The “Tim Hortons Effect”

The coffee shop, the rumours and the conversations. The “Tim Hortons Effect” is in full effect in every community and city across the country.

Every local coffee establishment is the heartbeat of the community. Waves of people enter and exit every day. The rumour mill is constantly spinning, especially when big events in the community occur. With the recent demise of local news and sports coverage, the “Tim Hortons Effect” is a colossal outlet for the masses.

Photo Credit Tim Hortons

The “Tim Hortons Effect” connects the community, but sometimes those conversations play a massive role in spreading misinformation or connecting the dots. “Let’s grab a coffee sometime.” We have all been to a coffee shop, we all know what goes on there. Business deals get done, information is shared, rumours are spread, and the truth is told.

You see it’s not all smoke and mirror, it’s not all bull shit. There are facts and truths there. It’s up to the people to navigate the information, but where there’s smoke there’s fire. The “six degrees of separation” is often part of the process as well in small communities and cities especially across the Maritimes and Atlantic Canada. Those that know, really know what happened and know exactly who the key players are and all of the moving parts of the situation.

The distribution of information is fast and furious at the coffee shop, but where does it go from there? Well, let’s put it this way, it always has a way of getting out or filtering up or down the line.

The people that know, really know. They know what transpired, they know the real truth and root cause of the issue.

Spreading rumours or spreading the truth? When sports are involved, word travels fast, truth travels even faster.

People want to hear the truth, they want transparency, but in the sporting world there’s always multiple layers of it. Everyone knows there’s always two sides of the story, but in the hockey world when something significant occurs, the truth is often buried or pushed aside as just “business.”

The “Tim Hortons Effect” can influence and impact any business or organization positively and negatively. Obviously, organizations can’t control the perception of the “Tim Hortons Effect”, but they can try to spin the information and messaging.

Perception, rumours, opinions, transparency, and the truth, that’s the “Tim Hortons Effect.” The damage caused by this effect attacks the essence of any organization especially in the game of hockey. Don’t worry people will read between the lines, they will draw their own conclusions, but what happens when the “Tim Hortons Effect” is true, and word is getting out and it’s all accurate?  What happens then? What are you hearing? What do you believe happened? Do you think it’s true? Who’s your source?

Are they connected to the story or are they spreading misinformation?

What are you talking about at the coffee shop?

What are you hearing at the coffee shop? “Let’s grab a coffee sometime.”