Parking at Tims

One of the Tim Horton’s that I go to on a semi-regular basis has recently gone through a minor renovation. They put in another drive through lane so that they could better serve their customers. I should say so that they can better serve their mobile customers, because those of us who actually walk into the restaurant are beginning to feel like the poor country cousins.

I guess on a strictly financial basis, their reno makes good sense, and really, if you are in business, the finances are pretty important. However, I doubt that there is a Tim Horton’s in Canada that isn’t doing well financially. I can understand why mom’s with kids in the car or I suppose people on the way to work use the drive through, but I don’t really get it when someone by themselves will get a coffee at the drive through so they can drink their coffee by themselves. Seems kind of lonely to me.

I actually considered going through the drive through this morning myself. There was a line up out the door waiting to get their coffee or iced moca-frappa-chino iced drink with caramel and sprinkles on the top. I figured I could get my coffee faster if I went through the drive through, parked the car and came back in the restaurant to drink it. They will have six or seven people working the drive through and two in the restaurant at the most. I’m beginning to think that they would rather shut the doors and just serve through the windows, kind of like a big food truck without wheels. Oh well, I suppose this is the way most of us choose to be served our coffee.

So, they put in an extra lane for the drive through, but to do this they had to take out half of the parking that they had, and they didn’t have a lot to begin with. They painted over the lines on the one side of the now much narrower lot which will only allow parking on one side. I came up today and saw that not one but two pinheads had managed to squeeze their vehicles into the side that no longer has parking. I guess it just goes to show you that we humans will fight hard to resist change of any kind. Crazy fucking people!

I still had to wait in line, and in fact I was waiting in line behind one of the pinheads that obviously doesn’t know how to park. Turns out that this particular pinhead was a city worker, and he had a city truck and everything. The department that he works for is the Parking Authority. It kind of made me warm and fuzzy all over, recognizing the irony of the situation. I think that would qualify as irony, but it could just as easily be gross stupidity, ignorance or a fine inattention to detail. I wondered if I should tell him that he parked in the wrong place, but then again maybe no. This kind of job attracts tiny minded people that like to throw around the little bit of authority they have. Thank God these guys never get any real power. I don’t know whether he would react badly or if he would just shrug and turn back to waiting in line, but I decided I didn’t really want to find out.

I was just happy to know that the parking guy parked in the wrong place and that I had an idea for tonight’s blog.