Having worked in a coffee shop, as all writers must do at some point in their lives or so I have been led to believe, I know that customer service isn’t always as straightforward as it seems. Customers can have some odd and unexpected requests some days.
But really, it’s not all that hard. You pour the coffee, you pour the waffle batter in the waffle iron, you try not to burn yourself, and you serve it when it’s done. Nothing to it. Anybody can do it. But they really shouldn’t have to.
Now, Waffle house is in the news pretty darn often as a favored location for late night shenanigans.
And who can blame them? Waffles + wildin’ just feels so right. Plus, we all know you’ve gotta carb up before any major shenanigan-having —whether you’re the customer or the employee.
Sometimes heroes are born in this sacred American restaurant — like James Shaw Jr, who tackled a gunman and saved lives.
Shaw acted bravely after deciding to get waffles following a Frat party a few miles away. He was grazed by a bullet, but made it out alive.
Others are up to no good, like the employees who dumped food and drinks on a passed out patron while he sobered up in their restaurant.
Now that’s just outright humiliating , and done in poor taste.
But this time, we’ve got an entirely new subsection of Waffle House tomfoolery.
When hungry, hammered, and handy meet up, we end up with stories like this, and it’s sort of amazing — at least for this guy it is.
Alex Bowen really put the “customer” in “customer service” one night when he was hungry.
He couldn’t sleep and had maybe had an extra drink or two that night, and he decided to get his feed on somewhere —anywhere. What’s the perfect spot to fill the gap in the middle of the night?
For some of us, it’s that late-night McDon’s that really hits the spot.
For others, we scour the empty midnight streets for any pizza place willing to sling us a slice of that good-good.
But Alex walked into this local Waffle House, and up to the counter, and waited.
And waited. And waited. Not for a lineup, mind you, but for a cashier. Or a cook. Or a busboy.
Really, anyone in a Waffle House uniform who might be able to take his order.
A full ten minutes went by like that before Alex decided to take a walk around.
He didn’t see anyone outside or inside, not even another diner let alone a waffle slinger, one of whom happened to be napping in a corner booth.
So, he did what all heroes do and took matters into his own hands.
What do you do when you seem to have a Waffle House all to yourself? If you’re Alex Bowen, you get cooking.
Alex walked right into the kitchen and went to work for himself.
“Got hot on the grill with a double Texas bacon cheesesteak melt with extra pickles.”
“When I was done I cleaned the grill, collected my ill-gotten sandwich and rolled on out.” Bowen said to WISTV .
And, of course, he took some pics of his late night Waffle House adventure.
He posted them all to Facebook, including the napping employee after he found the poor exhausted fellow. It was a bold move, but something that Alex admits he wouldn’t do often.
“I give all the credit to my good friend vodka,” he said. “I wouldn’t normally have done that.”
“I give all the credit to my good friend vodka,” he said. “I wouldn’t normally have done that.”
That’s an excuse we’ve all heard before — hell, it’s even a meme! To be fair though, liquor logic does NOT align with sober logic.
He admits that he didn’t leave any cash behind for his sandwich, but he did go back to the Waffle House a few days later.
He slipped one of the employees $5 for the trouble, but apparently the store’s managers were pretty displeased with Alex. “I guess old Waffle House gonna have to take an L on that one,” he said.
A Waffle House spokesperson later said that the employee who was slumbering on the job got suspended for a week over the incident.
And they said that they were trying to learn from Alex’s adventure in making his own food, and weren’t as unhappy with him as the store made it sound.
Though suspending that employee doesn’t really seem fair.
Considering the sound logic in this tweet, it makes sense to have two on duty — what if something happens, or there’s an emergency? For example, what if — and stay with me here — a customer shows up?!
“Our local Division Manager has spoken to Alex and apologized,” a statement read.
“For safety reasons, our customers should never have to go behind the counter. Rather they should get a quality experience delivered by friendly associates. We are reviewing this incident and will take appropriate disciplinary action.”
At the end of the day, Alex got his waffles, his 15 minutes of fame, and an apology from Waffle house.
Now he has a fun story to tell people at a later date, when he’s inebriated at a party, or grabbing breakfast with some friends…at Waffle House.
h/t WISTV
