h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I would just like to share a Waffle House testimonial. My family which consisted of my late husband , daughter and myself have been frequent customers of the waffle house in Arkansas for years my daughter is a present employee(working since 1999) and my husband was a frequent customer for 8 years and started working parttime in the last 2 years of his life this was besides being a fulltime Methodist minister and pastoring a church at the time of his death.

My husband got up one morning at around 2:O0 A.M. He had planned a trip to go hunting with a friend at 4:00A.M. As usual he made his trek to the Waffle House for coffee. As a school teacher I was long sleep because I knew of the busy day ahead. Well I got a call around 2:00 A.M. that my husband had gotten sick at the restauraunt and was on the way to the hospital. To make a long story short the store manager drove 110 miles per hour to get me to the hospital and the district manager pam was waiting on me when I got there. After what seemed like hours of waiting I was called back and told that My husband had a massive heart attack and did not make it. Needless to say I was devestated. Here I was 40 years old with a daughter just entering college and to be told something like that. I was at a lost because I did not have any family within 700 miles of me . It was the Waffle house mamnagers and employees who stood by me through my storm. they were there during the funeral arrangements, walked in in uniform during the funeral services and have helped me since especially the deistrict manager Pam. The store even put a plaque at the booth that my husband sit at .I than God for them becuase it is through them I keep my strengh.

What a great story!

Thanks for sharing that with us! Values like that are so often overlooked in this corporate world we live in - what a wonderful tale.

- Jimi X

Your story points out one of the main, recurring themes I have seen over the past 12 years of "Waffling." The company strives for a family-oriented restraunt, but they also profess to have a family-like business structure. As they are only human, some of the management staff are more concerned with their personal profit and well-being than with those who work with and for them. Most of the time, however, you will find those like Pam who are truly devoted to those people around them. I had the good fortune to work for several upper managers that fit that bill. They would go out of their way to help me and others who needed it, often losing hours of precious sleep (a "true" division manager or higher may average around 3 hours of sleep a night). When a loyal employee runs into problems, the company is usually very quick to gather around and help them back onto their feet.
As with any other company, you will find hypocrites who are filled with avarice and self-centeredness, but overall it is the closest thing to having an extended family that I have had the joy to experience so far. my early experiences with Waffle House were as a customer, but after a few years of hospitality, I joined their family and stayed with them for 6 years full time. Since them I have been back repeatedly, often cooking on the weekends and I am sure I will do so again in the future. If nothing else, I'm sure I'll be a customer for many more years....