Ey Alfalfasprout! - great seein ya again n' thnx for postin up dat interestin' story about Tim Horton's - "CANADA'S MOST FAMOUS ICE KREEM n' COFFEESHOP" - my bro is addicticed to it! (he luuuvs their iced cappucino slurpies - YUM!)

OH NO!!! - NOT TIMMIES!! - what are they doin mayn?? - BAD BAD'S!! :O :O

It's great to see that there are a few corporations in business dat do follow ethical standards and are able to keep their customers happy - Da fair trade system is something dat many companies should try experimenting with - Not only for keepin prices at a reasonable level, but ensurin' that their products are of da highest quality w/o use of illegal or bad methods - havin' da customers in mind and havin' a proper etiquette of social responsibility - DAT RIGHT! Kuz it all comes down to da customers! - GOTTA KEEP EM SMILIN!! ;) ;)

Unfortunately in dis krazy world, Greed n' Selfishness is a widespread epidemic - especially in da corporate realm....where da biggie corporations run by hot-shot CEOs n' supervisors devise unethical schemes n' deception to make things go in their favor - with one goal in mind....."to amass n' collect as much money as they can....by any means necessary - screw da customers!" - We've seen it all da time, from da local retail shops to big corporations like Enron - seems like after a while, no amount of profit is ever enough, and they just want to go overboard....suckin' out every dollar bill from their customer's wallets.....so da haughty CEOs can live their lavish lifestyles in huuuge mega-mansions n' rollin' in Bentleys.....laughin out loud behind our backs ~ SuX yo!

Such businesses have fallen apart from this abuse of practices - and their services have suffered as well.....for example.....Sprint has been voted in a business magazine as the worst on da Top 10 list of really bad services....chargin' ridiculous prices for services dat normally cost less - to even da junky customer support they provide - which is quite sad.....Not too far behind is Verizon, a New-York-based telecommunications company - which I have known firsthand to be a very pig-headed n' junky service....(We've been a customer for years.....until recently) - After we've seen our monthly bills rise and rise ever so slowly....from our phone to da high-speed service (even called customer support.....and only to be put on hold for hours and treated quite rudely by some pyscho dudette - readin' a manual....sheesh!) -

It seems like some huge companies dat are dominating a certain location....since they're da only ones around and knock out any competition......they call da shots and since they expect dat everyone will depend on them.....don't try hard at all and think they have this self-asserted right to be as brash as they can to their customers and overcharge up to WAZOO for everything - totally unfair!

It makes me upset and sad to see a great ice kreem n' coffeeshop such as Tim Horton's taking this direction in their business practices - One can make a good profit w/o playin around w/ customers, for without them, remember dat business can't survive - I hope one day such things will be a thing of a past, and we can get a cup of coffee or a donut, burger n' fries, or da AWESUM kool online service not worrying about bein' backstabbed by da dudes in da funky-lookin' armani business suits (da big-cheeses behind it all) ~

till them, BE ON DA LOOKOUT YOOZ! - ;)

~ Peace, Love, Joy ~

That's a great story, Alfalfasprout, about the Mid Island Co-op switch to fairly traded coffee - An important since the coffee industry is so big throughout the world! Great to see the independent company being socially responsible ~

Tim Horton needs to get with it! Even the giant Starbucks Coffee industry appears to be making an effort to be more socially responsible - and show concerns about the environment as well!

Here is some information I found about the Seattle based and global Starbucks Company in relation to their role in the environment and social responsibility -

http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/envaffairs.asp

http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/csr.asp

Good to know they seem to be making an effort ...

But a side note about coffee ...watch the caffeine or any stimulant consumption everyone! (This is something I was reminded of by something Sevara said.)

Thanks again Alfalfasprout for insight into the issue of social responsibility ~