A poll for (probably) just the Americans this time:
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I mean CHAIN restaurants here. I’m not talking about the admittedly very colorful falling apart local stagecoach diner in your town that has been a cheap (but maybe delicious) shithole since before you were born.
I mean which of the aforementioned (or similar other) brands is most likely, when you hear it, to inspire thoughts that your likelihood of getting coffee is roughly equal to your likelihood of getting shot or arrested for impaling Lakeesha’s thigh with the end of your heel because she took your man’s takeaway hash browns?
I have felt unsafest in a Crown/Church's most frequently, but probably because B'mouth and I are white, but I have actually seen more crime-in-progress in Waffle House. OTOH, I have seen quite respectable Waffle Houses here and there.
My experience with Denny's and IHOP is that while they definitely attracted a poorer crowd they are usually too "sit downy" to encourage crazy transients and violence, but they are absolutely capable of scraping the depths and being absolute shitholes. I've never fought a Lakeesha in one, but I've seen plenty of rats and roaches in unusually bad ones and have had waitstaff that are very clearly recently exhumed corpses animated with meth.
Man, I love Waffle House, and visited ones in at least 6 states, from PA to FL (although not GA or MD) and TX. Granted, all of them were off the highway and not in cities proper, so my experience is probably a bit different. One of my favorite restaurants, right there with Sheetz and Rutters.
IHOP always seems pretty ghetto when I go there, although I haven't been to a Denny's in decades and never to a Crown Chicken.
I voted 'other' because I think the nearest WH is maybe 500 miles away. Been to 1 once maybe 40 years ago, in FL. My 'other' choice would be White Castle. Back in the day always a 'go to' after the bars closed. Nothing sketchy even happens at those places after bars close. 🔫 🗡️ 🩸
I excluded Whiteys because I don't really consider it a "diner." That said, the White Castle adjacent our nearest subway station was absolutely one of the most dangerous low-end eateries I've ever been in. They were robbed a lot.
I guess Whitey's does not qualify as a 'diner' as they do not have 'servers' like those other choices with the exception of Church's/Crown which I am not familiar with.
I totally got the reference esp. as it sounded somewhat familiar - though it might have been the voice in my head that may have added, self-reflexively, “bright”. I’m learning that guttering while working isn’t always a good mix. Ya think you can get away with one, then another, and pretty soon all judgement is out the window and you’re on the floor struggling to reach the VCR to play your favorite movie again, where you feel you fit right in, Days of Wine and Roses.
Enroute NY-FL, we made a quick one night stop (I won’t say what state in fear I might piss off a friend) at Waffle House. It was quite run down, in a run down area of town. People begging, drug deals in the dark corners of the parking lot, garbage everywhere, sticky tables, no TP. But - it was the “only show in town”. We sat down and it took an hour to get a glass of water. Another hour to get dinner, and 30 minutes more for the bill. During this ordeal, the new night shift waitress walked in, looked around, said “fuck this” and walked out. The chef/cook was bringing the take-out orders to the customers, checking them out, and setting new customers. The sous chef (salad maker) decided to take her 20 minute break during the busy rush hour. It was a fucking disaster, but our waitress was wonderful though out it all, She constantly apologized and ran her ass off, non stop. My partner paid the bill, with a 25% tip. As I said goodbye to her, I slipped an extra big bill in her hand. She deserved it. It was the shoddy clientele that made us nervous…..
That is one thing I have found too, some of the best waitresses I have ever had worked at Waffle House. Sometimes old white ladies, sometimes young black girls, but oddly mostly those two groups, come to think of it. Whatever happens at WH, it apparently selects pretty hard for really solid waitresses. There have been a fair few times I have thought "Damn... I wish I had a job to offer this woman, she is wasted here."
For context, I worked in restaurants all through undergrad, and am not easily impressed.
I'm putting Der Ritt der Walküren on right now, imagining all those drones lifting from all over the place to deliver food packages instead of eplosives.
Ghetto Waffle Houses are probably comparable to Church's Chicken, but not all Waffle Houses are ghetto. Church's Chicken apparently has a corporate policy against opening a location more than 1/2 a mile from Section 8 housing.
I briefly hesitated putting Church's/Crown on the list as a "diner" because where Brothermouth and I grew up, the vast majority of them were takeout-only boxes with bulletproof counter windows, but every now and then I would encounter one that had roughly 1970s-era molded seating sections, so it is a diner by intent if not practice.
I've been trying to follow my own rules and not endlessly nitpick over the terms of the poll, but it was specifically about "diners" or at least diner-adjacent establishments and expressly not fast-food chains.
You should not be allowed to comment on this thread unless you've lived in a state that has at least one interstate off-ramp with two Waffle Houses catty-corner from each other.
Over here it's McDonald's, hand down, that's the bottom of the barrel due to the - ahem - colourful clientele, including the staff in some places. It's a toss-up, really. Now, personally I haven't set foot in one since Bush was in office. Bush Sr that is. But I do have a friend who worked and managed one for 15 years. We once fed a half-eaten burger to the pet rats we had back then (he rented a room in our too-large rented apartment) and they ate everything but the meat patty.
That, they pushed out through the bars of the cage.
Since it's a franchise, some are exemplary run and others are bad enough they make you think of napalm.
As in, the owner, the staff and the customers could do with napalm enemas.
Pet stores raised rats for use in labs, until the rules were changed that labs could only buy from specific breeders (had to do with consistency and other stuff when theytested stuff on the poor creatures). So we got ours for free from a pet store that was giving them away. So, not "proper" pet rats like the ones you buy from breeders (knew a girl who did thatback around '90 or so) but semi-domesticated.
Those three were the last ones we had, think they were bunch five from the start. One rat I remember especially, because 1) he was big, a full kilo and 2) he was very dog-like in his behaviour and 3) he had a tusk. One of his teeth in the bottom jaw grew at record speed until it jutted out beside the head. Didn't seem to bother him, he used it to keep his harem in order even though we kept them in separate cages.
We had a basically feral Norway like that, Thor. He was consistently super aggressive and we could really only handle him with gloves. The tusks would cause eating problems if we didn't regularly give him very hard items to grind.
Once, when the son was maybe a year old, my wife wasgoing to meet me downtown after I got off from work (framing pictures and other handyman stuff in a studio, the pooftahs what were the artistes couldn't even work the coffee-maker). So I see her getting off at the bus-stop with the carrier, and as I approach I hear a lady scream: "IIIIEEEE! A RAT!
The Tusked One had sneaked into the baby-carrier and hitched a ride.
When my wife (I still remember what she wore: pink knitted tank-top giving her tremendous under-boobs since she was breastfeeding, old combatpants cut into shorts, knee-high stockings and DrMartens boots, and her hazelnut hair cropped to a crew-cut) simply stoops down, picks up the rat and drops him in her decolletage...
Well, the screaming didn't die down, let's put it like that.
Oh yes, very social animals. So cute. They would clean my teeth after I'd eaten. Just sit back, open wide and let Dr Rat use his tiny teeny little hands to get all the stuff out from between the teeth. Better than flossing.
Random and funny trivia: the name Gutierrez sounds vaguely like the word "gutter" but is unrelated. It means "son of Gutierre", or in English, "son of Walter", much like Watson or Watkins. Also, the word "guttural" has no etymological connection to the word "gutter" either. LOL.
I miss Golden Corral. They used to have one not far from me that got shut down a few years after it opened, then reopened three years later, then shut down again during the lockdown, then reopened again briefly, then went out of business for good.
My report:
I have felt unsafest in a Crown/Church's most frequently, but probably because B'mouth and I are white, but I have actually seen more crime-in-progress in Waffle House. OTOH, I have seen quite respectable Waffle Houses here and there.
My experience with Denny's and IHOP is that while they definitely attracted a poorer crowd they are usually too "sit downy" to encourage crazy transients and violence, but they are absolutely capable of scraping the depths and being absolute shitholes. I've never fought a Lakeesha in one, but I've seen plenty of rats and roaches in unusually bad ones and have had waitstaff that are very clearly recently exhumed corpses animated with meth.
Meth with LaFawnduh to go please.....as shots ring out.
This has been such a fun one so far. Just what I needed. Thanks, Gutterballs.
We're here to please the Queen!
Man, I love Waffle House, and visited ones in at least 6 states, from PA to FL (although not GA or MD) and TX. Granted, all of them were off the highway and not in cities proper, so my experience is probably a bit different. One of my favorite restaurants, right there with Sheetz and Rutters.
IHOP always seems pretty ghetto when I go there, although I haven't been to a Denny's in decades and never to a Crown Chicken.
Rutters girl 4 life. Most of our local farms are dairy suppliers for them and you can taste the local.
Your web store should sell panties with "You can taste the local" on them.
With like a strawberries and ears of corn motif?
Strawberry in a stream of honey.
My only experience with a Waffle House was outside of Chattanooga where I was served by a waitress who was as wide as she was tall.
If I am thinking of slipping this mortal coil, I am going to don a Stars and Bars t-shirt and head over to a Church's.
And loudly accuse the staff of behaving niggardly.
To Valhalla!
Are you secretly John McClane?
There always seemed something a bit off about Kennedy Fried Chicken. The one on Main St. in Flushing NY had a sign that was styled exactly like KFC's.
I always assumed they had taken over a storefront from one that had fled the neighborhood.
There was one near me as well, that is now Crown Fried Chicken (CFC).
I voted 'other' because I think the nearest WH is maybe 500 miles away. Been to 1 once maybe 40 years ago, in FL. My 'other' choice would be White Castle. Back in the day always a 'go to' after the bars closed. Nothing sketchy even happens at those places after bars close. 🔫 🗡️ 🩸
I excluded Whiteys because I don't really consider it a "diner." That said, the White Castle adjacent our nearest subway station was absolutely one of the most dangerous low-end eateries I've ever been in. They were robbed a lot.
I guess Whitey's does not qualify as a 'diner' as they do not have 'servers' like those other choices with the exception of Church's/Crown which I am not familiar with.
CraigN! My man! White Castle all the way!
p.s. the only way to have WH hashbrowns is Scattered, smothered & covered
scattered is for psychopaths
Friendly’s !!!
shoulda clicked Other
"la chevalier vit is a bright young boy but fails to follow instructions"
missed something in the remit, again
It's a thing they used to say on American kids' report cards. Brothermouth probably got it like a thousand times.
I totally got the reference esp. as it sounded somewhat familiar - though it might have been the voice in my head that may have added, self-reflexively, “bright”. I’m learning that guttering while working isn’t always a good mix. Ya think you can get away with one, then another, and pretty soon all judgement is out the window and you’re on the floor struggling to reach the VCR to play your favorite movie again, where you feel you fit right in, Days of Wine and Roses.
Heh, a play that debuted in the same year, with a film version in 1966, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf:"
"Pour me another scotch, Martha." - Richard Burton to Liz Taylor.
One of my very favorite plays, ever.
I just outed you. Kinda.
Quickly!! Disavow any knowledge of this knowing! 😂🤣
On the contrary I’m relying on your grave misstep to elevate my reputation by association.
😂🤣😂... and omgds....you can still make your vcr run??? 🤯
What's weird about that?
I still have some old bootlegged uncensored movies from back when Sweden had pre-premiere censorship of movies.
Videotapes, ease of copying and laser discs made the law completely obsolete and it was a running joke for the last 20 years of its existence.
How me used to laugh at the "FBI Warning!" about pirating at the start of each rental about to be copied.
Outing LA Che' vit!
I've known him personally for a day or 3.
Neither he nor his parental units would have witnessed that remark on his report cards...
I was that quick with Fireball spell.
This is a silly poll. There is only one possible answer for anyone who has dined at WH at 3 am
This! 👆
I want to change my vote from Church's to Waffle House, after viewing that fine video documentary.
Waffle House was the first time I got a Band-Aid in my food!
But I love the hash browns.
Also, no Waffle House in my area. And no way I'm going into the Church's parking lot, let alone the building.
Enroute NY-FL, we made a quick one night stop (I won’t say what state in fear I might piss off a friend) at Waffle House. It was quite run down, in a run down area of town. People begging, drug deals in the dark corners of the parking lot, garbage everywhere, sticky tables, no TP. But - it was the “only show in town”. We sat down and it took an hour to get a glass of water. Another hour to get dinner, and 30 minutes more for the bill. During this ordeal, the new night shift waitress walked in, looked around, said “fuck this” and walked out. The chef/cook was bringing the take-out orders to the customers, checking them out, and setting new customers. The sous chef (salad maker) decided to take her 20 minute break during the busy rush hour. It was a fucking disaster, but our waitress was wonderful though out it all, She constantly apologized and ran her ass off, non stop. My partner paid the bill, with a 25% tip. As I said goodbye to her, I slipped an extra big bill in her hand. She deserved it. It was the shoddy clientele that made us nervous…..
It is very, very tough to be a server in those environments. Definitely a "combat pay" situation.
That is one thing I have found too, some of the best waitresses I have ever had worked at Waffle House. Sometimes old white ladies, sometimes young black girls, but oddly mostly those two groups, come to think of it. Whatever happens at WH, it apparently selects pretty hard for really solid waitresses. There have been a fair few times I have thought "Damn... I wish I had a job to offer this woman, she is wasted here."
For context, I worked in restaurants all through undergrad, and am not easily impressed.
Maybe that's what the US could use in the Oval Office?
A veteran waitress of that kind.
Now I want my waffles and ham steak delivered at Mach 2 by an F-16.
There are way worse uses of our tax dollars.
America could seriously be like this, and we wouldn't even be radically changing our stereotype.
The US military has how many drones?
I'm putting Der Ritt der Walküren on right now, imagining all those drones lifting from all over the place to deliver food packages instead of eplosives.
OH, it can still explode, just with ham and egg shrapnel.
I grew up in Georgia, so I've eaten a lot of WH. Never felt threatened, but been called "Hon''" by WH waitresses more times than I can count.
know this is fake cuz WH doesn't have sous chefs or salads
🤣
I'm not sure why there are any other choices other than Waffle House here.
Have you been to Church's Chicken?
*smiles wickedly* And it begins.
Haven't had the pleasure. How's it compare?
Ghetto Waffle Houses are probably comparable to Church's Chicken, but not all Waffle Houses are ghetto. Church's Chicken apparently has a corporate policy against opening a location more than 1/2 a mile from Section 8 housing.
I briefly hesitated putting Church's/Crown on the list as a "diner" because where Brothermouth and I grew up, the vast majority of them were takeout-only boxes with bulletproof counter windows, but every now and then I would encounter one that had roughly 1970s-era molded seating sections, so it is a diner by intent if not practice.
There are more Church's Chickens on MLK Blvds across the country than any other fast food chain.
Progress as promised
Ahhhh, the Great Society. LBJ would be proud.
Waffle house doesn't come with bullets
You clearly haven't been to enough Florida Waffle Houses. 🤣
I live in Florida!
Have you been to a Dennys lately?
It's been a while, TBH.
Suddenly I feel like Guttermouth is manipulating us! 🤔
I've got 100X the amount of ammo per guns.
If a thousand rounds isn't enough then we're fucked
You didn’t mention Popeye’s. There have been fights over their chicken sammich around here.
I've been trying to follow my own rules and not endlessly nitpick over the terms of the poll, but it was specifically about "diners" or at least diner-adjacent establishments and expressly not fast-food chains.
Again, I did not follow the rules. My buffet answer😤
Sorry! I didn’t pay enough attention!
"Canny Granny is a bright young lady but often fails to follow directions"
I get that a lot! Lol my child would agree!
White Castle.
At least back in the day. Now their prices are higher than McDonald's, so AFAIK, they don't get as much business as they used to.
When I was in high school, a good friend of mine was kleptomaniac for Denny’s merchandise.
Witnessed him steal anything he could at any time.
His most precious treasure was a big, thick, NE Ohio winter grade welcome mat. Those sturdy rubber ones.
That thing was enormous too.
You should not be allowed to comment on this thread unless you've lived in a state that has at least one interstate off-ramp with two Waffle Houses catty-corner from each other.
Waffle House coming on strong lately.
Over here it's McDonald's, hand down, that's the bottom of the barrel due to the - ahem - colourful clientele, including the staff in some places. It's a toss-up, really. Now, personally I haven't set foot in one since Bush was in office. Bush Sr that is. But I do have a friend who worked and managed one for 15 years. We once fed a half-eaten burger to the pet rats we had back then (he rented a room in our too-large rented apartment) and they ate everything but the meat patty.
That, they pushed out through the bars of the cage.
Since it's a franchise, some are exemplary run and others are bad enough they make you think of napalm.
As in, the owner, the staff and the customers could do with napalm enemas.
What kind of rats did you raise? We had Egyptian hooded and Norways.
Pet stores raised rats for use in labs, until the rules were changed that labs could only buy from specific breeders (had to do with consistency and other stuff when theytested stuff on the poor creatures). So we got ours for free from a pet store that was giving them away. So, not "proper" pet rats like the ones you buy from breeders (knew a girl who did thatback around '90 or so) but semi-domesticated.
Those three were the last ones we had, think they were bunch five from the start. One rat I remember especially, because 1) he was big, a full kilo and 2) he was very dog-like in his behaviour and 3) he had a tusk. One of his teeth in the bottom jaw grew at record speed until it jutted out beside the head. Didn't seem to bother him, he used it to keep his harem in order even though we kept them in separate cages.
We had a basically feral Norway like that, Thor. He was consistently super aggressive and we could really only handle him with gloves. The tusks would cause eating problems if we didn't regularly give him very hard items to grind.
Story time:
Once, when the son was maybe a year old, my wife wasgoing to meet me downtown after I got off from work (framing pictures and other handyman stuff in a studio, the pooftahs what were the artistes couldn't even work the coffee-maker). So I see her getting off at the bus-stop with the carrier, and as I approach I hear a lady scream: "IIIIEEEE! A RAT!
The Tusked One had sneaked into the baby-carrier and hitched a ride.
When my wife (I still remember what she wore: pink knitted tank-top giving her tremendous under-boobs since she was breastfeeding, old combatpants cut into shorts, knee-high stockings and DrMartens boots, and her hazelnut hair cropped to a crew-cut) simply stoops down, picks up the rat and drops him in her decolletage...
Well, the screaming didn't die down, let's put it like that.
God I love the stories here. 🤣 🐀
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens?
Rats can be really sweet as pets. Not much different from hamsters.
Oh yes, very social animals. So cute. They would clean my teeth after I'd eaten. Just sit back, open wide and let Dr Rat use his tiny teeny little hands to get all the stuff out from between the teeth. Better than flossing.
Oh, Lord! Blech!
If you let them, they do your earwax and boogers too.
Oh, yeah, McDonald's can be really ghetto, but not cool ghetto, just depressing ghetto.
Popeye's wasn't in there. But I take the risk when the Chicken Sandwich special runs.
People sure are having trouble reading the description of the poll on this one.
Fun Fact: the animal in the pic on top is an opossum.
It's a selfie at Denny's, dick. Thanks for the ugly-shaming.
That's one ugly dick Denny's got then.
He uses some kind of cream. It's completely different from mine, but it is also prescription.
Random and funny trivia: the name Gutierrez sounds vaguely like the word "gutter" but is unrelated. It means "son of Gutierre", or in English, "son of Walter", much like Watson or Watkins. Also, the word "guttural" has no etymological connection to the word "gutter" either. LOL.
I love waffle house. Golden Corral is pretty ghetto imo. But I hate buffets
I miss Golden Corral. They used to have one not far from me that got shut down a few years after it opened, then reopened three years later, then shut down again during the lockdown, then reopened again briefly, then went out of business for good.