Tim Hortons

Tim Hortons Head Office

874 Sinclair Rd., Ontario

Oakville L6K2Y1, Canada

Dear Tim Hortons Head Office,

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to your company for giving opportunities to many immigrants all over the world so that they can move here in Canada to have a better future.

My name is Joy Taclobao, a resident of Gibsons, BC. Every once in a while, I would like to treat my 12 years old son with your Iced Cap, which he loves so much, especially your Oreo iced cap which we always refer as “cookies and cream Iced cap.” My son has autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder which makes him hard to interact with other people and control his impulses and emotions. As a mother, I will make sure that he will grow up and thrive with good manners and will become a good citizen of the community. Our community helped my family a lot especially in terms of therapies, interventions, and other supports to both of my kids who are both on the spectrum and have ADHD. I was so thankful to our community, that I want to give back to them by being an education assistant in our school district. As an Education Assistant, we were trained to implement compassion, kindness, acceptance, inclusion, and diversity.

August 19, between 2 and 3pm, My 12-year-old son and I, went to our local Tim Horton’s drive thru to have my usual coffee and his favorite treat, Oreo iced cap. While I was in front of the speaker, I was checking if Oreo is still available because I know that you only offer it for a limited time. While looking on the menu board, I want to double check if that iced cap was called “cookies and cream iced cap” or “Oreo Iced Cap” because I was rudely corrected and treated before in front of my son by one of the crews of Tim Horton’s Gibsons. This time, I don’t want to be humiliated in front of my son again. But while placing my order, the menu board changed, so I just said cookies and cream iced cap. When I pulled ahead to pay for my order, I saw the iced cap by the window without any cookies and whipped cream, so I politely asked, “Is that cookies and cream?”, then the crew rudely responded with a rude facial expression, “we don’t have cookies and cream!” In my mind, I was thinking, “oh no! it was the same crew who treated me badly before!” But I tried to tell her nicely, “But on your me — “, I wasn’t done talking yet and she rudely interrupted me with, “We don’t have cookies and cream, we have Oreos!” I said with a smile, while tapping my debit card on the interact terminal,

“It’s just the same thing! “ She then rudely pulled back the interact machine, raised her one eyebrow and rolled her eyes on me. I was shocked on how the way she was treating me, so I asked her, “Are you mad at me?!” She rudely responded with, “I am not saying anything!” Then she rolled her eyes on me again and turned her back on me.

As an education assistant and as a mom of an eight-year-old nonverbal autistic child, I am well trained on nonverbal cues. Actually, my expertise is nonverbal communication. You don’t need words to send your message across. You don’t need words to differentiate kindness from rudeness. Her facial expressions, her gestures, and her body languages says a lot!

Since it was the second time that I was poorly treated by the same employee just because of a wrong term of my order, I snapped! I went out of my car, scolded her by saying,

“Everybody knows what cookies and cream is. Have you ever been in the groceries?”

Then one of the staff told me, “Every part of the world has different terms, not everyone knows what you call other products!”

I was baffled by that staff response because how can she confirm that her co-worker doesn’t know what cookies and cream is, when in fact she just rudely corrected me with “we don’t have cookies and cream, we have oreos!” which means, she knew exactly what I wanted. She didn’t have to correct me so rudely. So, I told the staff, “Before you launch a product, you should be oriented on what you were selling, you should know then that cookies and cream iced cap is just the same as Oreos iced cap!” She answered me with “You are very rude right now; you are scaring me!” I responded with, “You should be! Because I don’t deserve to be rudely treated as a customer!”

She defended her co-worker once again with, “That’s just how the way she talks!”

So, I said, “It’s not the way she talks! I have accent, too, I know what she said!” When, I looked at her, I caught her raising one of her eyebrows and rolled her eyes on me, so I said, “Have you seen how she rolled her eyes on me? Don’t tell me about how the way she talks, she is really rude! she didn’t even apologize to me!” In fact, no one there apologized to me. I wanted to say more, but I know it will just escalate. I was already causing a line up, and I am not setting a good example to my son. So, I just ended with, “tell your manager to train you more!”

While driving away, I talked to my son and told him, “Sweetie, I’m sorry you had to see that. I’m sorry that I was mad. It was not my proud moment. Please don’t do what I did!” My son told me with pure compassion, “But she was so rude to you. She was like the magnificent Princess in Toopy and Binoo the movie!” I then explained to my son, “But still, you don’t have to be rude back to other people just because they were rude to you! Just don’t emulate what mommy just did, I know you are a sweet boy” My son just told me, “okay!”

I was surprised because even my 12 years old autistic son, who has challenges in recognizing other people’s feelings and reactions still noticed that his mom was treated rudely once again by the same crew. It was funny that he had to associate the crew’s behavior from a character in the movie. And if you only watched that Toopy and Binoo the movie and see who the magnificent princess is, you will know what he meant!

I knew I could have handled it better without making a scene. I was trained to handle difficult situations and I was trained on how to deescalate crises. But as a mom and as a human being, I have my moments too. I felt that I had enough with this crew. I heard from 5 of my friends that they were treated the same by that same crew. I never got her name but with my friends’ descriptions, we dealt the same thing by that same crew, that female Punjabi crew.

I embrace diversity. I don’t generalize characters according to their race, but I know most Punjabis’ accents and the way they talk may sound rudely sometimes. I have worked with lots of Punjabis before, and I have friends who are Punjabis, too, so I know it wasn’t about the race nor the accent, not even the way they talk. I myself, have an accent, too. I am a Filipino and most of the time other people may interpret the way I talk as rude, too, maybe that is why the other crew told me that I was scaring her. But in terms of work ethics and performance, I may say that I was always congratulated and commended. That is why I can’t comprehend why that crew had the audacity to be mean and rude towards me when I was trying to be nice and polite to her, and of course, one of her job descriptions was to deliver a good customer service. Then I found out that she treated some of my friends the same? One of my friends told me that she already complained about that crew to one of Tim Horton’s Gibsons managers and she said “yeah, we have received lots of complains towards her.” Which perplexes me even more. Why is the company still keeping her? Why is she still there? Why do customers have to be treated poorly by the same crew over and over again? Was she even reprimanded after all the complaints that the company received about her? I don’t think so! She is still arrogant towards my beloved community, which we don’t deserved!

I am writing you this letter to bring to your attention that this is happening in one of your stores, in Tim Horton’s Gibsons, BC. We all have different personalities but if you are working, you are representing the company! Some of the staffs in Gibsons branch need proper training in customer service. They are representing your company. I have worked in that same branch years ago, sadly I have stayed there for only 3 months and needed to quit because I have witnessed how rude some previous crews, too. Unfortunately, those crews were Punjabis, too. Maybe it was cultural differences that caused miscommunications, but if the management would direct and lead the staffs, that branch would be a safe and conducive place to work at. There were no proper sanctions or disciplinary actions from the management or even from the store owner. Staffs can not work harmoniously that they all quit. Only temporary contract workers stayed because they have no choice. But as soon as they get their permanent residency, they also left the company right away.

I am aware that Tim Hortons Gibsons have different managers now, yet impertinence and impudence is still present. If that branch has received lots of complaints towards that specific staff but she still arrogant towards customers, it means, management is not doing their part. When I moved here in Canada as a permanent resident, my first job was a service crew in McDonalds BC. On my first year, I was awarded as employee of the year, promoted as team leader, and became morning shift supervisor. All managers and supervisors are mandatory to attend Basic Management Training first so that they will know how to manage crews, operations, and deliver exemplary customer service. I am happy to see some employees from a decade ago, still working and serving on that store. And all the staffs there, regardless of their race and backgrounds, they are all equally admirable and exceptional! They are consistent in maintaining 100% ratings from mystery shoppers after all these years!

I strongly suggest to your good office to please provide a proper training to your staffs because it will benefit the company in the long run. Employees would not keep leaving the company and it will entice more customers.

And lastly, please, give proper disciplinary actions to those staffs who made us, the customers, feel that we were just an inconvenience of their time. I am not saying to fire them, because I know most of them are still under temporary work contract, but the management can lessen their work hours or assign them at the back as bakers or dishwashers because clearly, they don’t know how to deal with customers properly. Any sanctions, any actions, as long as the management will do something to make these unruly staffs realize that every action has consequences, so that they will not continue their wrong doings.

Thank you for your time and I am looking forward for a better Tim Hortons Gibsons in the near future.

All the best,

Joy Taclobao

Tim Hortons Gibsons Patron