"Robert M. Gary" wrote

I was flying back from Mexico several months ago and had just cleared
through San Diego. When I got handed off to Lemoore approach at about
20:30 it was pretty slow. I was in and out of IMC but wx was clearing.
So I asked them if they knew when Harris Ranch restuarant closed. The
controller came back about 5 minutes later, said he had checked with
the menu in the break room, confirmed they were open until 22:00 and
wanted to know if I would like to divert and if he could phone in a
reservation for a table for us!!!! My wife was 1/2 awake and the kids
were asleep in the back but eventually all agreed that steaks after a
week of Mexican food sounded good. He even prefiled an IFR for the rest
of our trip after dinner!!!

The other pilot here at work was flying in the Chicago area a couple years
ago. He was late and a little harried and was on the center frequency when
he asked if someone would mind calling his appointment to let them know he
was going to be late. The controller (who my friend thought was the unicom
operator) said something like "Er, ah, OK", took the info and made the call.
It was shortly afterwards that my friend realized who he made the request
with.

It was a busy time of day and so it was pretty neat that they accommodated
him - maybe the controller was just in shock that someone would request that
center do something like that!

BDS