I was in a Waffle House here in Durham late one night a few months ago, and there was one dude working the place, presumably the manager. In between serving his couple of customers, he was calling employees on the phone, trying to get anyone to come cover for the dude who clearly just hadn't bothered to show up. He was super upbeat, and then he went into the back and yelled an absolute torrent of obscenities, and then came right back out all peppy again, acting like we all hadn't heard him raging like a lunatic.
Then the other customers left and a bunch of kids came in and sat down, and it was just the kids and me, on opposite sides of the restaurant. The manager dude then came up to me and whispered "these guys might cause trouble. If they do, call the cops." And then he WALKED OUT, leaving me alone with these alleged troublemakers.
The kids seemed like regular kids to me, pretty quiet for 2am, well behaved even. But the manager stood there in the parking lot, watching them through the window and smoking, nobody working the restaurant. I looked out at him, and at some point he looked back at me, pointed to his eyes, and then pointed to the kids.
And this is why I love Waffle House. It's like its own nation of crazy, and every Waffle House is like an embassy.