When Alex Bowen, who described himself as “pretty inebriated,” stopped at a Waffle House in South Carolina at 3 AM, he stood at the register for 10 minutes, awaiting service. Finally, he ...went outside to look for an employee, and then went back in.
“That’s when I got hot on the grill with a Texas bacon cheesesteak melt,” said Bowen.
He cooked his go-to meal and even cleaned up when he was done. While he was cooking, he saw the one employee who was fast asleep.
That worker didn’t awaken, despite Mr. Bowen’s clatter in the kitchen and his taking some selfies to document his drunken escapade. When he posted his pictures on social media, “the story went viral…”
You might think Waffle House would be upset at Mr. Bowen’s trespassing and at his making a fool of the company. After all, imagine the reaction of the DMV if, after a few libations, you were to issue yourself a driver’s license while bureaucrats snoozed or, though nominally awake, were moving at their usual glacial pace; you’d be looking at years in prison for your tipsiness alone.
But we’re talking the private market here, in which Waffle House’s profits depend on the goodwill of its customers. And so
a Waffle House district manager reached out to Bowen and asked him to become a Waffle House secret shopper. He even thanked him for pointing out a flaw in their business.
Waffle House …[said] in a statement that customers shouldn’t get behind the counter — but it appears Bowen’s fun served as a job interview nonetheless.
“For safety reasons, our customers should never have to go behind the counter. Rather, they should get a quality experience delivered by friendly associates,” the statement read. “We are reviewing this incident and will take appropriate disciplinary action. In a related note, obviously Alex has some cooking skills, and we’d like to talk to him about a job since we may have something for him.”
When the superiority of voluntary interactions is so patent, so heart-warming, and so overwhelming, why does the State with its soul-crushing compulsion still exist?
