WAFFLE HOUSE
grill so they get nice and crispy. “Smothered!” means someone ordered theirs covered in onions. “Peppered!” is a nice dousing of jalapenos. “Covered!” means melted American cheese on top. And “Country!” of course, means it’s doused in sausage gravy. Waffle House was founded in 1955 by partners Joe Rogers Sr. and Tom Forkner. Both men died in their late 90s in 2017, just a little over a month apart. The privately held company is now headed by Joe Rogers Jr. The Waffle House is a lot of things to a lot of people: It is where the regular guys or gals go after a long Saturday night on the town and where they go back to, on Sunday morning, after seeking redemption for Saturday night at church. It is a night out for a family of four... the beacon on the highway for the hungry long- distance driver... the place where you and your friends went after the prom... and maybe where you or your child had his or her first job. You are never alone at the Waffle House, even if you spend your time contemplating life, staring at the white subway tiles trimmed with black diamonds on a yellow background. In normal times, the odds are good that you’ll walk out with three new friends and hope for the future. But not now. Salena Zito is a CNN political analyst and a staff reporter and columnist for the Washington Examiner . She reaches the Everyman and Everywoman through shoe-leather journalism, traveling from Main Street to the beltway and all places in between.
Njeri Boss, the director of public relations for the chain, said in a statement that the closures were all related to COVID-19. “We referred to the index as a way to help people understand how big of an impact this virus has had on the restaurant industry,” Boss said. “With so few customers visiting our restaurants, we are rapidly losing the ability to offer enough work hours for our associates to earn money needed to live their lives and pay their bills. Hardest hit so far are our restaurants in the Midwest and along parts of the Gulf Coast.” The closure of store No. 1673 here in Chambersburg is listed online as “temporarily closed.” America’s idea of normal is like listening to an old folk song. It is filled with all of the sounds that make up our heritage – the banjo from Africa, the fiddle from Europe, and the gospel sounds from the mountain people who first carved out the frontier. The lyrics are the stories we tell when we sit at the Waffle House counter alone – and together – as the jukebox plays. We come from different places, but we all end up at the same destination – usually at places such as this diner. When our cathedrals are locked, we worry and wonder if we will ever get back to our idea of normal. © Creators
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April 2020
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