Detroit Tim Horton's Strangeness

This past week I headed to Detroit on business. While in the Detroit area I was lucky to be staying at a hotel near a Tim Hortons location (1292 North Opdyke Road, Auburn Hills). On Wednesday night I decided to explore the area and came across the Tim Hortons. I headed inside this particular Tim Hortons location and ordered a medium black coffee. A medium black coffee is my normal coffee order when I'm at a Tim Hortons location in Canada. So I thought I knew what I would receive.

I was wrong, the guy behind the counter ambled over and poured a large cup of coffee and served it to me. I asked if this wasn't a large? He replied, even though there was an "L" on the coffee cup lid, this was a middle size of cup they had. I learned that evening this particular location doesn't serve small sized cups.

So the next night I went in to the same store and there were two ladies behind the counter. I ordered a "Canadian medium" or a "American small". While one of them was pouring the coffee I explained what happenned the night before and the fact that I was Canadian. They laughed at the misunderstanding.

I also explained to these two friendly ladies the "Tim Hortons culture" in Canada. They were shocked that Canadians would line up around the corner in the drive thru and out the door in the mornings for the coffee. In the evenings that lines can sometime be five to six people long in some locations. The noted they only had five or six people deep in the morning rush hour.

Americans are strange. They don't serve small Tim Hortons cofee and they just don't understand the attraction of a local Tim Hortons location or, some cases, vast array of local Tim Hortons locations.