Ah, Clinton in August; it truly is a beautiful place.  As Hal Milam would say, “Hello College, it’s good to be back.” Well, I guess for some of us “back” is a relative term. You see, I live in Laurens, the great land of the Wal-Mart down 76. So, the big return to campus each fall that most people pack for and plan days in advance, I can make in about an hour. While coming to Clinton isn’t that big of a yearly milestone for me, there is one thing I do look forward to about coming back to PC: WaHo runs.
Waffle House.  Is there a restaurant that better embodies the college experience than this house of doughy, syrupy goodness? But there’s another reason we go, isn’t there?  Where else can we meet a more fascinating variety of people? Where else can we get a better reminder of why we (or our parents or loan sharks) shell out 40 thousand dollars a year so that we don’t end up like “those” people? You know, the dropouts, the drug users, the former teen moms who became parents of teen moms … “those” people.
At least, that’s what I thought at this point last year, and in April that’s pretty much what I still believed. But then a series of events changed my opinion, and my life, forever (well, that may have be a little dramatic, but oh well).
This summer, I agreed to serve as the Youth intern at Laurens First Baptist Church. In my fervor to share the love of Christ with the children, I neglected to get details about the kind of pay I’d be receiving, so I ended up working for peanuts (the cartoon, not the food).
Because life in Clinton can get kinda pricey, I knew I needed to get another job to subsidize my less than stellar income. Most of the business owners around here aren’t exactly jumping to give a job to someone who can only work afternoons and who is going off to camps for half of the summer, so my search stalled out. Then, one night at Waffle House, I got into a conversation with a waitress.  You know, one of “those” people. Next thing I know, an application was in, and one background check later (seriously, “those” people passed a background check …), I had a blue shirt and visor and was learning about the benefits of handwashing.
It was, without a doubt, the most eventful, and in many ways insightful, summers of my life. All of the things I learned couldn’t possibly fit into one article, but the biggest would have to be about “those” people.
“Those” are some of the nicest people you may ever meet. More intriguing than their kindness to me was their love of this school. As much as we love going to Waffle House, they love us coming even more. And not just because of the business that PC brings; I was amazed as my co-workers told me about how much they loved seeing students come in, how much they enjoyed the conversations that they get to overhear and sometimes participate in. This college truly means as much to them as it does to all of us.
It is because of my new knowledge that I want to end this article with a request. These people work for tips; the base salary for a Waffle House salesperson is around $3.50 an hour. Many of them are providing for themselves, their children, and potentially their grandchildren. They can’t do it on $.73. These are, for the most part, good, honest, and hardworking people. They deserve legitimate tips. More importantly, they deserve to be treated with respect. Try to remember that next time you’re enjoying an All-Star.