Nasty Tim Hortons

Out for a trip to the local Metro store and needed some lunch. We had planned to eat out at McDonald's nearby with the coupons received recently.  However, we were surprised to find the McDonald's to be in  a Petro Canada gas station.  Oops.

No worries there was the ever dependable welcoming sign of Tim Hortons (1239 Donald Street, Ottawa) with promises of familiar meals inside.

My Mother-in-Law, Wife and myself entered at 1 P.M. and waited in a short line that was adequately advancing.  We were looking at the front display case of muffins and donuts when my wife motioned to me and pointed to a wasp enjoying one of the muffins on the bottom shelf.  I didn't blink an eye figuring it was just one wasp and if we pointed it out to the Tim Hortons employee at the cash she would have it taken care of.

We walked up the cash and put our order in.

The Order: 2 Chili combos with white rolls, 1 Medium Black Coffee, 1 Medium Green Tea and 1 Large Green Tea with a Blueberry Muffin (sans Wasp please!)

After ordering, we politely quietly noted the wasp in the bottom.  The employee was like, "so?"  As if nothing happened.  She then proceeded to put our order together without alerting anyone that a wasp was in the front display case.

We gathered our order and sat down at one of the tables.  My Mother-in-Law had actually changed tables before we got there as apparently there was another wasp in a nearby window.

The food was average Tim Hortons fare with the chili being the usual freshness and not overcooked as I've had at other locations from time to time.  Nothing remarkably positive or negative about the food at all, just average run of the mill Tim Hortons fare.

But I looked around and observed at least three wasps buzzing around the air over the food preparation area.  There were actually more wasps inside the restaurant than in the parking lot.  The employees didn't pay any attention to them until one would fly by their heads and the employee was forced to dodge it.  But then they would continue on with their lives thinking nothing of it.  It was like they were used to dodging wasps and this Tim Hortons had been dealing with it for a while.

At the end of the meal, I gathered up the garbage and headed over to the garbage can.  This Tim Hortons, with the new corporate upgrades completed, had the three stream recycling program.  However, none of the bins were labelled thus making them all garbage bins.  It was like Tim Hortons was asking you to pick the size and shape of hole you wish to drop your detritus through and have a nice day! I dumped everything through one and put the tray on the stack of twenty other trays on top.  I noted the six different plates that appeared to have sat on the shelf for a while.  No wonder the place was swarming with wasps, the dirty plates and trays probably had been sitting there for over an hour.  This was all despite an average number of customers arriving over the time we were there.  Part of the wasp problem was caused by employees not taking care of the cleaning of the tables and dishes in a timely manner.

Overall, this Tim Hortons was one of the nastiest locations I have been too.  Management needs to be rotated out and new more experienced management brought in to bring this location up to corporate Tim Hortons standards.  The wasp issue obviously needs a trained specialist to take care of as it seems the wasps have been in the location so long they probably have taken up residence.   To say the least, I will not be returning to this Tim Hortons.