What is your first reaction to hearing that you should get a job at Waffle House? It’s probably, “Why would anyone want to work there?” After observing my sister’s experience working there for over a year, I soon discovered that Waffle House is the best place for teenagers to make and save money, as well as gain valuable work experience.

Showing people that Waffle House is the best place for teenagers to be employed starts with talking to the people that actually work there. Annie Mathis has been a server at Waffle House for 15 years. Annie commented on how she “love[s] the people here.” She also appreciates having benefits such as stock options, life insurance and medical service. Miss Annie talked about how you “really got to know all types of people.”

Annie believes that the difference between being a server at Waffle House and a traditional sit-down restaurant is that “if you can be a server at Waffle House, you can go to any other place and wait tables.” Waffle House can be an intense job, but Annie believes “once you put your mind to it, I believe anyone can do it, if that’s what you wanna do, that is just like anything in life, once you put your mind to it, you can do it.” Unlike other restaurants, at Waffle House the servers are responsible for waiting tables, taking phone orders, busing tables, seating customers, calling orders, and washing dishes all at once. Many other restaurants have different employees to do these individual jobs, but at Waffle House the servers do it all.

Jason Gaskins has worked at Waffle House for twenty years. In those twenty years, Gaskins has moved from meat grill operator to district manager. Like Annie, Gaskins loves interacting with customers and enjoys seeing regulars come in every day.

One of the unique jobs that Gaskins has the privilege of doing as the district manager, is interviewing potential new employees. He looks for employees who will work hard at Waffle House and add something important to the Waffle House team. During interviews, “You want to find somebody who wants to be here, not just who wants to make money, making money is obviously important,” Gaskins said. “But you want to find somebody who enjoys being here. So they really add something to the team.

He continued with, “Find someone who is fun, but also can balance out with being responsible, … [and] that they also be able to manage stressful situations on the whole, it’s not usually stressful but when it does happen, like during very busy times, you have to be able to handle that with you know, with calmness, you know, and the team comes together really well for that as well. Like we support each other during those times and situations.”

In order to really emphasize how great it is to work at Waffle House for teenagers, here’s what real Waffle House teenagers had to say about working at Waffle House.

Alexis Allen explained that, “Before I started working at Waffle House, I had really, really bad anxiety that I had a very hard time managing. And being around here and being with the people who work here who really become your family, like really, really helps with the support and having to talk to different types of people like very, very different types of people. In different types of situations you really learn to ,like, be flexible in how you deal with them, and better ways to deal with them with little to no conflict.”

“I paid for my entire [college] tuition and housing,” said Samantha Brooks. 

“I’ve saved a lot more money there than at my minimum wage job. I was able to get into investing, and I have enough money for a down payment on a house.”
Overall, the managers at waffle house are flexible with the employees and work with them instead of working against them,” said Monse Morgan. 

“The managers are very fun. They are very good with our employees. Also, the job is very flexible with hours,” Gaskins said. “And one of the big things I feel like is, as far as any of the jobs here
locally, this one does pay the best. And I think a lot of jobs make that claim, but with the tips and hours available overall, this one does pay the best.”

Q: How is Waffle House Handling COVID-19? 

A: “They made sure to institute policies as much as possible, as up to date with the knowledge [and] the information they have as possible. So with masks, sanitizing all the surfaces. If anyone comes in with any sort of symptom, whether it be a fever, or coughing or something, it’s an immediate exclusion from work.” — Jason Gaskins