So the rumours were true. After months of waiting, Canora was graced with the presence of a Tim Hortons. This means Canora now has two restaurants that could be labelled ‘fast food,’ so I guess this little town is starting to catch up to Yorkton in places you can ruin your diet.
I had no idea how much I missed Tim Hortons. I mean, technically, it’s probably only been a little over two months since I’ve ordered anything from there, but that still feels like far too long for an iced cappuccino addict like myself.
Either way, people have definitely been ordering plenty from the little shop, including the breakfast sandwiches. I was reminded then that I actually haven’t been as deprived in that regard, because my dad actually worked at a McDonalds for his first job and so we often have homemade “McMuffins” for breakfast.
I have no idea how old my father was when he started working there, but he was definitely a teenager, or at least, he had the attitude of one. From what he’s told me, he really disliked his manager. She was just too strict for someone like my father to handle. My dad is an incredibly hard worker, but I guess he just doesn’t like reminders of all the things he has to do.
So usually, he retaliated by acting (and these are his words, not mine) terrible. He loved playing pranks, especially on her. I mentioned recently that he once told me how he left ketchup packets behind her car so that they sprayed onto the vehicle when she backed up. He had to clarify that it was an entire box of ketchup packets. It wouldn’t have been worth it otherwise to spray the car with just a few squashed tomatoes. I’m shuddering to think about how long it would have taken to clean all that gunk off.
There was also a walk-in freezer where meat and various other perishables were stored, and I think at least once (though it may have been more than that, given how sneaky my father was), his manager would get locked inside when my dad was feeling particularly annoyed with her.
He didn’t just take it out on his boss, either. One day, he and a co-worker of his were bored, and it was extremely hot out. The two decided they knew the best way to beat the heat, and that was to climb up to the top of the roof. That may seem like a silly thing to do when there was no shade, but they had come prepared with water balloons.
Of course, they didn’t use the water balloons on themselves. Instead, they decided to help others get some relief from the situation by lobbing water balloons at passing pedestrians and cars.
With so many of these incidents, it’s probably not surprising to hear that my dad got fired. What may be surprising is that there were so many of these incidents, as surely my father must have gotten fired after the first one. The fact of the matter is, my father did get fired. They just kept taking him back each time they fired him. I’m kind of confused by this fact. Even if I was desperate for workers, I don’t know if I’d risk getting locked in the freezer.
My dad wasn’t all bad, though. According to him, he was the fastest at “doing a triple on the grill,” whatever that means. He was able to serve customers fast, and he said he looked the best in the blue-and-white sailor’s hat that was part of the uniform at the time. Maybe he was kept around to look pretty.
I unfortunately don’t have any exciting first-job stories. I never worked at a fast food restaurant, and my first job was at a grocery store. I did work as a waitress at a restaurant for a short time, though, and I have to admit, I do have a few funny memories of that time.
Probably the best (or maybe the worst) story I could share is of one of my many morning duties at the restaurant. We had bottles of soy sauce on each table with a small spout so people could pour the condiment onto their food. These spouts were tiny, but not tiny enough to keep out certain pests, so my job when I arrived was to take each bottle of soy sauce and pour the contents through a strainer in order to fish out the many fruit flies that would crawl in and get drunk on the sauce. After that was done I would pour the condiment back into the bottles. Yes, I probably should have called a health inspector.
I guess what I was trying to get across is that fast food workers have tough jobs. I mean, something must have made my dad snap and pull all those pranks, right? Maybe go easy on any people who take your order in upcoming days. At least to make sure they don’t lock you in a freezer.
