COWETA COUNTY, GEORGIA — Around 2:30 a.m., three young thugs came into a Waffle House and sat at a table for forty five minutes before delivering a note to their waitress. The note was simple. Give up the money or they will shoot everyone in the restaurant. Faced with a ticking time bomb, she went out to her car and got her gun for personal protection. When they saw her arm herself, the thugs hopped into their own car and escaped.
According to WSBTV, Waffle House fired the waitress for violating their “no weapons policy”. She admits she discharged a round into the woods as a warning shot to the would-be robbers.
She told a news reporter that she wanted to send a clear message: “don’t come back. This Waffle House is protected one way or another.”
Well, apparently it won’t be. Waffle House reportedly fired her after the incident. Waffle House, too, must have wanted to send a clear message:
It’s okay to threaten the lives of everyone inside a Waffle House restaurant but don’t defend yourself and those around you.
That’s the message Waffle House wanted to send to their employees and customers.
For the woman, it’s a serious hit to her source of income and a black mark on her resume. For Waffle House, it’s a clear signal how little they value the people who dine in their establishments and cook their food.
The “no weapons” policy inside an establishment that keeps its doors open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week is begging for disaster. It’s tragic an employee of this restaurant, who’s life was physically endangered, should suffer for defending herself.
What if those three guys made good on their promise to shoot everyone in the restaurant? Would Waffle House refuse to acknowledge that sort of crime because guns aren’t allowed in their restaurant?
“Gun Free Zones” are just places bad guys can hit with impunity. There’s no sense in announcing that a place is full of victims-in-waiting unless you truly have no value on the people entering the doors of your establishment.
The woman told WSBTV that she doesn’t regret a single thing about her actions. If pressed to do the same thing again, she would. That’s heartening. A woman willing to give up her own livelihood so she can stop three armed thugs from shooting her and those around her? I hope I get her as a waitress.
I, for one, haven’t eaten at a Waffle House since I was in my early 20s. So when I say with full confidence that I will never eat at a Waffle House again, that really doesn’t carry much weight. However, now that I know they care so little about my life and the lives of those around me, I now have yet one more reason to avoid that chain of restaurants.
I hope that woman is able to get a job working at a place that respects her right to defend herself.
