November 26, 2009

The latest in the ongoing series of adventures that is my local Tim Hortons.

This morning as I’m waiting in line, I hear the man behind say “Now that’s what everybody should be wearing!”, so I obviously turn around to see what he is referring to. I see that he is talking to two city workers who are dressed all in orange with yellow reflective tape. The man who made the comment is a bus driver wearing a city transit jacket, and he’s a large, pear-shaped man with a thick head of black hair and a bushy moustache. He looked like he might be the love child of Ralph Kramden and Super Mario.











So, he continued by saying, “If everybody wore that, I’d never miss anyone. It’s the ones that dress like a telephone pole, and then stand right in front of a telephone pole…and then wonder why I sail right by them!” I think it’s funny enough that I’m listening to a bus driver explain how he misses passengers, regardless of the second part of that statement. I’m no expert at the intricacies of being a bus driver, but with all due respect, it doesn’t seem like that hard of a task to look if there is a person at a pre-determined spot on the side of the road. I understand that there is a lot more to the job, and I’m not trying to paint the job as menial at all, but it seems like a pretty big part of the job description to be able to see your passengers waiting, even if they’re not wearing a bright orange outfit (which I can’t think happens that often, but what do I know?).

But then to hear him say that he misses the ones who are “dressed like a telephone pole” nearly made me laugh out loud right there in line. First of all, I’m not sure exactly what that means. Do they wear wooden-patterned jackets or pale-grey solid shirts? Maybe someone once stood there with a concert flyer taped to his chest and old staples sticking out of his shirt. (Come to think of it, that would be a good Halloween costume.) Do people actually get up in the morning and while figuring out what they are going to wear for the day, think to themselves, “I’m going to go for the ‘telephone pole’ look today.” Highly unlikely.

So, I had my own little laugh as Super Mario/Ralph ordered his steeped tea while I waited for my coffee, and then left for work. In my naiveté, I just assumed he was on his way to work, but as I was pulling out of the parking lot, I saw that he had just parked the bus on the road with the hazards flashing, blocking an entire lane of traffic while he went in for his tea and commentary on rider apparel. I was going the opposite way, so I didn’t see if there were passengers on it, or if it was even in service, but I have to think (hope) that it wasn’t. Independent of that, in a morning rush-hour, this guy decided that blocking that lane of traffic was ok, as long as he got his tea? He couldn’t pick it up before work? I wish I had a camera with me to actually take a picture of the bus blocking the road.

It’s amazing to me the ridiculous things I see at this Tim Hortons on a regular basis. For those of you that haven’t read the other posts, check out this and this.

And if you want some consistent laughs and head-shaking moments, it’s on the corner of Northfield and Davenport in Waterloo. Trust me, it’s worth it.