At the end of the world, forget Wawa... look for me at a good Greek diner

Have you ever wondered what would happen if the computer system crashed at a busy convenience store at say, high noon?
I have to admit, I never did (it does seem the stuff of a hacker daydream), but I got to witness what happens firsthand at the Wawa on Schoenersville Road one afternoon last week on my way into the office.

It’s not pretty.

First, let me start by saying, I have respect for Wawa. Whenever I am in need of quick “road food,” an occasion that is not too uncommon in the news biz, Wawa is generally my first choice, since it really is the least of the evils. You can even get real food there, if you are choosy, and they usually have Vitamin Water, my usual liquid staple in addition to a good, never-ending supply of French roast, which is generally supplemented by their preservative-free half and half at my home.

But they are really, truly helpless without their computers.

It started about 25 seconds after I walked in. I went to place my sandwich order on their touch screen terminal, when all of a sudden I heard someone say, “Our computers are down...” Despite being in the middle of my order, I didn’t immediately notice anything. But the deli clerk said they couldn’t receive the printed orders, so could customers please give them the slip the terminals printed out, so they could start making sandwiches?

Sure, I say, remembering my order number is ‘12’ and not really thinking about what comes next.

So, I turn around to go look for a Vitamin Water, and WOW! I forgot that “our computers are down” meant none of the cash registers would work. Instantly, the line stretched into infinity with people waiting to pay. Add to that all the folks that were in the process of getting gas at the time of the crash (this Wawa has that service, and the price is always good, so even with umpteen pumps, there’s frequently a wait) that are trying to figure out if their credit card transaction went through or not, didn’t get a receipt, or plain got shut out during a cash sale and want to know what’s going to be done about it, and you begin to get an idea of what might happen when the computers crash at Wawa.

I never thought about this before either, but do you have any idea how many people are served at a large, busy Wawa on an average weekday afternoon in about 25 minutes? It’s a lot. Like more than a hundred, and since you can’t tell what’s going on from outside, they just keep coming in.

For all of that, the crowd was very, very good. Despite ten minutes or more of no movement, there were no complaints, just the occasional joke that this meant everything was free, right?

But the employees looked terrified. Apparently, this was a possibility no one ever drilled them on. One they may just have nightmares about for weeks to come.

In fairness, I’ve never even heard of this happening, and thinking back, it would seem Wawa’s system is actually pretty good and usually very stable.

Just as the one employee, the manager, there who could actually count change and figure amounts on a calculator, including presumably the sales tax, announced that “we might have to do this the old-fashioned way,” and that those with just a coffee or a newspaper or something with exact change could be taken care of first, the system finally successfully rebooted itself.

You could literally see the collective sigh of relief from the employees.

The manager joked, with a nervous laugh, the problem had to have been caused by hackers from the Sheetz down the street.
Within seconds of the final reboot, the employees were checking out waiting customers as FAST as they possibly could. I even successfully used my ATM card to pay for my lunch without a hitch.

That was fairly impressive.

But it’s also still interesting that a place like Wawa is completely incapacitated to the point of not being able to sell a stick of gum without its computer system.

Later, I had dinner at the local, Greek-owned diner back in Easton. When I called for my check, I watched the waitress whip out a calculator to add up my bill. At the register, which is computerized, I watched the cashier use none of the advanced functions of the machine, but instead, he counted my change back to me.

Greeks are practical people. (Full disclosure: I am of entirely Greek ancestry.)

Diners are really the original fast, convenient food, and despite the many changes that have befallen the world since their inception and rise in popularity, they have been a reliable staple of our culture. Sure there are chain diners, but the ‘real’ diners are generally family-owned (and frequently Greek) businesses.

The name of the game is to feed people and get paid. What do you need a computer for to do that? (Insert a Greek accent here, and you will hear the echo of both my grandfathers in this sentence...)

Yes, I understand tracking sales and stock and loss prevention.

But if the world comes to an end and I need a quick meal, you can bet you won’t find me at Wawa. In fact, I’d be looking for me at the local diner instead.

(Originally published in The Easton News, November 9, 2006)