Open mouth, insert foot, whitening mouthwash and Garbage Plate.

Published October 18, 2008 @ 06:09AM PT

A 40-something server at the Tim Horton's part of a service station / Tim Horton's hybrid watched me yawn a big one as I entered the store. "Yeah, we have coffee," he encouraged enthusiastically. He laughed and I laughed and I told him that I needed one. I walked around the store while waiting for my cup and grabbed a tube of toothpaste, which is what I came into the store for originally. "Can I buy this here," I asked. "Or do I have to buy it from over there at the other register?"

"Can't get it here," he said. "Over there."

"That makes sense," I responded with a laugh. "Tooth paste isn't really your specialty." I meant this, of course, to be directed at the Tim Horton's chain, the specialty of which is obviously coffee and donuts, and not this exceptionally nice counter guy.

He smiled and said, "I work the overnight shift here and I started drinking coffee to stay awake through the night. It was staining my teeth real bad. I started using the Listerine in the white bottle. The active ingredient is hydrogen peroxide, basically the same thing as baking soda. You can see the results in weeks. Can I get you anything else with your coffee?"

Thanks, super-nice, helpful server at the Henrietta Tim Horton's, helping me to not feel like a total foot-in-mouth A-hole that I can often be.

...

Now that I got that out of the way, I'm off to Nick Tahou Hots, home of the "Garbage Plate."

From the menu:

We start with a base of any combination of home fries, macaroni salad, baked beans, or french fries topped by your choice of meats and dressed to your liking with spicy mustard, chopped onions, and Nick Tahou's signature hot sauce. Each plate comes with two thick slices of fresh italian bread and butter.

Awesome.

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Author

Alex is a freelance journalist, activist, and online community management consultant based in Boston and Portland, Maine. He currently serves as executive editor of MakeSomethingHappen.net, where he writes about online organizing and the power of collective action.