Workers Reveal What It's Really Like To Work At Waffle House

From rowdy nights to cozy mornings, secret codes to free food, working at Waffle House is a unique experience. Here's what it's really like.

#WaffleHouse #FastFood #Workers

Fast-paced | 0:00
Cheat sheets and secret codes | 1:08
Good money | 2:19
Get to know your regulars | 2:55
Messy and exhausting | 4:02
Rude customers | 4:37
Dress codes | 5:26
The pandemic was especially hard | 5:58
Running out of ingredients | 7:01
The night shift is tough | 7:47
Free food | 8:49
Customers lend a hand | 9:32
Like a family | 10:36

[MashedFood]

What do you think of the conditions for working at Waffle House?

[brandonthetoyandgamecollector]

I worked at a Waffle House near Disney for 4 years as a host, was a pretty tough job, but the staff was friendly and we all treated each other like family, vented to each other, defended each other, helped each other out. That food wasn’t free though, took some money out of my check every week even if I didn’t eat it. But it was only like $15 they would take out I think so a couple days eating the food I’d say it wasn’t a horrible thing. Still drop by that old location from time to time, the staff that remembers me is always happy to see me and sometimes I get a free meal out of it

[saeris]

If the cook ain't outside at 3 am smoking a cigerrete as I pull up i drive away because you know it's not gonna be a good wafflehouse. If the cook is outside having a smoke then you know that wafflehouse is about to be fire.

[AnyColorYouLikeBro]

As someone who has been to several waffle houses... I already knew "what it's really like"

[StarFleet_Tech]

I love hash browns "scattered, smothered and covered"

[vermontviking]

"Working at Waffle House is a unique experience.". Truer words have rarely been spoken.

[roachtoasties]

A couple comments: The tipped minimum wage is rock bottom in some states. If that's what Waffle House pays, basically the employees are working there for free. The pay is that low. If that story about customers helping the one employee that showed up to run the store is true, that opens up a huge liability issue for the store. If I ran a restaurant, that will absolutely never happen. The store would close if there was only one employee available. Maybe even two. As far as alcohol being served at Waffle House and customers getting drunk and destroying the place, is that supposed to be a feature?

[krisandersen]

I worked at Waffle House on-and-off for twenty years, almost always on third shift. I can promise you that it is NOT an easy job. The third shift customers range from friendly night-owls to bad tempered drunks and the early-risers who don't want to be awake. Some are great customers, some are not, but all of them expect great service for low cost and lower tips.
The New Years Eve crowd is always challenging, but they're usually in a good mood. The store will be dead until about 12:30, but then it stays packed until about 4 am. At that point everyone leaves, and the staff gets to clean up, which can be just as exausting as serving the partiers was.
The down side of waffle House employment is that it's difficult to make enough money to live on unless you work at a REALLY good location (ie near bars). They do have Employee Health plans, but those plans aren't very good. i'm a Type 1 diabetic, and the health plan would not cover ANYTHIN related to Diabets (just in case you were wondering, almost anything can be linked to Diabetes if an insurance company wants it to be).

[aetherseraphant]

It’s not free, money is taken from every check to cover the “free” meals

[jordanvandiver]

That's a lie. The food isn't totally free. There is a 3 dollar per shift charge taken out your check regardless of if you eat or not

[djlos]

@2:09 "Waffle House Manager "Katie Pierson" And her name tag says DEBO! LOL

[cobrowno]

You got a lil bit of a “ship of Theseus” situation there. Lol

[wickitklown]

Main job requirements are a southern accent and the ability to throw hands. Also not give af about a hurricane.

[margaretfrey]

So not free to eat. I get charged and i had bariatric surgery so barely eat. Main meets you pay for. Other then that they take about 15 per check (weekly)

[jorgeldejesus]

don't change Waffle House, we love it as it is, greasy, noisy, buttery, delicious just like our southern Grandmas do it in our home, mad props to the ex-felon cook who do those eggs yummy ! eat that big delicious buttery Waffle with a little bit of fear of a fight between employees or a felony could happen, builds you character, period, Mad love to Waffle House!

[Makoto]

I had a Waffle House in my town for years but i never actually went until earlier this year. Great place but almost always busy.

[PBCrisis]

I got a Christmas card from my regular WH waitress years ago. They would start my order when I pulled into the lot. I wanted something different once and had to run in to stop them :D

[drdata]

I had such a regular order at a taco bell near one of my jobs that the staff would play a game to see me walking up to the store so that as I walked up to the counter they would just hand me the bag of food that was pretty much the same thing every day. those doritos locos taco supreams are pretty good honestly.

[Bill_N_ATX]

I remember looking at a Waffle House employment application. It didn’t ask if you had been convicted of a crime. It just simply had a line where you listed your convictions. I guess being a convicted felon doesn’t matter to being a great short order cook.

Waffle House takes at least $3 for each on-shift meal out of workers’ pay, whether they end up eating it or not, according to the petition from the Union of Southern Service Workers. The USSW called it “especially alarming” since many workers are paid a tipped sub-minimum wage “as low as $2.90 per hour, ” not including gratuities.