Frank Bruni tries to change a restaurant reservation from 8 to 8:30:
I remember vividly a conversation with a certain trendy meatpacking district place during which I tried to change an 8 p.m. reservation to 8:30. The voice on the phone said this was simply impossible.
However, the voice said, my reservation could be moved back to 8:15.
And a notation could be made that I’d be arriving 15 minutes late.