Tim Hortons writing on lids

[swak]

As a preface, this little peeve of mine lately is menial at its finest, but is something that I have yet to understand for months now.
Every morning I walk into Tim Horton's as the drive through is usually insane, and just get a coffee and breakfast by myself to bring to the office.

Every morning, and at various Tim Horton's they have done this, they write on my cup lid "R" as i order a regular coffee. Then right after writing on it they hand it to me, 2 feet away.
There are no other coffee's that it could get mixed with and I am only ordering one coffee as such it wouldn't get mixed up with other coffee's i'm ordering.

Are these employees so ingrained in their work "procedures" that they have no brain cells left to realize when writing on coffee cup lids is not necessary? Or is it some quality assurance processes that Tim Horton's has? Seems very strange to me.

Starbucks writes on the cups, but their cups are together with others and could get mixed around and confused. Makes sense. Tim's doesn't so much.

[killramos]

Can't speak for TH but when I worked at a Starbucks there were a number of steps in the customer service process that corporate took very seriously and you were expected to follow regardless of how silly they felt. Don't blame the employee for toeing the party line.

[jwslam]

I'm betting it's routine from when people come in and order 2+ cups.
But I know what you mean. I've gone in and ordered 3 regulars and they'll write on all of them after putting them into the same tray.

[schurchill39]

I noticed this too. I always go to a Timmies downtown and I order my coffee and stand aside then she fills it, writes on the lid, and hands it to me. Not sure why as its only me and only 1 drink. It doesn't bother me like it does you but it is definitely strange.

[A790]

It's a process. They follow it. Why is it a problem? lol

[jacky4566]

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It's a process. They follow it. Why is it a problem? lol

Probably also helps stop fraud.

"You gave me a regular but i ordered a mocha!" -people that make me cringe.

[tonytiger55]

I guess another way to look at it is. Supposing one's order a regular but then the customer started bitchen that they should have got something else?
Its a whole production line process where you can go backwards to cover your (Employees) ass. Not saying you would, but some customers can be right dicks at times.

[rx7boi]

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Are these employees so ingrained in their work "procedures" that they have no brain cells left to realize when writing on coffee cup lids is not necessary?

Slightly off topic but I notice this particularly with Filipino workers. They have a hard work ethic but most of them find it hard to adapt to requests slightly different from their routine, even if you're a regular.

[flipstah]

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Slightly off topic but I notice this particularly with Filipino workers. They have a hard work ethic but most of them find it hard to adapt to requests slightly different from their routine, even if you're a regular.

Probably because the language barrier. If they're not used to hearing it, it throws them off.

[NoSup4U]

They have to complete the same repetitive task hundreds of times over their shift, it's better it be done uniformly, and a lot of them probably just go into autopilot to get through the day.

Now if they could just start training them to butter both halves of a bagel, without having to request it

[Seth1968]

This is what it should say on the lid:

"WARNING: Lid won't clamp open or closed, and is razor sharp".

[tonytiger55]

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Probably because the language barrier. If they're not used to hearing it, it throws them off.

Language is actually interesting. When I moved here years ago, I ordered tea. I was asked to stay or to go. I said take away please. They looked at me blankly and asked again.. to stay or to go.

[mr2mike]

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This is what it should say on the lid:

"WARNING: Lid won't clamp open or closed, and is razor sharp".

» Click image for larger version

[Alterac]

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This is what it should say on the lid:

"WARNING: Lid won't clamp open or closed, and is razor sharp".

You can get the better lid on your coffee, just ask for the cappuccino lid on it. Which is the crossover lid from the infographic posted.

[D'z Nutz]

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Probably because the language barrier. If they're not used to hearing it, it throws them off.

I don't believe that for a second. When those Filipino women ask me for donations and I tell them "No", they still keep hounding me. I find it hard to believe I'm the only one that's told them that hahaha

[Tik-Tok]

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This is what it should say on the lid:

"WARNING: Lid won't clamp open or closed, and is razor sharp".

Also: "WARNING: We filled the cup to the absolute brim, so you definitely will spill some out in your car while trying to open the lid"

[ExtraSlow]

Is this where I post that McDonald's has better coffee, better cups, better service and better lids?

[carson blocks]

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Is this where I post that McDonald's has better coffee, better cups, better service and better lids?

I was firmly on the "McDonalds has better coffee" side when I was drinking double-doubles. Now that I'm off the sugar and drinking black, I still drink it but find it a bit watery and lean towards the Tims Dark Roast on the rare occasion I choose to tolerate the lineup at a Tims. Not sure whether they changed something in their coffee in the past year or so, or just my tastes have changed. Their cups and lids are 100x better though, Tims cups and lids are the biggest POS.

[JRSC00LUDE]

Why pick and choose what lids you write on? Recipe for chaos. Every order with more than one cup needs writing.

#thisisntarealproblem lol

[sabad66]

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It's a process. They follow it. Why is it a problem? lol

no kidding lol. i'm willing to bet that they have instructions from corporate to write on ALL cups. It's also easier this way... imagine if they had a bunch of different rules to follow depending on scenario like "if only 1 cup OR all the same OR different types but unique different sizes, then don't write"... just too much to think about when they are just trying to work as fast as they can