'Waffle House Index' is a real thing during disasters
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'Waffle House Index' is a real thing during disasters
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Re: 'Waffle House Index' is a real thing during disasters
#2The example of strength of centralized organization
Re: 'Waffle House Index' is a real thing during disasters
#3Whenever 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?
Re: 'Waffle House Index' is a real thing during disasters
#4Whenever 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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Re: 'Waffle House Index' is a real thing during disasters
#5Whenever 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?
Presumably they're volunteers and get compensated for it? Some people enjoy that kind of challenge and thrive from helping people and communities.
Re: 'Waffle House Index' is a real thing during disasters
#6Re: 'Waffle House Index' is a real thing during disasters
#7I 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.
Re: 'Waffle House Index' is a real thing during disasters
#8Whenever 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?
Ericsson has a similar response program in place for disasters around the world. They call it "Ericsson Response".
The goal is to setup GSM-based emergency networks from scratch very quickly in severe disaster areas where infrastructure is disrupted by natural or other kinds of disasters.
For example: Nepal after the devastating earthquake in 2015.
They're flying in containers of GSM network equipment, diesel generators, fuel, along with technical people to get things going. Then they'll hand out SIMs/phones to emergency workers ASAP in order to empower logistics in a disaster zone.
It's manned by (obviously still paid) volunteers out of their normal working force.
This is based from Sweden mostly, I think. I'd expect the usual foreign travel insurance thing, perhaps with an additional hostage negotiation insurance for particular regions.
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Presumably neither of these would be needed for Waffle House employees from the US who travel to another US state?
For well-run companies these kinds of things are a win-win thing. The company gets more loyalty, the employees get more motivation and the "end-users" get help. Perhaps the Waffle House is just a well-run company?
Re: 'Waffle House Index' is a real thing during disasters
#9Speaking of disasters, I wonder how many people actually follow the government's recommendation for things like basic disaster kits.
Re: 'Waffle House Index' is a real thing during disasters
#10Whenever 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?
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.