So I went to Tim Hortons today

[Duronos]

Never been but was in Canada so I decided why not... Weirdest place ever, I felt so out of place and everyone was looking at me like I was a bloody idiot not knowing how the transaction for donuts work. You pay first and then get donuts, different than the US. Then I noticed a line was building up and I was getting looks like "stupid American". That entire experience felt really shitty..

[Belloc]

Where in the US do you get donuts before paying for them?

[Duronos]

Where in the US do you get donuts before paying for them?

You choose them before the transaction fully occurs, not the case at Tim Hortons.

[Tierbook]

Where in the US do you get donuts before paying for them?

Grocery stores in the bakery area, Doughnut places like Krispy Kreme and Dunkin' Donuts, basically anywhere that sells them without them being pre-packaged.

[Payday]

Where in the US do you get donuts before paying for them?

Gas stations? But still..I'm pretty sure they keep the donuts behind the counter at Tim Hortons.

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You choose them before the transaction fully occurs, not the case at Tim Hortons.

Soo...did you try to walk behind the counter and grab the donuts yourself?

[prwraith]

wait so you buy the donuts here and then pick them out?>

[Shahad]

wait so you buy the donuts here and then pick them out?>

You pay for the box of X donuts, then pick which ones you want.

[Tierbook]

You pay for the box of X donuts, then pick which ones you want.

How fascinating!

[prwraith]

You pay for the box of X donuts, then pick which ones you want.

seems an odd way to do something. but I suppose it's all the same.

[Duronos]

Still waiting for the Canadian to come in the thread and tell us we're all deceived and that the Canadian way is correct way.

[Sketchy]

Tim Horton's... The bane of Canada. Their coffee tastes like shit and yet sooo many people are addicted to it.

Neat random "conspiracy theory" is that they grow and/or infuse their coffee with nicotine, most likely
inspired by the fact the coffee tastes like an ashtray. They use a special recipe 18% cream to mask the taste.

Still waiting for the Canadian to come in the thread and tell us we're all deceived and that the Canadian way is correct way.

No clue if it's the correct way LOL but how OP described it is exactly how it goes.
You ask for a dozen donuts, you pay and THEN you pick them out. Hehe

Gas stations? But still..I'm pretty sure they keep the donuts behind the counter at Tim Hortons.

A Tim Horton's at a Gas Station is called "On The Run". You can only find them at Esso. If the store is big
enough, yes the donuts are behind a counter but if it's a tiny little thing they just have a stand in one corner
and you pick them out yourself then come to the counter to pay.

[Gheld]

There is no "the way". Tim Hortons is a franchise, and their individual owners have a fair bit of leeway with how they run the business. The donuts aren't inventoried based on the finished product, but rather by the individual component (Since they are assembled in store). So the type of donut you are ordering is irrelevant to transaction buttons on the register, so it would have just been a needless memory game for the poor employee taking your order.

[Shahad]

Tim Horton's... The bane of Canada. Their coffee tastes like shit and yet sooo many people are addicted to it.

Neat random "conspiracy theory" is that they grow and/or infuse their coffee with nicotine, most likely
inspired by the fact the coffee tastes like an ashtray. They use a special recipe 18% cream to mask the taste.

Doesn't taste any worse than any other coffee place...

[Forgottenone]

Eh things are different, my first time in the US I thought the gas station was retarded because I had to pay first then get the gas. Here it has always been get my gas then go in and pay, you may think there are a lot of incidents where people take gas and leave but that isn't the case either. When I first got gas in the US I must have been standing at the pump for about a 1 minute thinking "wtf" before I went in and gave cash and even then I was still thinking "wtf" ~_~.

Another difference, I went to a KFC in the US and got a meal and it had some oddly shaped thing in it and I realized I was given a biscuit in my meal. I just pokerfaced at it because at least the KFCs near me (Niagara Falls area) don't have that.

*thinks of any other differences I can remember*

That is all I can think of for the time being, if anything jobs my memory I will post again or edit this one ~_~

Tim Horton's... The bane of Canada. Their coffee tastes like shit and yet sooo many people are addicted to it.

Neat random "conspiracy theory" is that they grow and/or infuse their coffee with nicotine, most likely
inspired by the fact the coffee tastes like an ashtray. They use a special recipe 18% cream to mask the taste.

Opinions opinions opinions my friend, though I don't drink coffee because it all tastes like crap to me so meh. Also I guess I am a bit confused but at a lot of the Tim Hortons I have been at I have ordered what I want which is usually a green tea and some donuts and they usually grab my donuts for me first then I pay. Also in regards to Tim Hortons, my mother has been with the company for 10 years as a manager and that is how her and her staff have always done it and she has worked at over 15 stores, I think it just depends on the people. SOME stores will take my money first if I offer it to them right away but if I don't have the money out they start grabbing stuff, it is all about times and getting the customer what they want then moving to the next one ~_~

[Tierbook]

Tim Horton's... The bane of Canada. Their coffee tastes like shit and yet sooo many people are addicted to it.

Neat random "conspiracy theory" is that they grow and/or infuse their coffee with nicotine, most likely
inspired by the fact the coffee tastes like an ashtray. They use a special recipe 18% cream to mask the taste.




No clue if it's the correct way LOL but how OP described it is exactly how it goes.
You ask for a dozen donuts, you pay and THEN you pick them out. Hehe



A Tim Horton's at a Gas Station is called "On The Run". You can only find them at Esso. If the store is big
enough, yes the donuts are behind a counter but if it's a tiny little thing they just have a stand in one corner
and you pick them out yourself then come to the counter to pay.

But if you pick out your doughnuts then pay it's easier to tell about the quality of the doughnut.... and based off what you said about the coffee that's something they need.

[Sketchy]

Doesn't taste any worse than any other coffee place...

I'd have to respectfully disagree. Even the Chevron gas station brand of Van Houte coffee tastes miles ahead.

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But if you pick out your doughnuts then pay it's easier to tell about the quality of the doughnut.... and based off what you said about the coffee that's something they need.

http://imgur.com/SwL3KvX

The donuts aren't hidden from you, you can see them very clearly in a glass counter case. Since there usually is a line
at any given time of day, you can peruse your selection in advance. By the way, want to know if they Timmy Ho's you're
eating at is a well run one? The tables in the seating area will always be clean. Always.

[Tierbook]

I'd have to respectfully disagree. Even the Chevron gas station brand of Van Houte coffee tastes miles ahead.

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The donuts aren't hidden from you, you can see them very clearly in a glass counter case. Since there usually is a line
at any given time of day, you can peruse your selection in advance. By the way, want to know if they Timmy Ho's you're
eating at is a well run one? The tables in the seating area will always be clean. Always.

Ya but at the Krispy Kreme in the area at least it's a glass display case right at eye level next to the register, which means that in order for them to fit all the doughnuts there the area for each doughnut flavor needs to be small, though they go back a good bit. You normally can't see the condition of the doughnuts they give you because they are all the way at the back, if it's a popular flavor like chocolate glazed or glazed almost all doughnuts will be at the front of their respective area in the display case because they are kept down by consumers.

[Gheld]

Tim Horton's... The bane of Canada. Their coffee tastes like shit and yet sooo many people are addicted to it.

Neat random "conspiracy theory" is that they grow and/or infuse their coffee with nicotine, most likely
inspired by the fact the coffee tastes like an ashtray. They use a special recipe 18% cream to mask the taste.

They use a "custom" blend they then contract a coffee manufacturer to manufacture in large quantities for them. At no point throughout the process do they have any opportunity to put nicotine in it.

People are "Addicted" to it, because they aren't. Tims has a decent amount of menu options, a lot of locations, a "distinctly Canadian" image (and thus a cult of personality), heavy and well researched marketing. So the end result is that if somebody is too lazy to make their own coffee, it's the first place on somebodies mind when they go for coffee.

They use 18% cream that is manufactured by local dairies. Most people put milk and extreme cases half-and-half in coffee at home and into office coffee, most sit down restaurants give you half-and-half if you ask for cream. A lot of coffee shops use half-and-half and at best light cream for cream.

The end result is that the fat from the cream in Tim Hortons coffee (and the sugar) triggers the release of dopamine, causing you to feel pleasure. If there was nicotine in the coffee, given that the metabolic half-life of nicotine is 30 minutes you would need a cup every hour or two in order to service the addiction, and given that caffeine has a metabolic half-life of 3 hours the end result would be that caffeine would accumulate in your system and reach lethal levels in very short order.

So the "nicotine in the coffee, lulz" thing is just ridiculous.

Restaurants, especially fast food ones, and especially franchised ones, do not manufacture their own products. The amount of throughput that a factory would require to be profitable in this day and age would boggle most people's minds... A coffee factory doesn't manufacture one brand of coffee... It manufactures all of the brands.

[Mormolyce]

It is weird to pay before selecting. Coming from an Australian. Never seen a store do that.

[Mukor]

Go into a starbucks and ask for a large coffee and watch their head spin. Horton's only confused me once when they said " you want a double double or a triple double?" i said no i want 1 coffee.