4 ms·

C'mon. Super pretentious viewpoint to think that employees at Waffle House are illiterate enough that they can't assemble orders without symbols.

by stets 3y ago

ryandrake 3y ago
This stuff can be Googled to level-set the conversation. First search result says: - 54% of adults have a literacy below sixth-grade level. - 21% of Americans 18 and older are illiterate in 2022. We can dig further to find more sources of data and judge how reputable they are. If those numbers are incorrect, correct them and go from there.
- choilive 3y ago
  What are you trying to say? That all waffle house employees are functionally illiterate? Because that is not what the data says.
  - ryandrake 3y ago
    No, I have no idea. It does seem that overall US literacy rates are much lower than you’d guess though. Certainly 2x worse than I thought before doing a single Google search. So it seems wise for companies in general to make their processes accessible to the illiterate, especially if they have more accurate data about their employees’ literacy than this general data. I only replied because OP seems to be getting jumped on for making a guess that feels uncomfortable to talk about.
- seanmcdirmid 3y ago
  That is incredibly state dependent however, looking at https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/How-Serious-Is-Americas-Literacy-Problem https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/How-Serious-Is-Americas..., you are in a different world of literacy if you live in Washington State vs. Texas. The south happens to be where Waffle House is common.
  - 082349872349872 3y ago
    Luckily https://dollyparton.com/imagination-library https://dollyparton.com/imagination-library is a thing
    - 082349872349872 3y ago
      On a county level, the south doesn't look too bad as long as you're in an urban area: Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Miami, Tampa, etc. https://preview.redd.it/adult-literacy-in-the-us-by-county-v0-qpwvom079hlb1.png?auto=webp&s=7719fd485ad02526b87d208dd3c6a8e70d0db1f8 https://preview.redd.it/adult-literacy-in-the-us-by-county-v...
      - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
        The south is less urbanized than the north, so that makes sense.
- kjkjadksj 3y ago
  Presumably the fact they filled out a job application is enough barrier toward literacy. Especially towards words like "egg" or "waffle"
- tree_enjoyer 3y ago
  These are totally different versions of the concept of "literacy", though. Being able to read/write abbreviations of "eggs, scrambled", or "oatmeal" falls well below sixth-grade reading level. Literacy statistics involve much more comprehension than reading/writing food orders. Plenty of illiterate people do work in restaurants writing food orders. This is just a systemized way to remember orders, one that is used across all Waffle Houses, so that an employee from one restaurant switching to another will be just as effective, with no cross training or cultural difference.
Lammy 3y ago
“So if you've ever been to a Waffle House and you notice the menu has pictures of the food on it? …yeah.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwkdGr9JYmE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwkdGr9JYmE As someone who is always in the mood for an All-Star Special I would agree that this joke is pretentious and reflects poorly on Hicks despite the very funny delivery :)
jimbob45 3y ago
It wasn’t my original thought. That’s been the popular justification on Reddit for the system. Makes sense considering WH is a southern-centric restaurant and many in the south would still have struggled with literacy circa 1955 when it was founded.

C'mon. Super pretentious viewpoint to think that employees at Waffle House are illiterate enough that they can't assemble orders without symbols.

by stets 3y ago

C'mon. Super pretentious viewpoint to think that employees at Waffle House are illiterate enough that they can't assemble orders without symbols.

ryandrake 3y ago

This stuff can be Googled to level-set the conversation. First search result says: - 54% of adults have a literacy below sixth-grade level. - 21% of Americans 18 and older are illiterate in 2022. We can dig further to find more sources of data and judge how reputable they are. If those numbers are incorrect, correct them and go from there.

choilive 3y ago
What are you trying to say? That all waffle house employees are functionally illiterate? Because that is not what the data says.
- ryandrake 3y ago
  No, I have no idea. It does seem that overall US literacy rates are much lower than you’d guess though. Certainly 2x worse than I thought before doing a single Google search. So it seems wise for companies in general to make their processes accessible to the illiterate, especially if they have more accurate data about their employees’ literacy than this general data. I only replied because OP seems to be getting jumped on for making a guess that feels uncomfortable to talk about.
seanmcdirmid 3y ago
That is incredibly state dependent however, looking at https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/How-Serious-Is-Americas-Literacy-Problem https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/How-Serious-Is-Americas..., you are in a different world of literacy if you live in Washington State vs. Texas. The south happens to be where Waffle House is common.
- 082349872349872 3y ago
  Luckily https://dollyparton.com/imagination-library https://dollyparton.com/imagination-library is a thing
  - 082349872349872 3y ago
    On a county level, the south doesn't look too bad as long as you're in an urban area: Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Miami, Tampa, etc. https://preview.redd.it/adult-literacy-in-the-us-by-county-v0-qpwvom079hlb1.png?auto=webp&s=7719fd485ad02526b87d208dd3c6a8e70d0db1f8 https://preview.redd.it/adult-literacy-in-the-us-by-county-v...
    - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
      The south is less urbanized than the north, so that makes sense.
kjkjadksj 3y ago
Presumably the fact they filled out a job application is enough barrier toward literacy. Especially towards words like "egg" or "waffle"
tree_enjoyer 3y ago
These are totally different versions of the concept of "literacy", though. Being able to read/write abbreviations of "eggs, scrambled", or "oatmeal" falls well below sixth-grade reading level. Literacy statistics involve much more comprehension than reading/writing food orders. Plenty of illiterate people do work in restaurants writing food orders. This is just a systemized way to remember orders, one that is used across all Waffle Houses, so that an employee from one restaurant switching to another will be just as effective, with no cross training or cultural difference.

Lammy 3y ago

“So if you've ever been to a Waffle House and you notice the menu has pictures of the food on it? …yeah.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwkdGr9JYmE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwkdGr9JYmE As someone who is always in the mood for an All-Star Special I would agree that this joke is pretentious and reflects poorly on Hicks despite the very funny delivery :)

jimbob45 3y ago

It wasn’t my original thought. That’s been the popular justification on Reddit for the system. Makes sense considering WH is a southern-centric restaurant and many in the south would still have struggled with literacy circa 1955 when it was founded.