I read an interesting story today about a Tim Hortons manager berating an individual for purchasing food for a homeless person and then leaving her in the restaurant to eat it. Apparently it was this stores policy not to allow homeless people to eat in the restaurant because they are 'too messy', regardless if they are a paying customer or not.

Ludicrous. Appalling. How dare they treat another human being with such disrespect. A policy against homeless people? They should be brought up on charges of discrimination. It crosses the line. Sure the restaurant must provide an atmosphere where all customers must feel comfortable and not to be bothered, so I can understand a no panhandling policy, but to deliberately target homeless people as being less than human is too far. Sure, they are ok if the homeless person wants to pay for the food, but to enjoy it like any other customer would be against the rules.

What happened to caring for people down on their luck? lending a hand when someone is down? What I would like to know is how many donuts Tim Hortons discards on a daily basis. Why not offer them to those who are starving and in obvious need of some help. Afraid that more homeless people might show up looking for a handout? That argument has always blown me away, "If we can't help everyone we wont help anyone" is essentially what they are saying. If every Tim Hortons gave out a dozen donuts to homeless people then, without doing the math, my guess is every homeless person would receive one. 12 donuts. How many do they throw out?

Homeless people aren't to be treated with disdain, they should be treated with the respect you or I would give each other, to our families, and to our friends. I am appalled that this happens and I hope this isn't the last we will hear of this story. I hope that in the coming months we hear reports of this particular Tim Hortons being reprimanded, or a customer boycott against them. It shouldn't happen, and Tim Horton would be disgusted if he were alive to see it.