The Waffle House In Five Points

I'm excited to see the new Waffle House construction in Five Points is moving along so well. It's located on Harden Street, right next door to El Burrito. Here is a picture that I took on my way to work this morning with my Droid:

As you can see, the iconic yellow lettering is already up, and it will soon be a beacon of hope for lost, drunken students in the wee hours of the morning. Honestly, I'm surprised that it has taken so long to get a 24-hour diner into Five Points. With all the bars and student foot traffic there during the school year, this place is going to be printing money.

This Waffle House will also be a good place for folks to sober up a little before driving home. Sometimes, simply having a place to go is enough of an alternative to deter a person from just getting in their car and trying to immediately drive home. So there's a public benefit here as well.

On a related note, hope they put a juke box in there. The Waffle House in Lexington, VA, where I went to college, had a juke box that must have made about as much money as the Waffle House itself. At 3:00AM, after a few drinks, that juke box looks like the best idea in the world.

The southern institution of Waffle House will be a welcome addition to the Five Points area, and I cannot wait to get some of those delicious hash browns.

Don't Try to Rob a Waffle House in Spartanburg, SC

I don't want to make too much of a generalization here, but I'm going to anyway. If you don't like it, start your own blog. There are different kinds of people out there.

I'm thinking about the differences between people who go to...say an expensive French restaurant and a Waffle House.

The folks who go to an expensive French restaurant are probably likely to be wealthy, have lived a mostly insulated life, like to go to the symphony, and are members of the local country club. They are not very likely to be carrying concealed weapons because they have lived mostly insulated lives, and are content to call the authorities from their iPhone when needed.

The folks who go to a Waffle House are probably likely to be people who have been working all day at the factory/shop, or doing some other sort of actual labor. They don't put up with much crap, since their boss has probably been riding them all day, and they just want to eat their food without having to pay very much for "atmosphere". They're likely to have a bit of an "independent" streak.

Accordingly, if I'm going to rob a restaurant, I'm probably not going to rob a place where there are some Alpha-Males hanging out. However, someone hadn't done the proper analysis.

A Roebuck man - less than two hours into his 19th birthday - entered the Waffle House on Chesnee Highway with a gun and attempted to rob the restaurant before a customer fired his weapon, killing the teen, authorities said Saturday.

 A customer, who is a concealed weapons permit holder, thwarted the robbery by pulling his gun and attempting to hold the men until deputies arrived. When one of the men pointed his gun at the customer, the patron fired, killing the teenager.

 As you can see, the CWP holder, was probably just sitting there, eating his hash-browns when some punk kid rolls up to the Waffle House and tries to rob the place. It sounds like the CWP holder, rather than just blasting the would-be robber, simply attempted to hold the guy there. Unfortunately for would-be robber, the CWP holder didn't want to die. If you're holding a gun on a bad guy, and he turns his gun to bear at you, it's pretty much game over for someone.

Moral of the story: Don't rob places. However, if you have to rob a place, don't do it in Spartanburg, SC. The good guys are everywhere, and the local sheriff encourages the good guys to carry.

Alternate moral of the story, per the Spartanburg Sheriff:“The way you get shot by a concealed weapons permit holder is you point a gun at him,”