One of the first things you learn when you come to Canada, be it for business, leisure, or immigration, is that everyone goes to mysterious Timmy's to get their daily doze of double-double.
Who is Timmy? What is double-double?
Well, Timmy's is how Canadians lovingly call the fast-food chain Tim Horton's - and Canadians are notoriously attached to their coffee. Double-double merely means a coffee with two sugars, two milks. I'll refrain from sharing my opinion of the coffee as it is irrelevant to this story.
You learn to speak the Timmy's dialect perfectly. You know double-double, ice cap - and even timbits and BELT (don't ask...it's edible, trust me). You feel Proudly Canadian and Always Fresh.
But then one day you decide it's tea time.
- Hi, what would you like?
- Yes hi, can I have some green tea, please?
- Green tea (punches the cash register buttons). Would you like it black?
- ????
You're confused. You thought you mastered the art of Timmy's dialect - who would've thought one can apply coffee terms to tea? But you learn your lesson and go back for more:
- Hi, what would you like?
- Hi - steeped tea, please.
- Steeped tea (punches the buttons). How would you like it?
- Double-double, please.
- ????
You feel misunderstood and deceived. You turn and leave forever - crossing over to the dark side, ruled by Vente-Grande-Shmante...
This is why I prefer Second Cup - it's Canadian (so none of the pretentious Vente-Grande lingo and overinflated egos behind the counter) and unlike Timmy's, the coffee is actually palatable. And service staff tend to have at least half a brain... So no one will ask if you'd like your green tea black :)
ReplyDeleteand the little fact of your dad's occupation pushes you towards second cup, too :)
ReplyDeleteYeah... He no longer works there, but I still go.
ReplyDeletewell in Belgium I would rather say they more pretended rather than honestly did not understood what you want, ha ha ))
ReplyDeletein Dresden guys were usually very upset when you ordered something like tea with lemon (instead of the beer) - as long as it does not take that much to prepare one compared to tea :)))
although i'm sure margins are much higher on tea :)
ReplyDelete