
'Waffle House Index' is a real thing during disasters - tosh
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/09/01/hurricane-dorian-waffle-house-index-disasters/2187708001/
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hooloovoo_zoo
I really admire Waffle House's dedication. They can't get everyone's power
back on or grocery shelves restocked, but providing a normal meal for people
after a disaster situation is really valuable.

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kiba
Speaking of disasters, I wonder how many people actually follow the
government's recommendation for things like basic disaster kits.

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wcunning
Round numbers? Something approximating zero...

In all seriousness, I actually sat down and read the FEMA recommendations on
things to keep on hand. It's surprisingly thorough and surprisingly difficult
to keep all of it in stock, rotated so that it doesn't spoil and checked on on
a regular basis. Growing up, my mom was an avid coupon shopper, not
necessarily because we needed it, just because she could. That meant that we
had a pantry that sorta, kinda resembled an edible version of a prepper -- no
MREs, but enough commercial and home canned food to last several months
without any rationing even without power. Dad also kept a 200 gallon gas tank
due to bad memories of the fuel rationing and prices in the '70's. We were as
prepared as you could reasonably expect, but we were still not as prepared as
FEMA recommended in many ways. These days, in relatively expensive town, in a
relatively small house, I cannot possibly keep everything on hand that FEMA
recommends, even on the light kit for a few weeks, but I at least make a
passing attempt.

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Scoundreller
The problem with FEMA’s recommendations is that they’re too general.

If you will have a water supply no matter what (I’m near the Great Lakes),
Canned foods are a waste of space and weight. Dry beans, rice, a 5gal
collapsible container and purification tablets (or bleach) are better.

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Izkata
> If you will have a water supply no matter what (I’m near the Great Lakes)

Algae blooms make this no guarantee (and in fact more likely than other
disasters people do keep in mind):
[https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/05/us/lifting-ban-toledo-
say...](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/05/us/lifting-ban-toledo-says-its-
water-is-safe-to-drink-again.html)

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js2
Waffle House, better than The French Laundry:

[https://youtu.be/bct8stbZafI](https://youtu.be/bct8stbZafI)

(RIP Anthony Bourdain.)

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bookofjoe
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20886914](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20886914)

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SlavikCA
The example of strength of centralized organization

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chiefalchemist
Seems to me the organization is decentralized, but the CCC is centralized.
Sounds military-esque, until you realize that in book "Team of Teams" General
McChrystal makes a case of decentralized bottom up faster acting
organizations.

~~~
falcongod082
an organization is centralized by definition, it's just a matter of scope, the
arbitrary place where you draw the line depends on your politics.

~~~
dragonwriter
> an organization is centralized by definition

No, it's not. An organization can be distributed/decentralized as well as
centralized. “Organization” does not specify the latter in opposition to the
former.

~~~
falcongod082
*as well as centralized?...sure it can, which means that it's centralized. What it cannot be is completely independent.

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dragonwriter
> *as well as centralized?...sure it can, which means that it's centralized.

No, you aren't understanding. “organization” can label something that is
centralized or something decentralized/distributed. Or it can be anywhere in
between. “Organization” implies some structure, it doesn't imply that the
structure is heirarchical/centralized, though.

> What it cannot be is completely independent.

Yes, whether centralized or distributed an organization can also be completely
independent (or not, either way), which is a separate issue.

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CoolGuySteve
Whenever I read about this I always wonder if this is one of those modern
dystopia things where a business is endangering its employees in order to stay
open in a disaster zone.

Like what kind of waivers are people in these Jump Teams signing?

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jandrewrogers
That is an exceedingly cynical way of looking at it. People usually
_volunteer_ to do this kind of thing and have no small amount of personal
pride that they are able to help their neighbors in a disaster. It is a very
positive experience for the people that do it, and they are often some of the
first people on the ground. This is a manifestation of the self-reliance bias
of American culture, they want to fix things themselves when disasters happen.

Disaster response in the US is completely driven by these kinds of community-
oriented actions by private individuals and companies, and it has a long
history of being highly effective.

~~~
CoolGuySteve
How many volunteers are doing it because they need the hours?

Does WH pay employees who can't show so they can still cover their bills?

Is it ethical to pay someone $7/hour (the average wage of a WH employee) and
then ask them if they would volunteer to travel to work in a hurricane?

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wcunning
Citation on the average wage? Federal minimum is $7.25/hr, and at least in my
midwestern town, McDonald's is paying $11.25/hr, starting, so that seems
_shockingly_ low as an average. Or is that the average of the tipped staff,
before tips?

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CoolGuySteve
[https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Employer=Waffle_House%2...](https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Employer=Waffle_House%2C_Inc./Hourly_Rate)

[https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Waffle-
House/salaries](https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Waffle-House/salaries)

But really, if the employee was making $11.25/hour, would that somehow make it
more ethical? $22k/year is still borderline impoverished for a 3 person
household: [https://www.thebalance.com/federal-poverty-level-
definition-...](https://www.thebalance.com/federal-poverty-level-definition-
guidelines-chart-3305843)

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diminoten
Wouldn't it be $44k/year?

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pessimizer
The usual estimate is 2000 hours/year.

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diminoten
Yes, per person, and two people who can work in the household.

