What it's like to work in a Waffle House-type diner
Hey, I'm looking for general information about working in a Waffle House style restaurant - sit down but still fast food.
The story will be set in New Jersey (USA) and is roughly modern day.
I've googled various permutations of "[name of every fast food restaurant]" and "what it's like to work at", "working conditions", "set up", "clean up", etc. and have dredged up nothing useful. I've checked the tags and did find this very useful post about clean up procedures, although it's about a bit classier of a place than I have in mind for my MCs. (Bits still should be useful, I think.)
There are a few things I'm looking for - to put this in context, the two main characters work, for a period of time, at a diner. They will have to work two shifts in a row on at least one occasion because another employee gets sick. I'm looking for information about:
* how these sorts of restaurants prep in the morning
* what inconveniences there are on the job (I've heard that the grease ruins clothes, sometimes, although that may have been in regards to a more traditional fast food place)
* how much most customers would tip
* any miscellaneous details about working at one of these sorts of places, really
(I've gleaned a fair bit from spending thoroughly outrageous amounts of time in Waffle Houses throughout these glorious south-eastern United States, but absolutely any details/horror stories/I-heard-from-a-friend sorts of things would be really helpful.)
Thanks so much for absolutely anything you can give me (I'm detail oriented and greedy) & for your time :)
The story will be set in New Jersey (USA) and is roughly modern day.
I've googled various permutations of "[name of every fast food restaurant]" and "what it's like to work at", "working conditions", "set up", "clean up", etc. and have dredged up nothing useful. I've checked the tags and did find this very useful post about clean up procedures, although it's about a bit classier of a place than I have in mind for my MCs. (Bits still should be useful, I think.)
There are a few things I'm looking for - to put this in context, the two main characters work, for a period of time, at a diner. They will have to work two shifts in a row on at least one occasion because another employee gets sick. I'm looking for information about:
* how these sorts of restaurants prep in the morning
* what inconveniences there are on the job (I've heard that the grease ruins clothes, sometimes, although that may have been in regards to a more traditional fast food place)
* how much most customers would tip
* any miscellaneous details about working at one of these sorts of places, really
(I've gleaned a fair bit from spending thoroughly outrageous amounts of time in Waffle Houses throughout these glorious south-eastern United States, but absolutely any details/horror stories/I-heard-from-a-friend sorts of things would be really helpful.)
Thanks so much for absolutely anything you can give me (I'm detail oriented and greedy) & for your time :)