-assurance, a feeling of having grown up. Some might find this disillusioning: “You mean life is not first-come, first-served?” I found I had a different reaction: “You mean all it takes to crack one of New York’s most daunting thresholds is fifty bucks?” Even if I chose not to do it on a regular basis, just knowing how doable it is brought the whole puffery of New York restaurants into perspective. Bribing, it turns out, has as much effect on the briber as it does on the bribee…
…This was a new benchmark: I had bluffed my way in. Just by being prepared to bribe, I had achieved my goal. Was there some change in my appearance? Was I swaggering a bit or walking a little taller? Perhaps. A couple of days later, I bluffed my way into Aureole…
…And I had done it by following a set of rules so old-fashioned that my grandmother could have written them: Dress properly, act dignified, be polite, smile. And spend a little extra for good service it will pay you back in droves.
5 comments so far (Post a Comment)
13 Apr 2004 | wow! said...
There is a google ad at the end of your post! I once got a table for 12 at a very, very crowded strip club by slipping the gorilla-sized bouncer a twenty spot.
13 Apr 2004 | JF said...
We're trying out Google Ads for a bit (we tried once before, but we couldn't change the look back then). Ads will appear between the end of the post and the comment section. They won't appear on the main SvN page.
13 Apr 2004 | Benjy said...
I saw this article last week when Jason Kottke linked to it, and thought it was amazing. I'm really hoping these tricks work in Chicago, too! Wonder what one would have to slip the Maitre d to get a table at Charlie Trotter's. Betting it's more than $20...
13 Apr 2004 | JFR said...
It certainly works in ChickyG (Chicago). For years, I've had no qualms about doing this. Why wait? And after a few visits to the same restaurant, this practice is no longer necessary, as you become "known" to the host/hostess and are perceived to be a good customer.
13 Apr 2004 | tipper said...
I am most intrigued (and tickled). I will try this in my local San Francisco restaurants!
My gosh, I wonder if the maitre'd's got canned from the restaurants he mentioned.
