Who’d have thought it: but hunger can make you do some really crazy things.

 Since when did going out for dinner become a marathon event? Last week, my parents set up a get-together with some family friends. I called the restaurant to make a reservation, only to be told they “didn’t take bookings”.

 This modern day peculiarity of the restaurant industry confuses me. In a world where we’re usually rewarded for planning ahead and displaying amazing organisational skills, it seems strange such forward-thinking is not appreciated when it comes to eating out.

 Even though our food plans were now in a state of change, our friends convinced us to meet them at the restaurant at 6pm – surely we’d get a table that early. But arriving at 5.45pm (a time I believed no one other than my grandparents ate at); we were shocked to see the restaurant already packed out.

 I was ready to turn on my heels and head to the nearest pizza joint, but convinced by our friends to join the queue, I begrudgingly stayed. Standing in the foyer, clock-watching, with hunger pangs shooting through my stomach like a pinball, I felt like a groupie waiting to catch a glimpse of One Direction. But at least the boy band greet their fans with beaming smiles; the waiters walking by were stony-faced and snotty, the contempt in their eyes confirming how humiliating it was that instead of lining up to meet international pop stars, we were lining up for a plate of pasta.

 As the clock ticked past 7pm, and I started to feel faint with hunger, our friends argued that the time we’d already committed would be for nothing if we gave up now. Had we been huddled in a trench during wartime, this argument might have been appropriate, but the fact we’d resorted to motivational speeches while waiting for dinner only highlighted the silliness of this “no bookings” situation.

 I can see why restaurants do it – a queue that stretches two blocks is wonderful advertising and it signifies the food is great. But as much as I’m a foodie, I have to wonder, can any dish really be worth an hour-long wait? To me, the answer is no, especially since some of my favourite meals are served within a few minutes, just by driving up to a window.

 Call me old-fashioned, but I like to eat when I’m hungry. So if I turn up for a meal, but haven’t even seen the menu two hours later, my stomach becomes uncooperative. But hunger does drive you to do crazy things…such as believing them when they say it’s only a 20-minute wait. It never is. If I’d known up-front it would be an hour, I’d have been at home curled up on the couch eating reheated pasta by the time they called my name.

 After 90 minutes – as our friends and I were almost coming to blows over how much longer to wait – we were finally called to our table. I say ‘our’ table, so you can imagine the look on my face when the waiter ushered us to a table that already seated four people. Not only was there a ‘no bookings’ establishment, it was one of those ‘cram-as-many-people-on-a-communal-table-as-you-can’ places.

 Starving, with sore feet from standing for so long and now unable to have a private conversation with our friends, I found myself in an emotional state I’d NEVER experienced before – too angry to eat.