Awww this makes me miss Waffle House. Vaguely.
All of my experiences with Waffle House have been either drunk or nostalgia (literally only two options, as I haven’t been at one in 10+ yrs but experienced my first under 25 years ago), and both are passable. At least your drunk meal doesn’t cost much. And if you are sober you don’t expect much.
But when you go sober, for nostalgia, in a region you don’t normally frequent, they get actively upset at large (pay for the job, not based on check) tips. Left $10 on a $10 tab somewhere in Kansas, because fuck those people work hard, and they made absolutely certain I meant to leave that in cash. They seemed actively uncomfortable with it.
Such a weird dynamic for a country that allows/requires tipping. But they are so used to poverty wage that anything that isn’t is unbelievable. Man that’s so sad.