this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2024
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Waffle House is a chain of restaurants mostly in the Southeast USA. They are almost always open 24/7. It is like a tiny sitting bar with stools and a dozen or so tables. The food is really cheap, the staff is nice, and everything is built around the griddle cook top where all the food is made on the spot. There is no alcohol. This is the goto place to eat if you are by yourself. There is also a strong (poverty) community culture of endearment towards those that work at a WH. Everyone knows the staff basically only get paid in tips. WH is often busiest in the middle of the night when nothing else is open, at least in places like Atlanta, Chattanooga, Huntsville, or Orlando.
I know that we Europeans love to shit on America, but this is something I am truly jealous of.
Due to the drinking culture here in the UK, diners aren't really a thing. Sometimes I would love to go out late at night and have a coffee or a cheap bite to eat while chatting to someone, but you're basically limited to restaurants or bars. You don't even really see coffee shops open past 6pm, which is a real shame.
I'm not British or anything, but I always thought that in the UK the local pub filled this function? A place to gather socially, eat, drink. I understand most people would go and drink beer there but do they not serve coffee? Tea, at least?
It does, if you want an alcoholic drink, or want to be around other people drinking. The vibe is very different between the two.
Yeah, Europe is superior to the US.
Europe is a huge continent, with many countries with entirely different rules/laws/customs, so it's near impossible to say that it's better or worse.
I can with a straight face claim that Europe is more united than the US is ans has been for a long time
That doesn't change the fact that they are entirely different countries with their own unique cultures, customs, and rules.
It has absolutely nothing to do with my point regarding diner culture, and speaks of ignorance on Europe.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=qEpXeTDwbk8
Idk about nice staff, lots of locations where those staff gotta at least look mean to control the drunk idiots.
Dennys ain't got shit on waffle house.
The staff is nice if you're nice. Most of them will be ready to throw down if you're an asshole though. Especially the cooks, if the cook exits out from behind the griddle, you have done fucked up big time.
They'll look mean, and your cook can at least handle a couple methheads(maybe more, depends on when they last stepped out back to take a bump), but if you're not there to cause problems, a lot of that demeanor can fall away.
Especially your owl crews. They gauge you upon entrance, you're either fucked to the gills to start shit, or you're that special kinda person who really just wanted some smothered, covered, and chunked hashbrowns at 1:45AM.
It cracks me up how true this is. I managed a theater for a while so on weekends after close (1a-ish) the managers on duty would go unwind at the nearby WH, got to know the staff there and they'd be vocally profiling people to us as groups were coming to the door. One time the cook made a dick shaped pancake for one in our group, but cut off the end and sprayed a bunch of ketchup all over the plate. They were good people, some of my favorite.
Poverty wages to an extent where it's become part of their brand identity doesn't really make me want to encourage them to be honest.
They are a contributing factor in the whole system of gratuity as pay. WH is an interesting niche in that, those that work there generally make decent money, like a good bit better than most fast food joints. It requires people skills, and a crisis management type of multitasking, but often there will only be the minimum required staff in the better run places. It is not too unusual to see a place with only 2-4 people working with a packed restaurant.
The gratuity culture is that you always must tip, but not excessively. However staying past your welcome/meal is not considered acceptable behavior, nor is showing up and not ordering. There are slower WH's in smaller towns where it is more acceptable to hang out when the place is not busy, but these are more like the exception. This is also a place that typically is associated with the idealized single working mom stereotype. You'll often find places where the employee shifts are flexible for these types of circumstances. There is often also some tangible drama to a WH, both from the staff and the customers. There are usually WH's within many residential communities or right on the outskirts. You'll often find the same people present as part of a regular routine. It usually does not involve dangerous culture or violence, but WH is a funny place to go find out and watch the drama of the local community if one is close to where you live.
When I lived in the suburbs of Atlanta, I knew everyone that worked at my local WH and could find out what was going on in the neighborhood based on the collective conversations that happened there. In a WH there is no real privacy or formality. It is one of the few places where striking up a conversation with anyone is acceptable if not expected. You can sit there and be quiet and answer tersely to indicate you just want to be left alone, but that is the exception.
This is part of the southern libertarian republicanism ideal of independent hard work to bootstrap success. This is an illusion that leads to decay and poverty, as time has shown, but is still a core part of southern culture. I'm not saying it is right or wrong. I live in California now. There are no Waffle Houses here because California does not participate in this poverty wage type of exception to ethical pay. Overall, there is no effective alternative to turn to for people on either side, customers or workers. Places like California do not have an equivalent establishment for ultra budget dining 24/7 either. I've lived in both areas long term. I don't know of a good solution.
Your analysis is spot on.
I worked as a cook at Wiffle Horse when I was a kid and had just left home. They put us up in a hotel once in preparation for an ice storm. I fucked a waitress that was much older than me, crazy party.
We recently moved out of the south. During the moving process I made sure the kid and I ate there enough to get tired of it.
Also, it being closed is significant because FEMA has an unofficial Waffle House Index that shows red only if it's closed, which generally means the store is underwater and/or destroyed.
It also holds a place of endearment in some alternative communities. The BDSM community for example often meets at Waffle House after events for a decompression meal. It’s 2am, they’re open and serving coffee, and nobody judges you there
Huntsville mentioned. Guys he's talking about me!!
Born in Huntsville Hospital... From one rocket town to the other. I can see Vandenberg launches from my roof.
I worked at the old wiffle horse at Jordan and University. There was a skid row motel behind it. Might have been the Scottish Inn. When they tore down the motel all the roaches moved into the restaurant. They tore it down and built the new one that's there now.
La Alameda used to be right there as well on University. They had coin op black and white TVs in the booths. Watched the Columbia disaster on one.
Waffle Houses are also where one goes to practice ones MMA skills against strangers at 2AM on a Tuesday.
I don't appreciate the tone of your voice.
He'll meet you at nearest Waffle House tuesday morning...