A Waffle House employee who ended up being the star of a viral video where she deflected a chair during a fight claims she was blacklisted by the company in the aftermath.
Back in September 2021 a fight broke out in a Waffle House very late at night after a bunch of people tried to sit down in a closed off area of the restaurant.
The group had become more irate as they were told they'd have to sit somewhere else and wait a while for their food as other orders had been placed ahead of them until the whole thing spilled out into violence.
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Things got really nasty as some customers stormed the counter and one diner hurled a chair at a staff member's head, only to see it deflected like it was absolutely nothing.
Seeing the customer picking up another chair to attack her with, the worker simply made a 'bring it' gesture with her hands since the first throw had clearly been pathetic.
After the fight, the Waffle House branch had to be closed down for several hours as the police had arrived, and staff also needed to clean the place up after people had thrown chairs, plates and pretty much anything which came to hand.
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The worker who deflected a chair was told off for throwing a container of sugar at one of the customers during the Waffle House brawl but was not fired, and the footage eventually found its way online where she went viral.
She was dubbed 'Waffle House Wendy' and became the subject of a number of memes and fan art depicting the iconic moment when someone threw a chair at her and she blocked it like it was nothing.
Beyond the memes and art, the actual 'Waffle House Wendy', real name Halie, quit shortly after the fight as she decided the more dangerous side of the job just wasn't worth the hassle, even with her incredible chair blocking skills.
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However, in a YouTube video explaining the whole situation she has claimed that when she decided to apply for a job at a different Waffle House she was rejected despite having worked for them for around four years, saying she had been 'blacklisted' and could never work for them again.
She told Rolling Stone she appreciated all of the love and support which had been sent her way and went back to the Waffle House on New Year's Eve to revisit the site of her famous battle.
Halie also said she hadn't even realised she'd gone viral at first.
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She said: "I was sitting at home eating popcorn, watching Hulu. My boyfriend called me from work and said I was on the news."
Despite saying she had seemingly been 'blacklisted' by Waffle House she said she did like working for them and called Waffle House a 'great company' who 'take care of their employees'.
She's also received some money since going viral, which she plans to put towards helping victims of domestic violence and into her son's college fund.
UNILAD has contacted Waffle House for comment.
Joe Harker