A customer claims a Tim Hortons employee “insulted” her for not donating $2 to tack onto her purchase from the popular Canadian-based coffee and donut chain in a viral TikTok video.
The creator, Peggy (@peggythrill), was so shocked by the worker’s brazen comment that she penned the following caption for the video speaking to her interaction: “WOW. @Tim Hortons I never tag you in posts but if you were to see one, this is it.”
@peggythrill WOW. @Tim Hortons I never tag you in posts but if you were to see one, this is it. #timsteareview #cdnbrewbuds #timhortonstiktok @timhortons ♬ original sound – peggythrill
Peggy notes in the clip that she is currently on a strict budget.
“I can’t believe what just happened,” she says. “I got insulted by an employee in the Tim Hortons drive-thru. What this employee doesn’t know is I’m budgeted down to the dollar during this pay period. Because I have expenses I have bills, I have made sure that I have enough for a tea and maybe a donut for the next two weeks. Outside of that, I’m not buying any clothes, I’m not doing any online shopping, I’ve gas cards for gas. I just don’t have money for anything extra.”
After explaining her financial situation, she continues to describe her drive-thru experience at a Tim Hortons location. She says the Tim Hortons employee was being “real nice” as she placed her order—that is until he asked whether or not she wanted to donate $2 to the Special Olympics for a promotional donut.
“I say, ‘No, thank you.’ And he goes, ‘Are you sure? It’s the last day,’” Peggy recalls. “I say, ‘No, but thank you,’ and he goes, ‘OK, well drive up.’”
Peggy indicates that there was a marked shift in his tone after she declined his offer to donate the second time. Before driving up to the window, she says she heard him say, “What a heartless person.”
The TikToker appears to be flabbergasted by the employee’s comment but then goes on to delineate how she reacted to the presumptions about her character. “So you know what I did? I said, ‘I hope you know I heard that,’ and I drove right out of the drive-thru,” Peggy notes.
She then urges the specific Tim Hortons franchise that she’s been “complaining” about “for years” in Burlington, Ontario to “do better.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Tim Hortons via email and Peggy via TikTok comment for further information.
It appears that there are a number of people online who have complained about feeling “guilted” into donating to causes on the spot by employees while at the checkout counter.
TikTokers in the comments of Peggy’s post also highlighted the main reason why they don’t feel comfortable donating to charities through stores—because they don’t want to give the business a benefit of the tax credit in doing so.
“I don’t donate to stores because they get the tax credit. I donate straight to the charity,” one user wrote.
Another penned, “Next time just tell them you don’t support donations through businesses that use the customer donations as a tax deduction.”
Others were dubious as to where the collected donation money ultimately ends up. “Nobody knows where that $ goes,” one claimed.
