FEROCIOUS SMILES

wolf

One may smile, and smile, and be a villain.
Shakespeare

DON’T LET THEIR BIG SMILES FOOL YOU. Tim’s, Loblaws and Walmart are not our friends. What we see, is not what we get.

The big smile from the Tim Hortons’ worker, who gives you your morning coffee at the drive-thru window, hides a despicable and sad truth. A truth they’re scared to reveal because their family depends on that shift to buy a loaf of price-fixed bread from Loblaws; and laundry detergent from Walmart, to clean their uniform.

The truth is: Tim Hortons tricks us. Loblaws scams us. And Walmart doesn’t care about us. These three greedy companies pretend to be our friends, with sweet nothing marketing campaigns and down-to-earth slogans. But would friends do what they do to us?

Friends just don’t act this way

As of 2019, minimum wage in Ontario will be $15 an hour. A celebrated and much-needed increase, that will allow many of us living on less than $20,000 a year, including many of us serving coffee at Tim Hortons, to finally buy a full bag of groceries for our families.

But Tim Hortons isn’t pleased.

Since the wage increase announcement, Jeri Horton-Joyce, the donut empire heiress, and her husband Ron Joyce Jr., have decided fair wages for Canadians isn’t fair to their fortune. And rather than praising the important increase, Horton and Joyce are taking it out on their employees. Here’s how: Horton and Joyce are cutting paid employee breaks, decreasing health and dental benefits, and cancelling employee incentives for working on their birthdays and not taking sick days.

One Tim Hortons employee estimated that she will lose close to $2,000 annually without her paid breaks. That’s $2,000 she could put towards her rent or mortgage, groceries, or for proper shoes for her 10-hour Tim Hortons shift, which almost all employees spend standing on their feet.

Horton and Joyce’s vengeful cutting of these essential life saving, and giving, necessities is a part of a spiteful play at the government for increasing minimum wage; a wage they’re refusing to absorb. And instead of being responsible business owners, or taking their greedy concerns to the government, they’re taking it out of the pockets of their workers. It’s completely selfish move. Horton and Joyce are going to cause our fellow Canadians to suffer because their big, unneeded fortune—which they work hard to trick us into believing they use for good things like summer camps for kids—is in jeopardy.

And it’s not just the workers who will suffer, it’s the children and families of the mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers, and grandparents, who work at Tims day-in and day-out struggling to get ahead enough to buy little extras like a birthday card. How many birthday cards do you think Horton and Joyce could buy with their $1.57 billion?

How many bags of groceries do you think they were able to afford this week? What type of Canadians are Horton and Joyce? Not the type of Canadians we are, the Canadians who know that’s not how friends behave.

Loblaws took the bread out of our mouths

Breaking bread was breaking our bank accounts — and we didn’t even know. The uncovered collusion of the bread price-fixing has shed light on the dark, nasty corporate scam Loblaws has been pulling on us for 14 years.

Mr. President’s Choice bigwig, Galen G. Weston, claims he had “no idea” about the bread scam. And let’s be honest: it was a scam. So what’s going to happen to big smiley Weston and Loblaws for getting caught stealing your money? A “thank you” for tipping-off the Competition Bureau. Do you know what would happen if you were caught stealing a loaf of bread to feed your family? It wouldn’t be a ‘thank you,’that’s for sure.

Considering what we now know, it’s hard to believe Mr.President’s Choice is doing you a favour. They’re insulting Canadians by saying sorry for show with a measly $25 gift card. Don’t believe them. They’re not trying to help you.  They’re are just trying to cover their abuse of power by having you believe they’re the “good folks” for telling the Competition Bureau.

There’s nothing “good” about robbing Canadians for 14 years and then insulting them with a measly $25 as an attempt to fix their unacceptable behaviour. Friends don’t scam friends. And the favour—or should we say flavour—of stolen and insulting is not the Canadian’s choice.

Walmart smiles workers out the door

Walmart’s known for their thumbs-up, happy yellow rollback face. It’s a face that welcomes workers and customers into one of the worst corporations in the world.

Walmart Worsty closed 63 Sam’s Club stores in early Januaray, without any warning —leaving over 9,400 people without jobs. There are reports of distraught employees showing up for their shift only to find doors locked with a closure notice. Some were even turned away by police. Others received notices delivered to their home by FedEx or an email.

One former employee commented in an article saying, “I’m unsure of what to do. I have a baby and a mentally sick mother. I’m lost. I’m heartbroken. I’m scared.”

Do you think Walmart Worsty is lost? Heartbroken? Or scared? That smiling yellow rollback face needs a makeover, one that shows the true feelings of the company’s workers. Thumbs down, Walmart Worsty, you’re not our friend.

Real friends don’t trick to friends. Real friends don’t scam friends. Real friends respect you enough to say it to your face.

Don’t be fooled. These corporations aren’t our friends. They don’t deserve our smiles. #nomoresmiles

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