By now everyone in central New York realizes that Tim Horton’s for this area is history. For whatever reason, which I’m sure we’ll hear about at some point, they have pulled out of the area, costing a lot of people their jobs, and a few people their favorite coffee.

IMG_20151120_114706_resizedFrankly, I’m not a fan; never have been. The only reason I went to one particular location was because they had a Cold Stone Creamery attached to it that was closer and easier than having to go to the mall. Other than that, they were never on my radar, especially after the very first time I went to one.

A few years ago, the grand opening of a Tim Horton’s was being held at the location on Route 11 in North Syracuse. I had no intention of going, but my wife and I had gotten our hands on coupons for some kind of free chicken sandwich. We decided to head over there to grab one and try it out. Since I knew nothing about them, I was also intrigued to see what it was all about.

We got there about 11:15, and though it wasn’t out the door, there was a long line. I figured that was standard for the opening of a new place, so it wasn’t all that big a deal. At least it wasn’t a big deal until it was finally my turn to order something.

I ordered the chicken sandwich. The guy behind the counter said “We’ve run out of chicken.”

I stared at him for a minute, and then I said “How can you run out of chicken on your very first day when it’s the special?” Of course I knew he wouldn’t have an answer and it wasn’t his fault, but it was something that needed to be said. At that point my wife put her coupon away because she wasn’t interested anymore. However, I was hungry so I decided to order a ham sandwich instead. I also bought one of their cinnamon buns, which looked pretty inviting.

We decided to just take our food and leave. For once my wife was driving instead of me, which I saw as a good sign because it meant I would be able to just open my sandwich and enjoy it.

Imagine my surprise when I bit into the sandwich and found that the ham was totally frozen. Of all things, they had toasted the bread but left the ham alone.

I couldn’t believe it! What kind of customer service was this? What kind of lousy leadership was it to not prepare for things like running out of supplies for lunch, before noon, and not making sure that other things were prepared just in case?

So much for the sandwich. I still had the cinnamon bun, which I pulled out of the bag and bit into. Nothing. I couldn’t taste a thing. I didn’t taste any cinnamon, and I couldn’t even taste the icing on the bun.

It’s possible that the soda tasted okay since I have no memory of that, but come on. As far as an opening goes, they had failed miserably. I stuck to my resolve that I would never again buy anything from Tim Horton’s, and it’s my belief that going into one so I can get ice cream from their counterparts doesn’t mean I broke my word.

What it does mean is that I’m not sorry to see them go. In actuality, I don’t have much of a reaction about their not being in central New York anymore except for the fact that a lot of people lost their jobs because they didn’t see it coming. In another stroke of bad leadership, people lost their jobs immediately as we head into the holidays with no notification ahead of time.

I hope this spells the death toll for the chain across the country because whoever is running it, and it just might be the Burger King people, not only deserves to lose their job but they never be hired by anyone else ever again.