This reminds me of my one experience in a Waffle House back in 1997. My wife and I drove cross-country from Houston back to our home to New England. (We were driving instead of flying because we bought a new vehicle from a family friend…which is another story I’ve mentioned here before.)
Anyway, we stopped to eat in a Waffle House in Texarkana. As we entered, the hostess loudly greeted us with, “HI!!! HOW Y’ALL DOING?” As we then walked to our table, every single server in the restaurant would stop what they were doing and say the same thing: “HI!!! HOW Y’ALL DOING?” Finally we passed the line cook, and he did the same thing – stopped what he was doing to say, “HI!!! HOW Y’ALL DOING?”
By the time we sat down, my wife was ready to bolt. She’s from Boston, and isn’t used to enthusiastic greetings from strangers. I’m from Texas originally, and even I was a little surprised. I was starting to wonder if we’d wandered into some cult group.