Why are Sikh people targeting Sikhs? Time Hortons Sikh guy fiasco
Before We Judge Someone, Can We Pause for a Second?
I’ve been seeing the photo circulating of a Sikh Tim Hortons employee, in his Tim Hortons uniform, apparently sleeping with his legs/feet up on a table where customers eat.
Let’s be honest — yes, that doesn’t look appropriate. I understand why people may have a hygiene concern about someone putting their feet on a dining table, especially in a food establishment.
But here’s where I think the conversation is going too far.
The photograph shows us one moment. That’s it.
We don’t know why he was sleeping there.
We don’t know what was happening that day.
We don’t know if he was sick, exhausted, dealing with something personal, or simply had nowhere else to go at that particular moment.
And we also don’t know what happened afterward. Did he clean and sanitize the table? Did another employee clean it? Did management address it? We simply don’t know.
Yet people are taking one photograph and making assumptions about this man’s character, his lifestyle, his hygiene, and even his personal circumstances.
That’s what bothers me.
If the concern is food safety, then let’s talk about food safety. If the table was contaminated, it should obviously be properly cleaned and sanitized before another customer uses it. If an employee violated workplace policy, management can address it. Also for context have you guys been to a time Hortons in toronto where drug addicts roam around and the washrooms or any other table is just not something you can use !!!
But why does that automatically become an excuse to publicly shame and target an individual?
And this isn’t about saying that because someone may be struggling, every action they take should be excused. It’s possible to say “this behaviour wasn’t appropriate” while also saying “we don’t know enough about this person to condemn him.”
We also need to be consistent. Every day, there are restaurants and fast-food establishments where cleanliness could genuinely be questioned. But when we see one person in a photograph, suddenly the internet becomes judge, jury and executioner.
Before sharing someone’s picture and turning them into a public spectacle, maybe we should ask ourselves:
Do I actually know the full story?
Maybe he did something inappropriate. Maybe he made a poor decision that day.
But maybe he was also having a really difficult day.
We don’t know.
And when we don’t know the whole story, a little empathy and the benefit of the doubt can go a long way.
We can care about hygiene.
We can expect professional standards.
We can hold businesses accountable.
And we can still remember that there is a human being in that photograph.
We can do better than immediately turning someone’s worst-looking moment into the internet’s entertainment.