You're welcome!
PS: You can keep him!
Posted on 04/03/2015 1:56:24 PM PDT by rickmichaels
Every August my family embarks on that great American ritual: the road trip. And we always head north. Canada may not be the most exotic of destinations, but sometimes, exotic is overrated. Canada tempts us with familiarity, blissfully cool weather and, most of all, a deep reservoir of niceness.
We experience Canadian nice as soon as we reach customs. The US border guards are gruff and all business. The Canadians, by contrast, are unfailingly polite, even as they grill us about the number of wine bottles we’re bringing into the country. One year, we had failed to notice that our 9-year-old daughter’s passport had expired. They, nicely, let us enter anyway. The niceness continues for our entire trip, as we encounter nice waiters, nice hotel clerks, nice strangers.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
I’ve not crossed the border in over ten years, but what I found was the US Customs people were all very professional and friendly while our border people had nothing but ATTITUDE! Even when I moved to Alberta from Ontario in 1991, it was the same thing. The shortest drive from Ottawa ON to Lethbridge AB meant crossing into the US at Sault Ste Marie and taking US Hwy 2 across to I-15.
Of course back then, you had a conservative government and we had a socialist government. As those things have now reversed, maybe the government employee attitudes have as well.
You can say that again.
You're welcome!
PS: You can keep him!
(Deep hyperventilating)
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!
He appears to be anorexic.
Misquoting _resident O’Venal, ‘If you like your Beiber, you can keep it’.
“One year, we had failed to notice that our 9-year-old daughter’s passport had expired. They, nicely, let us enter anyway.”
Had a similar situation myself years ago; the Canadians nicely told us that the Americans would have an issue with it when we returned - and they were right. The Americans let us through, but only after charging us about $100; they said it was like driving your car without your license on your person (even though you have a license).
They certainly are much nicer than Americans in the NYC metro area. One thing that was a real downer last time I went was that a chain motel was operated by Indians, and it was as bad as they are here in the US when they operate their own places (I thought the chain would prevent that). Wifi didn’t work, and they told me it was my computer - until I stepped out of our room and found our neighbor, laptop in hand, talking to the manager. I rudely interrupted and asked him if he was having connection problems, then told him (right in front of the manager) that they’d been telling me for two days that it was my PC. When they finally addressed it, it was fine - not a PC problem. They had a sign on their ice machine that it was broken, but ice could be bought at the office; the pool was never opened on time, and there was a big sign at the continental breakfast each morning that customers would be charged for food thrown away. Just pathetic...
Last year I drove to Canada. When I crossed the border the agent noticed my license plates were from Texas. His exact words were, “You are from Texas, where are your guns.” I replied, “not with me.” He then asked, “where are they?” I replied, “In Montana with a gun dealer whom will return them to me when I leave Canada.” He then waved us through after a quick look at passports. He was an asshole despite the fact I took great care not to violate the laws of Canada.
However, I would like to talk about how the rest of the Canadians treated me. I can not say enough good things about them. We were treated with great civility and graciousness. They are good people.
It’s a long story but I’ll try to make it brief. Their biomed dept had the option to be trained on the equipment so they could service it themselves. They considered it too expensive. I didn’t want to be there working any more than they wanted me there.
eggzactly...I am a Canknucklehead and I turn into a junkyard dog whenever some Yankee Doodle taunts me with oot and aboot eh
I wouldn’t taunt you about it.
I do get Ion tv where I am, and the dialect is there though. Genuine of course.
And you forgot I hear so many say PROject with a hard “O” instead of a light o/almost aaaahhh way the American dialect says it.
I’ll give you that one. :)
I’ve found that if you smile at anyone they are usually nice. Is it our fear and prejudice that shows in our face, like smiles not reaching the eyes, that makes people wary? I’ve even been able to get grumpy people to smile. Of course, I piss some people off, too. My Canadian brother in law is very polite. Just don’t mention Harleys (???) or get him mad. Then the evil comes out like a dormant volcano, eh?
India men are the toughest. They do chat but no expression. Wives are very sweet.
I used to endorse a particular brand of politics that is prevalent at McGill and in Montreal more widely. It is a fusion of a certain kind of anti-oppressive politics and a certain kind of radical leftist politics. This particular brand of politics begins with good intentions and noble causes, but metastasizes into a nightmare. In general, the activists involved are the nicest, most conscientious people you could hope to know. But at some point, they took a wrong turn, and their devotion to social justice led them down a dark path. Having been on both sides of the glass, I think I can bring some painful but necessary truth to light. ... There is something dark and vaguely cultish about this particular brand of politics. I’ve thought a lot about what exactly that is. I’ve pinned down four core features that make it so disturbing: dogmatism, groupthink, a crusader mentality, and anti-intellectualism. I’ll go into detail about each one of these. The following is as much a confession as it is an admonishment. I will not mention a single sin that I have not been fully and damnably guilty of in my time. Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/415594/when-left-losing-its-sexual-diversity-studies-students-perhaps-its-getting-too-shrill
The Canadian customs people are mostly a-holes
Amen, brother. During the mid 90's to early 2000's I crossed the border about 250 to 300 times with a big ol' flatbed tractor trailer and "whatever" on board. I never ...ever ...had a problem at U.S. Customs. Ever. Even if my paperwork had a small (or big) mistake, or my PARS electronic release was out a bit, I was always politely told to see the brokerage office (and why), and directed there. Coming back into Canada loaded was a completely different matter. It got to the point where I dreaded coming back into my own country. If you're really interested, I can tell you numerous stories of the ignorance and belligerence of Canada Customs people if you'd like, or you can take my word for it.
You really hit a nerve, here.
My experience (I’ve probably crossed the border between the two countries about 40-50 times in the last 25 years) is that customs officers tend to treat their own citizens worse than they treat visitors. In general, the busier the border crossing, the less friendly and more inquisitive/intrusive they tend to be. I’ve had my vehicle searched from top to bottom four times over the years, and three of them were on southbound trips from Canada to the U.S.
In 1990 I drove the Alaska Highway and saw nothing but Canadians. In 2014 I drove it again and saw mostly foreigners running the hotels and restaurants. I couldn’t believe the change.
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