Let me tell you a story...
For over 15 years, I worked at Tim Hortons. When I started, the registers were these annoying devices that couldn’t list off anything beyond the last thing punched in. Almost every button had a “level 1,” “level 2,” and “level 3” option so one button could be used to select up to three different products or modifiers but not at the same time. If a mistake was made, there was a lot of deleting done by a supervisor or the whole order would have to be printed out, receipt marked, correct order punched in and new receipt printed with the reason for the mistake. Preferably the writing on the receipts was done without a customer present so it didn’t hold up the line.
Food was timbits, donuts, bagels (a recent addition), other pastries and more. Soup and chili. Even chili in bread bowls but that ended soon after I started and never returned though people still remember it fondly. Not to mention the coffee. Timed to be 20 minutes fresh and poured out at expiry.
Temperatures of cold food was taken and written in a log book.
The DT times were recorded at the window. The company goal was 25sec average at the window. The franchise goal was 19sec.
By time I left, the registers were computer screens. There would be prompts to add things to an order or select modifiers. One could delete mistakes easier, if the register was set up that way. Some needed a supervisor to approve the fix. Receipts might still need to be printed and filled out, still preferably not slowing the line.
Food consisted of breakfast sandwiches (and all their variations) with fresh eggs, bagels, pastries, donuts, specialty donuts, Tim bits, soups and chili, wraps, and more.
Log books tracked temperatures of cold food, hot food, how often different parts of the restaurant were cleaned, what was cleaned, when, and there were deadlines to fill it out. There had always been production tracking but it had been digitized and there was better tracking of what was made and certain timeframes to enter info. All tracking product expiry times so nothing was too old on the shelf.
The DT times goals were the same but focus had shifted to order times as well. 19sec was the franchise goal for taking an order.
Cleaning standards never faltered. Floors cleaned every couple hours if not more often. Coffee machines cleaned at least 3 times a day. Wares were more often. Different machines got at least daily cleaning. Others deep cleaning weekly.
The drinks had expanded to two types of brewed coffee, iced coffee, smoothies, chills, espresso drinks, and more.
The menus are quite extensive and all staff are expected to know it. Basically, the wait staff have to be the cooks/bartenders as well. Less labour-intensive to make— it’s not the same level as wait staff and cooks, but the idea is what I’m suggesting. It’s not enough to know how to make a smoothie, staff has to make that smoothie too.
But if one is lucky enough, a long-term working can be full-time with benefits and a constant pay cheque from a business that’s unlikely to close. Even a pandemic didn’t do the trick.
So a typical day, by time I left, easily included deep cleaning, paperwork and logs, preparing food, stocking, checking dates, regular hourly and daily cleaning, something from the weekly list, along with helping customers from taking orders to preparing drinks and food to making sure they leave happy, making sure everything is stocked, food rotated, coffees are fresh (still 20 minute limit) but with new coffee brewers.
I’m sure if anyone listed everything that is required in their job, it would be long and surprising since it’s easy not to see all the work in any job. But I know the job changed a lot in 15 years and what was once a much easier job became far more involved. Advancing in technology made certain aspects easier, but it also added to work. There’s always a belief that any worker can do more. It’s not in the sense of hidden potential, but more along the lines that any worker shouldn’t be paid to be doing nothing. “If there’s time to lean, there’s time to clean.” There’s also bosses that mistake people talking with people not working when that’s not always the case. “Less talky, more worky.”
When I left, the staff age range was impressive. A few from high school— though that hiring preference wasn’t as big as it once was. The desire was for long-term workers. More staff were in college or university— they had more flexible schedules which was a bonus. The other half, maybe third, were people older than 30 or getting close enough to the number they’d begun to really look at their life. There were more international students and there’s a few theories as to why they’ve become appealing— the least unflattering that they’re least likely to speak up if a business is doing something wrong, the most flattering that it’s good for diversity. Still the overall ages aren’t that of young kids looking for their first job. “Open availability” is highly recommended and no high school student has that unless they aren’t actually going to school.
The attitude from people outside of the restaurant never exactly changed. The job was still seen as a good “first job.” It was seen as easy. Anyone could do it, really. How hard is it to make a sandwich or pour a coffee? Despite how much the job had changed— so much timed, so much to record, so many more products, so much more to clean, etc.
In the morning, drive-thrus could easily push through over 130 cars in an hour. Once, I think there were 170 in an hour. Sometimes that average time was less than 15sec. That’s how efficiently morning crews could work, how fast seasoned staff could be. One of the reasons long-term workers have become more desired.
Sure, there were sick/emergency days but one was reminded at review time how many days they’d taken— as if it were frowned upon to not be physically able to come to work.
Then the reviews. They were no different than any other employer with rating system that no one can ever get a perfect score because “everyone has room to improve” which sounds understandable until one realizes this would be like saying no one could get a 10/10 in the Olympics because “everyone has room to improve.” So the reviews will always say an employee is never good enough.
Despite all that, I can still here the attitude that it’s a good “first job” while knowing that it’s pretty much just a low-paying job now. There’s heavy lifting and constantly busy and no real time to be looking at Facebook or reading book while on the clock, unlike some jobs I hear about.
It’s just something to keep in mind.
