A “slightly drunken” Waffle House customer from South Carolina decided to take matters into his own hands after he found the staff at the West Columbia outlet asleep early Thursday.

Alex Bowen, 36, stopped at the restaurant and cooked his own meal finding the staff asleep. He even posted hilarious pictures of himself from the restaurant.

Bowen said he walked into the restaurant while on his way home after a few drinks with friends and found it empty of other customers.

He told NBC affiliate WIS-TV 10 that he was very hungry and added: "I walked back outside to look for employees. No one in sight."

He also said he waited for 10 minutes at the register. "Walked back in and waited a few more minutes and then it was go time," Bowen said. He has now become a viral sensation online after the semi-drunk evening at Waffle House.

"Got hot on the grill with a double Texas bacon cheesesteak melt with extra pickles," Bowen added. "When I was done I cleaned the grill, collected my ill-gotten sandwich and rolled on out."

The pictures in his Facebook post showed Bowen in the cooking areas and with a stacked sandwich. He also posted a picture of the sleeping employee he had spotted later in the background.

"I give all the credit to my old friend vodka," he claimed. "I wouldn't normally have done that."

Bowen further said he stopped by the same Waffle House Thursday afternoon to check on the store and make sure no one was asleep on the job.

He said one of the employees told him the store isn't very happy with what he had done. "Yeah guess old Waffle House just gonna have to take the L on that one (sic),” Bowen said.

Bowen replied in the negative when asked if he had paid for his food before he left but added that he gave the employee $5 when he went back on Thursday afternoon.

WIS-TV also cited a Waffle House spokesperson as saying that the sleeping employee was suspended for a week. He said after speaking with Bowen they found that his actions pointed to greater issues that they will address in the future.

A statement from Waffle House said: "Our local Division Manager has spoken to Alex and apologized. For safety reasons, our customers should never have to go behind the counter. Rather they should get a quality experience delivered by friendly associates. We are reviewing this incident and will take appropriate disciplinary action.In a related note, obviously Alex has some cooking skills, and we’d like to talk to him about a job since we may have something for him.”

ABC News reported that after Bowen’s story went viral, a Waffle House district manager reached out to him and asked him to become a Waffle House secret shopper, and even thanked him for throwing light on a flaw in their business.

Bowen said he hoped someone at Waffle House would be awake the next time he went to order. “But if not, I’d know what to do,” he said.

RELATED STORIES
Employee Facebook