I can see FEMA and DHS unveiling the 'color waffle' warning alert. A green waffle is all-go, a red waffle is 'lack-of services' and a blue waffle is 'zombie apocolypse.'

apoca-lips

I used to work at a convenience store in college in the neighborhood directly north of the U of Texas. It was open every single day of the year, for 18 hours/day. There could be freezing ice storms, hurricanes or tornadoes and we would still be open. Most of the 10 student employees who worked for the owner lived within 5 blocks of the store, so we had no problem keeping it open. Even when the power went out during a storm, we would calculate totals with tax and write down sales (but the gas pumps were out).

We were actually busiest during ice storms when the city would mostly shut down for 24-72 hours. Texans can't drive on ice, so it's too dangerous to be out. People knew we would be open so everyone would come to the store for beer and supplies to ride out the weather.

This is all part of having decent street smarts. You gotta know where to go and how to get there for any occasion.

and be able to do basic maths to count up that change

My brother is a catastrophic insurance adjuster. I emailed that article to him. He agreed that Waffle House, Wal-Mart, Lowe's, and Home Depot are the businesses that will be open if they can be open. In fact, when Hurricane Ike and knocked out our electric power in 2008, we drove over to Longview to see if there were any restaurants open. We stood in line to eat at Waffle House because we couldn't find any other restaurant open and serving the full menu.

FEMA got this one right.

waffle house is gross.

I think this is an extremely elegant solution to a very difficult problem after disasters: Getting a realistic picture of the size of the problem, and quickly.

It can be incredibly hard for responders, (especially those outside the affected area), to get a reliable picture of what is broken where, and how many people need help. This was a huge problem during Katrina.

Note to self: make sure bug out location is near a Waffle House.

Well most of the Waffle Houses in Miss after Katrina were slabs

Quote:

Well most of the Waffle Houses in Miss after Katrina were slabs

That would be declared a Blue Waffle Level then.

We have no Waffle Houses here in MI, much to my dismay.

Years ago, I visited a friend who lived about 50 miles south of Atlanta for a wedding. We wanted to go out for dinner. Our friend said, 'well, you can go to the Waffle House. Or to the other Waffle House. They were the only two restaurants nearby and were not far apart.

We went to the Waffle House.