‘Timmies’ Bans High School Students

Nicole Lazarus
Columnist

Tim Horton’s, the largest coffee-and-donut fast food chain in Canada, has become a new trend to Canadian teens. Being that coffee is a part of our pop culture, Tim Horton’s has taken advantage of that, to market to a younger demographic.
Tim Horton’s started in Ontario in 1964, but expanded quickly across Canada, and became a large part of our popular culture.
There is not a day that goes by where many students are not drinking Tim Horton’s beverages, and I am one of those students. However, last month students from Michael Power/St. Joseph Catholic high school in Etobicoke, Ontario, were banned from sitting inside Tim Horton’s. They were allowed to purchase and support this franchise, but they were not allowed to stay inside and enjoy the “comfort” of the premises.
A sign had been posted at this franchise saying, “Students, until further notice… take out only.” Enraged students were considering boycotting this location of Tim Horton’s and even posting on online social websites about their situation.
The sign was removed, especially before the media drew much attention to it, this being of course, because Tim Horton’s has a reputation of a pleasant, welcoming environment, and they wouldn’t want their reputation to take a fall for this.
The reason for the ban of students was reportedly because of an outburst from a teenage customer, from the local high school, causing some trouble in the café.
So yet again (as this happens quite often in today’s society) one teenager messed up, and the rest of Michael Power/St. Joseph Catholic high school students had to face the consequences. Yes, it is good that they reconsidered their ban so that the students have the option. But had this Tim Horton’s not been doing so well, I think they would have raised their tolerance-level because of the business they might receive due to the fact that the numbers of teenage consumers are growing day by day for this huge coffee-and-donut fast food franchise.
Why are teenagers always charged the most (in contrast with the breaks seniors receive) when we have high taxes, incredibly ridiculously high car insurance, and low-paying first jobs? As paying customers, we are one of the most targeted demographic consumers that are being squeezed out of all our money, yet as customers, we are not treated with the respect that we are entitled to, since we contribute to the growth of our economy as well.

 

~ by desmondmichael on 2 November 2007.