"I'm never shopping THERE again!" Share your story!

[MissRose]

I am a regular Tim Horton's coffee drinker.  I am also diabetic, so I take artificial sweetener instead of sugar.  As you can imagine, this is very important.  I have never accidentally been given sugar by any Tim Horton's employee.

I was at McDonald's in the drive thru and didn't have time to make two stops, so I decided to try their coffee.  I verified that "Splenda" was on the ordering screen.  When I got the coffee back to work, it had sugar in it instead.  I confirmed by testing with one of my strips.

The receipt had a survey URL on it, so I went and filled it out.  Since I was disappointed, there was an option to have the manager of that store contact me.

They emailed me the next day with a copy and paste message that was sorry I hadn't enjoyed my "filet" and giving me a code to use for a free meal inside the store. 

I responded saying that it was coffee, I hadn't even ordered a filet, and I didn't want free food, I wanted them to talk to their drive thru staff and let them know that it's important to get the order right when artificial sweetener is involved.

The manager emailed back and told me they had talked to their drive thru staff about it.  Great, I don't know if they did, but at least they had to actually read my complaint.

I'm not taking a risk like that again at McDonald's.

I do not blame you.  In a situation like that, it may be best to go inside the store and speak to a manager directly.  If you have some time, walk in or drive thru, order the coffee plain and request the sweetener packets separate if you cannot watch the person make it within your sight.  I know when I worked at the Golden Arches, we were told to give customers the creamers and sweetners separate from their coffees, and if it was really slow we could mix up what they asked for specifically.  Some regular customers we knew their preferences and would say Mr Z, 1 cream and 1 sugar in your coffee right, they would say yes.

[VorFemme]

Not sugar in my drink but mustard on my sandwich.

The smell makes me feel "off" - I think that I had food poisoning as a young child - because the smell makes me feel the same way as the one or two foods I've gotte food poisoning from since (things that I remember when I got sick from eating them - mustard, I don't remember, I just get that "feeling").

VorGuy ordered two sandwiches, two drinks, and two sides to go while I was in the bathroom (10 hour drive that took 11.5 hours due to traffic by the time we got home).  He showed me the order slip. 

We ate in the car (running behind schedule by almost an hour then - he did not want to stop).  I ate my side and we shared his.  He had both sandwiches - as both were heavily smeared with the yellow mustard.....I couldn't even grab the bare buns off both sandwiches and fake it while he ate double mustard.  Too much mustard......

And I'm not driving back to Mississippi (six hours or so) over a sandwich.

I am going to start opening all bags and unwrapping sandwiches while standing at the counter - because this is not the first time we've had someone prepping our food on "auto-pilot" and preparing the standard sandwich instead of the special order that's been turned in.......

I may go back to ordering chicken sandwiches - as long as they aren't "spicy" - for some reason they are made with mayo as the default instead of mustard......as long as nobody puts pickles on the chicken sandwich......but that's another story and a different fast food chain!

[ladyknight1]

I am also diabetic, and have grown accustomed to coffee with cream only, no sugar. I still have trouble with my orders at various places. I now just bring K-cups and whole milk to work, so I can use the machine and customize my own.

[Shalamar]

I remember going out for dinner for Father's Day with my husband and then-toddler daughter (she was about 18 months).  I was pregnant at the time with Daughter #2.  For some reason I really fancied a margarita, so I ordered a virgin one.  When it came, it looked so delicious my little girl asked to have a sip, and I thought "Why not?  It's got no alcohol in it."

You know where this is going, right?

When the bill came, I'd been charged full price for my drink, and the virgin version of it should have been a couple of bucks cheaper.  I pointed it out to the server, who said (rather condescendingly) "No, you ordered a regular margarita."  I said in horror "I most definitely did not!  For starters, I'm pregnant, and for another thing I let me daughter have some of it!"  The look on his face was a sight to behold - he must have thought that I was going to get him fired.

Thankfully, there were no repercussions - the drink had been mostly ice, so it didn't harm the baby.  As for my toddler daughter - well, we saw her talking to the flowers and giggling, but she didn't get sick.  Thank goodness!

[o_gal]

I am a regular Tim Horton's coffee drinker.  I am also diabetic, so I take artificial sweetener instead of sugar.  As you can imagine, this is very important.  I have never accidentally been given sugar by any Tim Horton's employee.

But you have to watch them like a hawk if you want decaffeinated. I can't order a decaf anything in the drive-thru. Even if I emphasize decaf when I order, and confirm it when they hand it to me, 4 out of 5 times it will be regular. And then I'll get to spend the next couple of days with my heart going nuts and the next couple of weeks with various low chest pains and arrhythmias as the caffeine works its way out of my system (all of this is benign and does not indicate anything other than that I've had caffeine, as confirmed by my doctor.)

So what I have to do is go inside, order, and watch them. The last time a couple of weeks ago, I watched as the order taker took the regular pot and filled the cup. I called it "is that decaf?" and he stopped, then dumped it. Then he reached up, slowly brought his hand up to the decaf pot, then moved it over and took the older pot next to it. Which was regular. Before he even started pouring, I called out again "Decaf please!" and he realized his mistake AGAIN. Then he poured from the decaf pot and handed it over while apologizing. I left and got to enjoy my yummy Tim's coffee.

While I won't stop ordering a TH coffee, I just know that I can't order it where I can't watch them pour it.

[Diane AKA Traska]

While out today I thought of one!

Years ago, we were shopping for a new kitten (yes, in those days we frequented pet shops... we were young and foolish).  Anyway, we fell in love with an adorable white/tabby mix, and relay that to one of the store workers.  He walks over to the cage, confirms which on the two we want, gets a pet dish, and (to wake the kitty up), BANGS as hard as he can on the cage for a good ten seconds.  My nerves were jangled, I don't know about the kittens'.  (This was the point where we wish, and continue to wish for years, that we just got both of them).

So at this point, we just want to buy the kitten and leave.  We get up to the front, and he gets a cardboard box and uses a big cutter to start punching holes in.  While doing this, he turns to his coworker and says "This used to be a lot more fun 'till they stopped letting us put the cats in first!"  I have never been so quickly nauseated in my life.  I wish I could say I walked right out, but sadly I didn't.  I like to think that it meant that I saved that kitty (who would go on to become our sweet, darling Mitsi) a lot of grief.

I never darkened the door of that shop again, ever.  Months later, it was gone anyway, with a bank in its place, and I said good riddance.

[DottyG]

I like to think that it meant that I saved that kitty (who would go on to become our sweet, darling Mitsi) a lot of grief.

Yes, you did.  And thank you for doing that.

That story makes me really angry.

[Sirius]

People tend to react with, "Black coffee?  Are you sure?" when I order black coffee (I like it that way.)  Except for the Starbucks by the bank where I go - the barista said, "Black coffee.  A woman after my own heart." 

[Ohjustlovely]

that kitty (who would go on to become our sweet, darling Mitsi) a lot of grief.

My kitty's name is Mitsi too!

[DottyG]

We had a Mitsy.  My parents lost her suddenly earlier this year.

[kherbert05]

I remember going out for dinner for Father's Day with my husband and then-toddler daughter (she was about 18 months).  I was pregnant at the time with Daughter #2.  For some reason I really fancied a margarita, so I ordered a virgin one.  When it came, it looked so delicious my little girl asked to have a sip, and I thought "Why not?  It's got no alcohol in it."

You know where this is going, right?

When the bill came, I'd been charged full price for my drink, and the virgin version of it should have been a couple of bucks cheaper.  I pointed it out to the server, who said (rather condescendingly) "No, you ordered a regular margarita."  I said in horror "I most definitely did not!  For starters, I'm pregnant, and for another thing I let me daughter have some of it!"  The look on his face was a sight to behold - he must have thought that I was going to get him fired.

Thankfully, there were no repercussions - the drink had been mostly ice, so it didn't harm the baby.  As for my toddler daughter - well, we saw her talking to the flowers and giggling, but she didn't get sick.  Thank goodness!

I was underaged. I took my elementary aged cousins ice skating at the galleria. We went to get lunch. I ordered us 3 virgin daiquiris and went to the restroom.


The kids warned me that the drinks tasted like Daddy's drink not ours. I confirmed with a sip. The waiter refused to replace them. I took them to the bar - and the bartender at first refused to replace them. Then 3 girls a couple years older came and started to complain that they were given virgin daiquiris.


I was royally ticked off - especially because I have a very soft head. Less than 1/2 of that drink would have had me out at the table. (Weird situation they changed the legal age - and I wasn't Grandfathered in).


I told Dad. He tried to calling the manager (a customer of Dad's) to give him a heads up. He blew Dad off. It was a national chain, so Dad didn't try to talk sense to the chain of command. He reported to Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission that 3 underaged people were served and that the staff did nothing about it. He listed the ages. The agent called him to tell him he made a mistake in the report, did he want to amend it before it went further. The guy practically dropped the phone when Dad explained he hadn't made a mistake that the minors served were 19, 8, and 5 (guy assumed Dad meant 19, 18, 5)

[gramma dishes]

...  He reported to Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission that 3 underaged people were served and that the staff did nothing about it. He listed the ages. The agent called him to tell him he made a mistake in the report, did he want to amend it before it went further. The guy practically dropped the phone when Dad explained he hadn't made a mistake that the minors served were 19, 8, and 5 (guy assumed Dad meant 19, 18, 5)

Actually, he probably assumed the ages were supposed to have been listed as 19, 18 and 15.  I can't believe the bar didn't jump all over themselves correcting this one.  Quickest way I can think of to lose your liquor license in my state!!

[Iris]

...  He reported to Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission that 3 underaged people were served and that the staff did nothing about it. He listed the ages. The agent called him to tell him he made a mistake in the report, did he want to amend it before it went further. The guy practically dropped the phone when Dad explained he hadn't made a mistake that the minors served were 19, 8, and 5 (guy assumed Dad meant 19, 18, 5)

Actually, he probably assumed the ages were supposed to have been listed as 19, 18 and 15.  I can't believe the bar didn't jump all over themselves correcting this one.  Quickest way I can think of to lose your liquor license in my state!!

In any state, I would have thought. I can't fathom any person that, on being told that they'd accidentally given a 5 year old rum, wouldn't at least CHECK. The fact that at least one of them was professionally trained/licensed to serve alcohol blows my mind.

[rose red]

I was underaged. I took my elementary aged cousins ice skating at the galleria. We went to get lunch. I ordered us 3 virgin daiquiris and went to the restroom.


The kids warned me that the drinks tasted like Daddy's drink not ours. I confirmed with a sip. The waiter refused to replace them. I took them to the bar - and the bartender at first refused to replace them. Then 3 girls a couple years older came and started to complain that they were given virgin daiquiris.


I was royally ticked off - especially because I have a very soft head. Less than 1/2 of that drink would have had me out at the table. (Weird situation they changed the legal age - and I wasn't Grandfathered in).


I told Dad. He tried to calling the manager (a customer of Dad's) to give him a heads up. He blew Dad off. It was a national chain, so Dad didn't try to talk sense to the chain of command. He reported to Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission that 3 underaged people were served and that the staff did nothing about it. He listed the ages. The agent called him to tell him he made a mistake in the report, did he want to amend it before it went further. The guy practically dropped the phone when Dad explained he hadn't made a mistake that the minors served were 19, 8, and 5 (guy assumed Dad meant 19, 18, 5)

What happened after that?

[kherbert05]

I was underaged. I took my elementary aged cousins ice skating at the galleria. We went to get lunch. I ordered us 3 virgin daiquiris and went to the restroom.


The kids warned me that the drinks tasted like Daddy's drink not ours. I confirmed with a sip. The waiter refused to replace them. I took them to the bar - and the bartender at first refused to replace them. Then 3 girls a couple years older came and started to complain that they were given virgin daiquiris.


I was royally ticked off - especially because I have a very soft head. Less than 1/2 of that drink would have had me out at the table. (Weird situation they changed the legal age - and I wasn't Grandfathered in).


I told Dad. He tried to calling the manager (a customer of Dad's) to give him a heads up. He blew Dad off. It was a national chain, so Dad didn't try to talk sense to the chain of command. He reported to Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission that 3 underaged people were served and that the staff did nothing about it. He listed the ages. The agent called him to tell him he made a mistake in the report, did he want to amend it before it went further. The guy practically dropped the phone when Dad explained he hadn't made a mistake that the minors served were 19, 8, and 5 (guy assumed Dad meant 19, 18, 5)

What happened after that?

Sorry about the typo. Honestly I don't remember. I went back to University. I do know the restaurant closed down shortly after. The chain was shutting down restaurants that were under performing and that spot had to cost lots of money. I don't know if TABC shut them down or if they just closed because they  weren't making enough money.