I love my local Tim Hortons. It’s handy in that it is walking distance from my house, but in the opposite direction to my office. Still I go there on the two days that I travel into the office, even if it delays me. It’s not the food, or the coffee that keeps me coming back, although I do like the mildness of Tim’s coffee. The people there are what makes it worthwhile.

It’s one of those Timmies where the drive-thru is always lined up onto the road (I realize that this does not narrow it down at all), so I opt to go inside. Inside, where I get to meet the great people who work there. They are always happy to see me, greeting me with a smile and hello, and asking after my family and me. They miss me when I don’t come in, and worry if I am gone for more than a week without warning them. On the rare occasion that I have brought Woo and Goose in, they make a big fuss over them, and sneak them as many timbits as they can. They are just really kind people.

This month they have been training a new guy on the cash, and this was his first week working it solo. On his first day, I walked in and gave him my order of two coffees. Yes, two coffees, both for me. The coffee at my office is terrible. He started pouring and was stopped by one of his colleagues, who told him that I wanted extra larges, my usual. I let her know that it was OK, that was my order today. I also reassured the next person who tried to correct him, and the next, and the next. Four people were concerned enough to about my order that they needed to correct him. That is why I love my Timmies.

New guy wasn’t there the next day. I hope I didn’t have anything to do with that, I am sure that he is really nice.