Waffle House- Would you like silicone with that?

Waffle House is a place alot of people adore and love. As conversation goes in an interview or anywhere else, I hear the words that make my ears bleed. " I love Waffle House It's my favorite." I just smile and tell them why I didn't like it there. So I give them an offer they should not refuse. "You don't know what I know about their food." Alot of people have stated in utter terror not to ruin there wonderful food experience: "Please don't tell me about the food."
Well everyone you really want to know about the food and the people who are cooking your delicious hash browns.

I will first give some background and reasons why I know these things. I worked for Waffle house for 1 year and 3 months. It was my first job and it was the worst. It was mandantory to work Thanksgiving and Christmas day, or you would be fired. Since I was in my senior year doing Co-op I had to keep my job in order to only go a half day in school.

I was a server, or what they called a "sales person." and a cook. I was never trained to be a cook, but I had to learn in about a day. The cooks in the morning shift would not show up. The third shift cook would leave and say "Sorry I have to go." I never blamed them, but it was not fair to me. As a server, if the next shift server will be late you have to wait on them. This is normally the same with the cook. I acquired 3 stalkers while I worked there. This was not fun trying to hide from them.

So it was 7 in the morning and my first shift cook is not there. 6 tables start to fill up. I have to cook, so I cook, run and give a drink, flip the bacon, run over to another table greet them, take their order, and pretty much run around like I am a chicken with it's head cut off. If you have ever been into a busy Waffle House in the morning there is normally 2 servers and one or 2 cooks. I was doing all of their jobs. The screwed up thing was, the food looked brillant like I had been cooking there for years. No one complained but alot of the people really pissed me off by stiffing me.

All star specials are the special deal you get with 2 eggs, sasage or bacon, hashbrowns, and a waffle. You can get this deal anyway you want it. A family of 3 orders 3 all star specials totaling 6 eggs,3 hashbrown smothered, covered, and everything else they could fit into their mouths. I get their drinks. I cook and wait on other tables, and still get their food out to them quick. They threw their garbage everywhere and left no tip besides the mess.

Now that you have had background here is some facts. The majority of people I worked with was a women child molester, people who have been in prison and let out just to work, and people who are drug addicts. The people who are cooking your food could be high because they don't drug test. But there are good people who work there also who can't find a job after getting a degree. Even if a cook works there 20 years the highest they can make is 9 dollars an hour. Waffle House will hire ANYONE. And Waffle House's Owner Tim Howard (at least the Waffle house's here) was the greediest, biggest prick I have ever meet.

I was getting ready to cook one day and grabbed the huge can of what they call "Lo-melt" I opened up the can and it was solid. I knew I had to let it heat up but it looked nasty. I thought well maybe it is butter. I have a tendancy to look at ingredients often, I believe in fact, it is an obsession. So I turned the can over and read the ingredients. There was water...hmm that sounds fine.....butter flavoring...still fine....then silicone. I stopped and looked back because I thought my eyes had decieved me. Silicone? This is what I cook eggs,hashbrowns,omlets, and pretty much everything with. I started to encourage customers to have their food made with butter instead of the "lo-melt" but no one listened.

A nasty guy on third shift used to rub his feet and then go cook people's food without washing his hands. If you still like to eat at Waffle House make sure you see the cook wash their hands.
Also ask for plastic utensils. Please trust me on this. As a server i had to wash dishes. I washed them well but the silverware is a different story. They won't let you wash it by hand, so you throw it all in a tub full of soapy water. Then after 5 or more minutes you put it in a tray and run it throw the machine. The machine gets hot but I don't think it will take the germs off.
When you go into a Waffle House look around and inspect it. Look near the grill by the floor. If you see any puddle that is dark in color the place is not clean.
Next to the grill is metal cabinets where they keep waffle mix. They are open containers and they sometimes keep them for the next day.
Unlike everyone else I sanitaized the tables with stuff that kills germs. What the rest of the people do is wipe it off with a warm rag they have been using all day.
Don't get orange juice there. The machine is supposed to be cleaned weekly but it didn't get done for many months.
Best time to go is between shifts. In the morning it is best to go at 7 and or around 1:30 in the afternoon. The reason is this is normally when they are suppose to clean the grill. It is worth waiting an extra 10 minutes to eat on a clean grill rather than one that has been used all day. Ask for package syrup, sometimes they use the same syrup for days.
The meat is in a cooler. it is not very sanitary. I have seen colored meat before.
I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did! Happy eating!