Thank God the Convicted Sex Killer Doesn't Want Dunkin Iced Coffee!

Whenever I travel with my family in Canada, we're always glad to see a Tim Horton's along the highway. Something of the equivalent of a Dunkin (though the doughnuts are better at Tim's, coffee better at Dunkin), they're open long hours and are always welcoming to the weary traveler. (The ones in New Brunswick that serve beans and toast for breakfast are particularly good.)

This weekend, the Canadians released from prison convicted killer Karla Homolka, one of the most notorious women in the country. In terms of national consciousness, she's comparable to a Ted Bundy or Ted Kasczynski; Homolka and her husband's crimes were as gruesome (though not as numerous) as Bundy's. Her release after just 12 years--part of a deal she struck to testify against her now-ex-husband--has caused an outcry from a Canadian public that still hasn't forgotten the details of the crime and the trial.

So you can imagine the dismay when Homolka, speaking in French, said that the first thing she'd like to do when she gets out:

"This is stupid,'' Homolka, now Canada's most notorious female ex-inmate, told Radio-Canada. "I'd like to have an iced cappuccino. An iced cappuccino from Tim Hortons, that's what I'd like to do.''

Despite the chain's tradition of friendly service, she shouldn't expect much love in her quest for caffeine:

Reaction from Tim Hortons employees in Homolka's hometown of St. Catharines, Ont., where she participated in the grisly sex slayings of two teenagers, made it clear Homolka should stick to her newly adopted province of Quebec for her caffeine hits.

"Absolutely not,'' the manager of one outlet replied when asked whether Homolka would be served in her store.

Not to make light of Homolka's terrible crimes, but just imagine: An endorsement from a convicted sex killer is (understandably) the third rail of corporate PR. I don't even think they teach that case study at the most advanced business school.