Friday, June 11, 2010

Tim Horton’s, the Family Restaurant

Unbelievable is all I can say, I wasn’t feeling great today so during my lunch break I headed over to the London Drugs to get a little something for my stomach, then I thought why not get some soup from Tim Horton’s while I’m here. So I go in and place my order then move to the corner counter to wait for my soup and that’s when I hear a man’s voice yelling.

It was something along the lines of “shut that thing the F** up” (note - when I turn and look he is screaming at a lovely family of four with two adorable kids around the age of 3 and 6mths so when he says “thing” he is referring to the child). I was instantly shocked, thinking... that didn’t just happen. The father of the family said something back, however at this point I am not processing it as I am totally perplexed as to why yelling man is even yelling as the kids aren’t even making any noise!!

As the mom was setting up the kid’s food she also said something to the yelling man (I’m thinking, good for her!), meanwhile what can I do, I want to help, but you have to understand there isn’t a lot I can do I am completely useless whenever conflict happens. My body overloads on adrenalin and starts shaking, first in my legs then in hands and it had already started.

I found myself processing everything in slow motion and then I went to survival mode. I gripped the counter to steady myself and then I went for the full lean as I wasn’t sure how much longer I could stand (ridicules I know. I wasn’t even involved, why am I shaking!). As I steadied myself against the counter another customer who was leaving said to yelling man “you should leave” (he didn’t).

Keep in mind this has all happened in a short period of time. My soup still hasn’t arrived and as I leaned on the counter I called out to the staff. Finally the sandwich maker comes over and said “sorry your food is coming” I said “yeah, but is there a manager because some customer is yelling at a family in the dining area and the manager needs to do something” as I say this I am pointing directly at yelling man.

My soup arrives, the managers are consulting and I think ok I have done as much as I can do, the managers will handle this, as there is probably a procedure for them to follow. So I change my focus to my shaking legs hmm maybe it wasn’t the best idea to park half way across the parking lot. One leg at a time I made it to my car I had to sit and wait for 10 minutes before I could drive.

As I sat, waiting for the shaking to slow down, I thought did I do enough, could I have done more? Its lunch time at a national chain which most would consider a family restaurant (isn’t one of Tim Horton’s main charities a children’s charily!!)… if you have that much of a problem with people that you can’t restrain in public from blatantly yelling at them, then maybe you just need to stick to the hooters and pubs of the world or better yet stop leaving your house period.

Yeah I am talking to you yelling man!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Breath of Fresh Air

I am sure nearly everyone has been awoken in the middle of the night for some reason or another; snoring, cat fight, babies, kick to the shin, really the list can go on and on. But I think I would take any of the latter over what woke me up the other night.

You have to picture yourself there, my head was nuzzled into the pillow perfectly, the window was cracked just enough creating the perfect temperature and the fan had a light breeze with a bit of white noise. I don’t remember if I was dreaming or not, but I do remember that moment of realization between being asleep and being awake…it was like a dream, a dream that I was being poisoned.

I felt myself choking the taste in my mouth was like a dry nastiness really I felt like I was being poisoned I have no other explanation, well other then what was actually happening. My lovely fiancée who remained fast asleep beside me had gas, yes gas, gas so bad that it woke me up not first by a sound or the smell but by the taste! I could TASTE it; I am gagging thinking about it.

When I finally had the realization that I was actually awake I went into survival mode, I shoved my face into the blanket. No, that didn’t work; I sat up and tried to take a break; No, still didn’t work. I had to leave the room, I found myself in the living room sliding the balcony door open and gasping for air all I could think was this really coming from him, he’s not a big guy.

I finished my night off on the couch, it was the safest bet, the next morning he said to me “what happened to you last night”, in disbelief I said “are you kidding me what happing to you last night…did you S**t yourself!”