(CNN) Late last Saturday night, Ethan Crispo had just left a friend's birthday party in Birmingham, Alabama, and walked into a Waffle House around midnight to grab a bite.

Crispo told CNN only a single employee was working in the restaurant.

He described the cook's face, as "awash in bewilderment," at finding he was by himself managing the night shift.

More than 30 people were there eating, and there was just one man left to "fend off the incoming crowd of hungry, heavily imbibed customers," Crispo said.

He became resigned to going home on an empty stomach.

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