“I’ve been waffling since ’85,” she said to us, pointing to her name tag which held that information, as well as her name:
Waffle Woman
And for as many times as I’ve been to that same Waffle House, sat in that same booth and ordered the same hashbrowns—scattered, smothered, peppered, well-done—I’ve only ever known her to be Waffle Woman.
She talked to us about her children by birth and through fostering, about how her oldest is at University, completely paid for by Waffle House, her checks having been garnished for as long as she can remember; chip-chipping away for someone else’s future. And she’s made quite a hefty dent by simply being Waffle Woman.
“I love what I do!” And she does. It’s evident. Because she loves what she does, I love eating there. It’s some of the best service I’ll ever get, and that’s because her heart is alive and spilling, dripping love into every cup of coffee and greeting she serves up. The food tastes better because there’s a little bit of Waffle Woman in that place.
What a shame she’s stuck in a dead-end job and working for peanuts. How tragic to give up her dreams and waste away as a waitress named Waffle Woman.
Are you tempted to think these things?
Me, too.
And really, in our most self-righteous and judgmental moments, we are the pitiful, not Waffle Woman.
While we chase our dreams and shake our heads in elitist compassion at those we pass along the way, those who “gave up” to raise a family and hold an appallingly ordinary job, do we ever consider that they might be shaking their heads right back at us?
I look at Waffle Woman and I see beauty more alive and vivid than any model gracing the cover of a magazine. She doesn’t wear makeup, doesn’t color her hair, and doesn’t have white teeth.
But when she smiles, she means it.
She doesn’t have to pretend to be fulfilled. She is. The lady with the brassy-gold “Waffle Woman” name tag, holding down a job and raising three kids… she doesn’t have to search for reasons to smile.
That’s because she quit chasing dreams when she realized they weren’t running from her.
They were 3 beautiful faces waiting for her, everyday. Her dreams were realized in cups of coffee and pecan waffles. So don’t pity Waffle Woman. She would find it absurd. Don’t pity the ones who “settled.” They’re probably far too absorbed into their ordinary fulfillment to know there’s anyone who pities them at all.
Don’t pity those who stopped chasing dreams. Not everyone who stops running quit the race. Some actually won it already and are simply enjoying their victory dinners. I hear Waffle house is a pretty good place for a victory dinner.
Waffle Woman can show you how to celebrate well.
Candi Pearson Shelton 
Well said. Well said, indeed.
I am a waitress working in a diner type restaurant and often get treated poorly and get these snide looks like I am “less” than those who I wait on. Sometimes I wait on people who are obviously well off and I wonder whether they look at me like I am some kind of loser who is slinging eggs and coffee. What they don’t know is that I chose to work as a waitress because I wanted a job that I could just do and go home and not bring work stress home with me. I want to sling my eggs, clean up, and go home. When I go home, I work on my real job – I write. I’m not published yet, but I write every day, and the job I chose for myself allows me to do that more easily because I have such a low stress (not to mention pretty well paying) waitressing job.
I loved this post of yours! Thank you for appreciating your food servers. We are people with stories and lives that are much bigger than our little occupations.
Oh my goodness, thank you so much for taking time to comment. I can’t wait to read your writing one day, and until then, I hope I have the pleasure of your breakfast service someday!
This post is brilliant. I was driving into work today, emotional from a week of heartache and triumph. Someone had said something yesterday that shifted my perspective, I understood one simple act (something between swallowing my pride and extending an olive branch) on my part could change something that felt unfixable. I decided to do it and with that came release. I swear it sounds ridiculous, but the light around me became more potent. Peace lives in kindness, satisfaction flourishes in acknowledgement.
I love this post. I have spent a lot of time in Waffle Houses in the past. It is interesting to talk to the career Waffle House workers. There is a love there in that job, not just a dead end job, but something else. No, I am not saying that it isn’t a dead-end job with lousy pay for some who just “settled” and dream of something better. (I mean how many of us with “better” jobs aren’t just doing the same thing sitting in jobs with no hairnets?) Here is a Waffle woman in my life: http://retro-food.com/2011/11/13/waffle-house-family/
It’s very true. Thanks for reading and letting me know your thoughts!
I nominated you for “Five Star Friday” and am so glad to see you made it. This post is one of the most wonderful things I’ve read in awhile.
Apryl- thank you so much for nominating me! I’m honored to have been included.
Now you’re talking! There are a lot of us out here who aren’t even trying to “keep up with the Joneses” but we love our lives and know what’s important … to US.
This is good. I’m in the middle of learning to embrace who I am, my life in this season – and am learning to champion & encourage other women, rather than compare and condemn. We can rejoice in our own stories and smile like we mean it, when we know the Father’s voice!