Having to tell people you work at Denny's is hard work. I'm pretty sure a piece of your humanity dies every time.

Yeah, I feel sorry for all those waitresses getting those fat 15% tips today.

It does. I always laugh when I'm at events and they start giving away free t-shirts, or some other promo item. People go nuts, holding out their hands and screaming for attention just so the one dude throwing ugly corporate-logo-ridden t-shirts into a crowd will deign to look their way.

I remember a paper on food safety that asserted that Denny's actually has the fewest health violations compared to all franchise-deployed fast food joints/restaurants, despite being open 24 hours a day.

Among the worst? Subway, mostly for not keeping cold cuts cold enough.

@Applekid: If you can find this paper, please email info on it to us. It would be a great thing for our readers.

@Applekid: Interesting. I've also noted that Waffle House (almost all are 24/7) also tend to have health scores in the high 90s no matter where you go. At least they're clean where it counts. The floors, not so much.

@cuchanu: And I'll bet most people tip 15% of 'free', too.

I think that's a bit harsh saying Denny's people don't work. I remember going there in college all the time. The women working were all single moms who looked pretty much like death from working 2-3 jobs to support their kids. They probably made bad life decisions and I'm not making excuses, but they were working hard. And for really not a lot of money. And Denny's doesn't attract the greatest crowds either. They were usually poorly treated.

Nanerpus!

It would suck being a Denny's employee today - unless you're a server. I bet they're cleaning up on tips, and it's probably not that much harder because most of the orders are gonna be simple.

@Applekid: I'm surprised about Subway. Doesn't seem like it'd be that hard to keep those little trays cold enough.

@Chris Walters: Google-fu found at least one reference to Dateline NBC on Wiki... but it's hardly a primary source. I could have sworn it was on TV and compared Subway explicitly... gotta see if Tivo Desktop made a copy of it at the time.

I bet it sucks to be a server today too. Exactly how can they afford to feed millions of people for free in this economy?

@Saboth: Give it away for free, make it up on volume!

Oh, wait...

@Kavatar: Yeah I'm sure they are living the good life today.

Because people who flood to a free meal offer have always been the demographic servers love to see.

Regular folks are now soup-kitchen hoboes.
No jobs.

@Applekid: This could be from my living in Germany, but I don't really see the point in refridgerating deli meats. Especially at a place like Subway where all the meats are likely to be used in a single day.

@downwithmonstercable: Oddly enough, that is how I would describe the strippers at a local joint where I went to college.

@downwithmonstercable: I used to go to dennys all the time in undergrad to study..... They loved me in there, they would change the radio station to what ever I wanted and I always had a fresh cup of coffee..... In addition they would not sit people near me unless they were getting full.

I had one lady who worked there request I talk to her son about college, they did work hard and got paid pennies.

High Fructose Corn Syrup syrup; it's twice as syrupy.

Heh in those pictures the lines aren't very long. In my area the one Denny's has so many people in line they're out of parking space in the lot

Isn't a 'grand slam breakfast' at Denny's like 4 or 5 bucks the rest of the time? It's not really a savings worth getting frost bite for.

@Saboth: They're probably making up most of their costs with additional purchases (i.e. drinks), given that their margin is probably enormous. The rest of the cost is just advertising.

@cuchanu: I am betting these people don't tip at all, because its supposed to be free. When people hear free they expect it to be free no matter what.

hobo: 1. a tramp or vagrant 2. a migratory worker. Come on, think before you call soup kitchen clients "hoboes". You're smarter than this.

@DrGirlfriend: So true!! And half the time people won't even know what they're grabbing for, they just want it!

@downwithmonstercable: Agreed. Waitresses nowadays get very poor treatment and little pay. Since people have less money a lot of people (not everyone) are going out to eat, ordering water and not giving tips. Or cutting the tip in half or giving a very small tip. This ignores the fact that if you cannot afford the food you probably shouldn't be going out to eat, but people still go, they are just extra cheap about it. When and if I go out to eat, the few times that I do our waitress is treated right and gets a proper tip.

@Outrun1986: Reminds me of my days delivering food in college (1996-2000)

We had "free delivery" on the sign (to indicate that we didn't charge extra, as was customary about 20 years ago). However, most of the customers were college kids and had never heard of delivery surcharges, so they interpreted it to mean "you don't have to tip"

I'd never press the issue, but sometimes they'd ask about it and I'd have to politely tell them I was making minimum wage.

I am surprised the turnout isn't worse. When certain Six Flags amusement parks opened the park to the public for free it got so bad that they had to close highways and shut the doors to the park since it was full to capacity. Highways were more backed up than ever. Since they had to close the highways many people who didn't even want to go to this got affected because they could not get where they were normally going.

@Applekid: When I was 5, I found broken glass in my pancakes at Dennys. Thankfully my dad figured it out while cutting up the pancakes, so no medical issues ensued. To this day, I regret my parents not being more litigious though.

Kind of sad, really. But, still, "some flour+water discs, HFCS syrup, and a little pig meat" is a little obnoxiously reductionist, don't you think? (Besides, the offer included eggs. I'm surprised I didn't read "fried chicken embryos," too.

If you can't afford to tip, you can't afford to eat out. That's the rule. Even if the food is free.

@TheGuinnessTooth: Ironically, Subway freezes their veggie patties.

I waited tables at a corporate turn and burn for 4.5 years. The people going to Denny's for the free food aren't probably going to be of wealth. The servers at Denny's probably are probably going to be slammed all day not make very much money. When people get things for free they usually don't tip well.

@Applekid: That, and Subway's franchise standards are so low that you can open one up in your bedroom closet if you want.

To chime in on the tips issue, I predict epic cheapskatery today. Those poor waiters and waitresses. How many times do you think they have to tell people that the other shit on the menu isn't free also. It makes me want to drop in on a Denny's just to leave a tip for someone, not to eat though, yecchh.

@Ash78: If your business is targeting college kids, you can't expect anything from them, especially these days. These kids are for themselves and nothing else, if they see free then it means free to them, despite what might be morally right. How else would credit companies be able to reel them in with a free pizza or a free bottle of soda!

When I was in college it was impossible to find anyone to even do anything with, outside of partying and bars. The student union sponsored events and such that I wanted to participate in but because no one had an extra 5$ to go, the events were always cancelled because no one signed up. I tried to round up people for events but no one had any money, now keep in mind the cost of this was 5$. This was about 5-6 years ago. Students walk around in the latest Abercrombie fashions, with the latest cell phone and Ipod here but yet they don't have a couple bucks to tip the food delivery person or spend 5$ to go to a fun event with the school. Believe me, they have plenty of money for beer too.

Not saying everyone is like this but at the college I went to, 99% were.

@Ash78: Were you making minimum wage, or minimum wage for tipped employees? They're different by a factor of about 3x.

Waiters can make as little as ~$2.13/hr (I just read the sign in the break room), but the state minimum wage here is like $9.75.

My school was so small that I felt obliged to tip the delivery guy. It was always someone who I recognized from campus/classes, so it wasn't like I was never going to see him again. In fact, I'd usually run into them in the next 24 hours. And the next time, he might be the "customer" at my work!

I predict that everyone will be cheap as well. These people might be coming in with empty pockets with absolutely no money in them. I expect them to order water with their meal and nothing else. I expect them to not leave a tip either because after all its free. If the waiter asks for a tip these people will probably argue to death saying that since it was advertised as free we don't have to leave a tip.

@threlkelded: That makes absolutely no sense, in the case that food is free. Free means free, not free*.

@captadam: I can't, because this morning I went to hang up my coat and there's a Starbucks in there.

Who knows, though, maybe it will one of the 700 to close...

@Outrun1986: Six Flags for a medium or large family for free I can kind of understand. With 4 or 5 people you're talking several hundred dollars.

I did a piece of time at Six Flags and their clientele suffers in a lot of the basic critical thinking departments. That must of been a day of living hell.

Also I agree on 1986.

FREE = stupid people.

case in point: freecreditreport .com,which says "offer applies with enrollment in tripleadvantage" (though the wording "enrollment in" should be changed to "purchase of")

@downwithmonstercable: Just to clarify: neither I nor the tipster were implying that Denny's waitstaff doesn't work hard. On the contrary, she was pointing out that this is probably the *worst* day for them in terms of being run ragged for little money, and so tips are especially important. I agreed, which is why I reposted that line and called attention to it.

Just sayin! I don't want any waiters/waitresses hating on me. I know how hard they work.

meh I eat at IHOP for luncha round once a week. Denny's was too far and it always tastes worse than IHOP to me. I had subway today instead. PS the new 9 grain honey oat bread is pretty good.

@captadam:

Not to mention, there's no water in pancakes. The recipe calls for milk. Sure, they might be making theirs from a mix that includes powdered milk, but still...they're not serving glue.

@zimzombie: Exactly. Believe me, I mulled over this before I typed it, then decided, "well what the hell, it *is* a syrup made from a syrup, so it's accurate. Sort of."

@captadam: It's all just carbs, proteins, salts, water and ash, baby.

Or protons, electrons, and neutrons. That works too, but not as catchy ending it with ",baby."

@downwithmonstercable: I know quite a few people who got nasty food poisoning from Subway. It was enough for me to shun Subway for life.

Having the entire dept. go out for lunch at Subway and half of them end up sick tends to really screw up productivity. So does giving the entire cast of a play food poisoning BEFORE THE SHOW.