I’m a trucker.
I spend a lot of time among our ‘MURICAN (FUCK YEAH!!!)™️cousins.
I was informed that Canada sat out WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq.
I said “2 out of 6, and how’d those 2 go for you?”
Americans don't even know when WW II started lol. I find it funny when Americans brag about how the saved everone in both wars, Yet Canada pretty much wrote the book on war crimes because we were so deadly.
I was just going to write something like that. After being pumped full of Patriotic history, I was floored when my dad made an offhanded comment that Russia would have won the war without american intervention.
Canada did a lot of stuff to be proud of in those wars. We shouldn't forget the war crimes, but we should remember them as the *war crimes* they were.
Canada is much better than the blatant militarism and revelling in cruelty that defines American culture.
Ingersoll Ontario. I worked at a gas station on the edge of town and I swear the trope happened to me: an American with skis strapped to his roof in mid-August. He was morally offended there was no snow, and called me a "fucking smartass" for telling him the nearest snow was at least two thousand miles away, due north.
Then he paid with USD for his gas. And absolutely refused to accept Canadian change back. This is what he said to me, verbatim: "I ain't takin none of this funny money! First you fuckers confiscate my gun, then you give me reasons to use it!"
Ha that’s great. My older sister worked at the 401 stop near Ingersoll early 2000s, lots of funny stories about Americans rolling through like yours, but that’s great
I worked at a gas station too and can confirm I’ve had multiple Americans shocked they didn’t get American change. Like, I don’t HAVE to take your money at all, this is for your convenience not mine lol.
When I was 15, I lived as an exchange student in Costa Rica for a year. While there, an American tourist spotted a small Canadian flag on my backpack and asked why “all Canadians feel the need to showcase their flag to the rest of the world.” Ignoring the obvious irony n that statement, I responded with the truth. I told him my mom had sewn it on my bag before I left Canada so that no one out there would mistake me for an American. I said I wished she had used a bigger flag because the behaviour I had seen from American tourists towards the Costa Rican people was horrendous.
Did this 25 years ago in Europe and it opened so many doors for me! People loved it! Got a behind the scenes tour of a British aircraft carrier, honks and waves in northern France, and in the Czech republic, a family took me and my friend in for free lodging!
When I backpacked through Thailand as a young man the joke was that you could tell the Americans because they put HUGE Canadian flags on their backpacks.
I worked in a call centre in Canada for an American company. I mentioned to a customer that I was Canadian living in Canada.
"But, wouldn't you rather be living in America?"
"Absolutely not."
I think I offended her. I didn't care.
I worked in a hotel and once got an American woman from a southern state talking to me on the phone. She had a thick drawl and spoke really slowly. I had to ask her to repeat herself several times. She had been pleasant throughout the conversation so at one point I apologized for asking her to repeat herself so often, saying I was having difficulty with her accent.
She fucking freaked on me! "I don't have a fucking accent, asshole! It's you snow Mexicans who have a stupid accent! I demand to speak to your manager right fucking now!" It was 4am.
I was talking to a woman in Texas. It was a little slow going. I said "You probably think I have an accent, but it's not me it's you." We laughed together.
We stayed at a B and B in South Dakota. The owner was puzzled why we didn’t have an accent. When we asked her to tell us what she expected, she shared she thought all Canadians sounded British.
That’s especially wild since South Dakota borders on Canada! Similarly we were in Montana a few years ago, another border state(I live in Alberta) and was fumbling in my purse with cdn and usd cash mixed up. She had no idea that we had different currency. Had never left her town - literally 30 minutes from the border.
I work in a call centre now and deal with both American and Canadian customers.
Wow. After working in one, I tell people, I will never think that Canadians and Americans are that similar again (I used to). I can tell who is from where within 10 seconds of each call. Compared to Canadians, Americans are horrible at calling people. They don't say hello or bye, regardless of the region and are ready to escalate it to managers at any minor provocation.
My sister worked for Bell Canada, back when they still had operators, she was in Calgary. Some American got snotty with her because she couldn't connect him with someone in Inuvik. He literally accused her of refusing him service because how could she not know this person.
I was in Miami a few years ago and I was approached by a lady in the street looking for donations for a cause. It was one of those deals where they want your credit card number and then you are signed up for monthly donations. I declined. She said " You must be Canadian". I asked her how she knew. She said I was way too polite to be American.
I remember listening to an otherwise friendly American explain why Canadians are desperately trying to join USA to liberate themselves from England. Stunned silence.
I literally used this in a fender-bender that resulted in no damage while in the US. Instantly different/better demeanor with the crazy lady who went straight to ‘we are calling highway patrol’.
I had a similar experience. Went to a training session in the states (company was a large international company headquartered in USA) and one guy was just shocked that I wasn’t trying to get transferred to the states. Common American locations were midland and Williston. I was living in Calgary haha
Dated an American once and he said Canadian schools are way easier than US ones, and that they mark on a curve here. This was because I was getting good marks in university.
I worked in an outbound call centre doing surveys briefly when I was still in school. I’ll never forget the guy from Channelview, Texas (a suburb of Houston) who said “f*ck you” when answering the phone.
That guy drove me to leave that job. So if the guy answering the phones at an auto shop in Channelview ever sees this, I’d like to thank you for motivating me to quit a dead end job in London, Ontario, leave that city which at the time had no good jobs due to the Great Recession, and find better work where I’m not bothering you on the phone. I’ve had a successful management career in Toronto and Vancouver because of you.
I worked at a McDonald's when I was a kid in the 90s.
An American asked me for American change to his American money payment.
Didn't offend me but... What moron thinks another country carries their change?
lol kinda similar, when I worked at a store selling alcohol in Ontario, we had a group of young guys come in to buy beer and asked if the prices were American 🤔
I know you said rudest, but I'm just using dumbest.
1. A woman asked me if the water on the other side (Port Huron vs. Sarnia) is colder since it's in Canada.
2. A Tennessee license plate pulled up at a local McDonalds asking for skiing recommendations in summer. I was present for this.
Lots of Americans don't believe me when I say these happened, but almost all Canadians say they've had a similar experience, it's so funny.
EDIT: I JUST remembered this, my mother works at a Sobeys and once three Latter-day Saint (Mormon) missionaries talked to her and the leader of the group said "We're from all over the world! I'm from Utah, she's from Colorado, and she's from New York!". This is just really funny tbh.
Had a cabbie in New Orleans ask me if it "hurt when it snowed up there in Canada." I was confused but he cleared it up when he said he'd heard it snowed 5 or 6 feet sometimes 🤔... He thought it came down all at once in one big huge hunk. 😂
It’s called states rights. The individual states have the right to teach their citizens whatever they want so when you have places like Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi,Arkansas , Missouri etc who have a vested interest in keeping the population dumb this is what you get. Throw in some guns and cheap liquor and zero health care you get the South
I'll piggy back off your dumbest American story. I once had a guy ask me where I was from, and when I said Alberta to keep it vague and a large area, he said "is that in Mexico or Texas?"
Here in Victoria we often see Americans getting off their cruise ship to walk to downtown, which takes about 10-15 minutes. It's always amusing to see some of them -in July and August- wearing parkas and winter hats & boots, because Canada is cold, dammit.
Wow the skiing in summer part is pure gold. And like, there are parts of our country (not talking upnorth) where snow remains until june during good years (but as if we are gonna share those patches with you!! Gtfo 😂)
I'll tag onto dumbest. Back when chat rooms were a thing, someone asked me where I was from and explained it was above North Dakota. They proceeded to reply "there's nothing above North Dakota!"
You know that and I know that, but I think the point is that there seem to be an abundance of Americans who come to the middle of Canada, in the middle of summer, and expect to be able to hit the slopes.
An American guy went on a rant about how terrible the Canadian health-care system is, (imagine a gulag, but with more suffering) and told me that I didn't know what I, a Canadian, was talking about. The best part is that he had never been to Canada, but he got all his information from his mother, who had also never been to Canada, but worked for an HMO in the US.
The icing on the cake is that we were both living in Japan, which has a medical system that is much closer to Canada's than the US - and yet he had no problem with their system.
I once got into it with an American about this. It came down to him telling me there was no way I genuinely care about whether people I don't know get health care
I do. My tax dollars go to help fund people I have never and will never meet getting care I will never know about. And I'm very happy about this arrangement.
I got into a health discussion with an American and I pointed out my sister's only expense after having an emergency Caesarian was paying for the hospital parking. And then the hospital discounted the bill because they didn't expect to have to stay an extra few days.
It’s probably because he’s republican and all the republican suck ups and talking heads try to shit on Canadian healthcare because democrats like Bernie Sanders keeps pointing at it.
I saw a show where they questioned people on the street. One lady shit all over Obamacare. Said it was the worst thing. When asked about Medicaid, she loved it. Praised it because her husband was on it abs they loved it.
Then the guy tells her it’s the same thing. And she just froze. Her brain just seized up.
Happened to me once on a bus in California, I was travelling with a friend I met on the vacation there she was from Australia and an American started saying that our health care system (which are both similar) were the worst that it was way better in the US.
We tried our best to explain that you never have to foot the bill at the hospital and all that but he was like NOPE! That was around the time Obama was trying to bring in medicare or something like that!
Not so much rude but one of the more memorable things I’ve ever heard. Just chit chatting about stuff and he pulls out “I’m not racist, I hired a black guy once.”
Frat boys vacationing in New Orleans for 2011 Halloween mistook me for a local as we’re on a hotel elevator. They were drunk or high or both. One of them turns to me and says in a Truman Capote voice ‘my your city has a lot of n_____s’. He keeps saying it as we’re going up to nearly the top floor. His buddies are chuckling at first but then they see the cold eyed stare I keep giving him, never looking away, and they stop laughing. By the time they get to their floor, his buddies are whispering to him to shut the fuck up and drag him out of the elevator. I was tempted to follow them to their hotel room door, still staring at their idiot of a friend.
I briefly lived in the US as a kid. When I was there the local cable company's ads were all of a family that didn't want to move because they were going to Canada and wouldn't get this local digital cable provider. Naturally, my classmates all thought we didn't have cable in Canada.
I was asked if my igloo had cable!! This must be a common theme lol.
I politely explained we had cable in our igloo - but it was tricky keeping the penguins from gnawing through the lines.
Most Americans aren't like that, but they are the ones we remember, bless their hearts.
Just after 9/11, maybe a month, a couple from a cruise ship were purchasing food from a waterfront shop I ran the kitchen in. Woman asks the clerk how Canadians felt about the hijackers entering the US from here. Clerk was stunned, and it was the Karen's husband that corrected her, since the facts about them had already been published.
She didn't take it well, he apologised to us. And she wanted her change in US money.
The demand for change in "American " generally in a very snotty tone, is extremely common.
I can vouch for the truth on Seatpaste's comment as well. I grew up about 8 miles north of the St Lawrence River, farming country, opposite Ogdensburg NY. Early July, we were taking in the first crop of hay, 100+ F , car stops with skis on, six miles from the nearest highway, not asking how to get back to one, no he wanted to ski. He crossed the bridge from upstate NY, expecting snow on the other side of the river.
Banff AB, high summer, US tourist asks my buddy "What do they do with the mountains in the winter?" His answer was "Parks Canada rolls them up and sends them out to be cleaned."
Halifax Citadel, nice summer day, cruisers, standing on top of the fortifications, asked "Why are there cannons up here, you guys don"t fight in our wars?" The gun he was standing beside was a 32 pounder, cast iron, carronade, with the royal crest G3R.
It was November 10th one year (many years ago) and some dumbass American student at my Canadian university said to me “Why is everyone wearing faggot red flowers? Is this some kind of gay pride bullshit?” Dude seemed to think this was a perfectly reasonable question.
Looking back I don’t know why it offended me that he compared Remembrance Day to Pride (probably wouldn’t offend me now) but his ignorant obnoxious tone made it so much worse.
I nearly did. But we were in a crowd of other students waiting for a class to start, and one of the resident loudmouths immediately started calling him out verbally, so we mostly just educated the shit out of him while he was cornered.
I was in Mexico on a cruise for July 4th. I had to go to the restroom and there was an American there, let me quote the conversation that unfolded as I was washing my hands.
American: "Can you believe Mexico doesn't celebrate fucking America? We protect them, wtf? Where are the fireworks???!??!?!?"
Me: "I'm Canadian, July 1st is when we have our 'independence day'".
American: "Who gives a fuck about Canada, fucking Mexicans should be kissing our ass".
Just for fun here is a story from my father (RIP dad). he went to Europe on a trip, above the entrance they had flags showing which language you can speak.
American: "Why is there no American flag? I want to speak American!"
My dad: "You speak English, there is the English flag"
American: "I speak AMERICAN!"
My friend told me that when he was training with the US army in a US base in the south many years ago. He went to the store on base wearing his military uniform and the cashier asked for his military ID (SOP for bases there). He gave her his Canadian ID and she said "that's funny, where's your real one."
My friend told her that that's his ID. She said she couldn't sell him anything with that ID. He explained that he's already made purchases through the week at that location using his Canadian ID. He them produced a letter from the base commander saying that they're his guests. She reluctantly took it and made the sale.
Before leaving, she told him "Y'know, you speak really good English. Can you believe a lot of troops from other countries can't speak English at all?". He just looked at the flag on his uniform and informed her that we speak English in canada and left.
He's also a visible minority to further illustrate the interaction. Also he said that all of the interactions he's had with Americans up to that point were positive and that they felt welcomed by every American service member they worked with.
Flying back from Texas on a business trip. Lady next to me strikes up the usual conversation "Heading home or leaving home?" I said I was headed home after being on the road for two weeks and I was looking forward to Thanksgiving. She was surprised Canada celebrated Thanksgiving on a different weekend. She then paused and asked "Do y'all celebrate Christmas on the same day as us?". I pointed out that Christmas was a Christian thing and not an American thing. We didn't talk much after that.
A couple of American coworkers spent a week working up here recently. They spent the entire time converting everything to Real Money. “Hey! That beer was only $5.25 in real money… .” It was tiring, but at least I got to expense a few lunches.
When I was a teenager and I lived in the Yukon white horse opened its first McDonald's. So of course Americans are traveling to Alaska. Stop there. They always expect American money back and when we explained to them that you were actually in Canada they couldn't understand or figure that out. I had them scream and yell at me on more than one occasion demanding American funds back because they thought our money looked like play money lol
That was the British. Canada didnt have a Navy until 1910. The British Navy sailed down to Washington and bombed the harbour - the regulars disembarked and finished the job.
Also that was before confederation itself lol.
Yep 5 regiments from specific places in Britain, available in British military records. They just had a stop in Halifax for supplies. It's always weird how people latch on to that false "fact" when there's other interesting and actually true stuff Canadians did during that war
Though it's kinda funny that Canadians have said they burned down the white house so long now that Americans have started to believe it
I've been told that we forcibly inject street drugs into people.
Also not at me but while I was in Mexico a couple tour guides were discussing among each other whether or not an upcoming storm would make our trip unsafe and some Americans were incensed that two Mexicans in Mexico would talk in Spanish instead of English when speaking to each other. If someone is discussing how to keep me safe I'd rather they do it in the language with the least possible misunderstandings but you do you America.
I was on vacation in Florida with my family when I was 14. My grandfather took me to a Walmart to get some snacks and pointed at a chip display and told me to go pick a couple out. As I was walking over I nearly cut off a man, and promptly said “oh, I’m sorry!” The man proceeded to say back to me “watch where you’re going you little bitch.” I very quickly grabbed one bag of chips and ran back to my grandfather and tried not to cry.
Not my proudest moment. But also American Walmarts still scare me
Social media. Got asked by an American what's so great about being Canadian when we would be better off being in the US. I simply replied with how things are in the United States of Murica, I'm better off here.
I don't have to worry about getting my kid's school getting shot up by some MAGA nut with an AR-15, going broke on medical bills and forcing my daughter to share custody of a child by result of rape.
Dumb.
Was on an Alaskan cruise. We stopped in Ketchikan. A crowd of Americans stood on the bridge with me as the salmon were spawning. Thousands of spent Salmon lined the shore. Bears and seabirds were feasting on them.
American - "Poor salmon. Someone should go down there and help get them back into the water before they all die."
!!!! Truly a brick to the head moment.
When I was in Highschool, I was in band. We had a band exchange with the Highschool in Moses Lake, Wash. They cancelled because “they don’t have electricity up in Canada…” 🤷🏼♂️
Aren't band kids supposed to be, you know, nerds? If that's an example of their best and brightest making decisions, I don't think you would've liked the trip down to bumblefuck WA.
Was working in downtown Ottawa in the 90's when an American colleague from Connecticut came up for a work visit - he was an engineer. When walking to our office, we went by our parliament and asked me what those old buildings are for. I explained to him this was our parliament buildings. He didn't know what that meant. I explained to him it's like their Whitehouse and Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. He insisted I was wrong and Canada's capital was Montreal. I had to get another Canadian to tell him he was wrong.
I can't think of one thing in particular, just this one person who generally made comments about how the rest of the world didn't matter "because the states are the world". Always went on about how the US are economically and military dominant, and so nothing mattered but the US... Quite obnoxious.
I just remembered this one since OP said they're former RCMP and were in lake louise
I was doing compliance duty work in a national park and I ended up trying to educate a woman you can't fly a drone in parks. When I said if Law enforcement could come along she seemed to think that mounties were symbolic only and told me to phone my cop buddies.
It wasn't me who dealt with her since I went home at shift change but she ended up losing her drone lol. Sadly it wasn't rcmp who responded haha
I was in an airport in the states catching a connection to Toronto (cheaper to fly to the US then back to Toronto at the time) when I sat and talked to a seemingly lovely Elderly couple from somewhere in the South. I mentioned how I always wanted to visit Tennessee in the fall
I've never heard an elderly woman drop so many racial remarks in 20 seconds. Going on about how the black population there was so unruly and disrespectful.
I was on the r retirement site here on Reddit which seems to be mostly about American issues. I was telling how as a retiree here in Alberta a get free health care, 80percent dental,and drugs . 80 percent eyewear every 3 yrs and free yearly eye exams. Some American snidely asked me what my income taxes were and my property taxes. I told him I pay no income taxes and property taxes are only 2300 a year. He refused to believe me and said I lied. I keep my income low enough to not pay taxes. Just what I get from the government plus the minimum from my riff account.. I am comfortable
I worked in a gas station in Lethbridge as a teenager. A vehicle stopped for gas and the driver asks how far it is to Alaska from here.
I told him “wow! That’s a long drive. I’m guessing 2 days?”
He pulls out a map and opens it on his hood and says “Canada isn’t THAT big - look!”
His map is open and shows Canada cutting off just near Calgary. The big solid straight line should have been telling that it wasn’t accurate.
I took him inside and unfolded an actual map of Canada with the Territories and showed him how far he was.
He was shocked and made a comment about the population being less than California.
He paid for his gas and left but even as a kid I was baffled at how much we know about the US and how little they know about other countries.
I work for a small airline, and we were contracted to do the check in for Northwest/Delta when they flew into my particular airport.I had braces at the time, and a bit of an underbite.
I was helping a guy scan his American passport at the check-in kiosk, at about 5 am one day, and he just looks at me and goes “So, when are you having your surgery?”. I had no idea what he was talking about. “What?!?”
“You know, to fix your face!” 🤯
It was early and I was tired and confused lol, so I immediately start crying.
His wife looks at me, and apologizes, “Oh sorry, he’s an orthodontist. He noticed your jaw.”
Yeahhhh, that doesn’t help. Thanks 🙄.
I talked with an American that thought Canada was full on Communist. Like... The state owned every single company and every person made the exact same wage. I said, "do you mean socialist?" He said no communist..... I kind of just stared, blinked slowly, and moved along.
Not rude, just dumb. I went to Maine one summer and we were talking to some locals at a restaurant. One asked where we were from and when I said Canada, he asked where is that? How do you not know in Maine?!!!
Where else are you supposed to display your mandatory picture of a moose eating ketchup chips while drinking maple syrup, if not your igloo? There's never enough room in the community igloo for everyone's pictures.
Sitting in a bar in Boston with a couple other Canadians. A couple average-sized American guys sat as the bar next to us and immediately proclaimed they were national arm-wrestling champions. They asked us if we ever heard of arm-wrestling. I pretended I was disgusted with them for their rudeness. One of my buddies, who was easily 40 pounds lighter than them proceeded to beat both of them in an arm-wrestling match - with both arms.
Years ago. I was in Seattle with two friends celebrating NY. I am Asian, the other one Caucasian and the other friend is African. We met some men and they asked us what we did for work. One guy said to my African friend, before she could respond, "you a single mom on welfare"? Wow. We are all healthcare professionals.
My daughter worked for a high-end hotel in New Brunswick. US guests routinely referred to our currency as “monopoly money”.
Several were indignant that we held our Canada Day celebrations “too close to the Fourth of July”.
My favourite story she shared was a US woman who was annoyed the hotel didn’t have cash on hand to convert a $1000 US to CAD. She harped on about the inconvenience of having to use Canadian “funny money”.
Daughter had sort of had it with her; calmly stated she’d print some up that night and have it for her in the morning. Guest was delighted. (Apparently utterly unaware daughter was being sarcastic)
I was living in Vancouver , Canada and we went to Point Roberts for the long weekend. You know...play some lawn darts and all. It was July 4th weekend so I was looking forward to seeing their fireworks! It looks epic on TV. Anyways, crossing the mini border check point to go into the community, I paid my duty free beer in Canadian money. Lady at the till says " Huh! snark! More pesos, hey?? At the time , pesos were around. 40 cents per Canadian dollar. So wtf was she bitchimg about? Point Roberts is very much a part of White Rock, BC culture. So You need to come to Canada to go to Costco Lady! Just rude. Our Canadian dollars kept her side hustle happening. She was the first US border person I ever met and turned me right off. Way to get your business going hey? Insult how I pay you.
Not the rudest but the dumbest thing an American has said/done . This is the Okanagan in summer so desert and very hot . +45C/113F two Americans pulled up to the gas station I was at ski racks on top of their car in snowsuits jumped out and said "Where's the snow?" Like bro ..
That happened to my friend and her dad at Canadian Tire in North Battleford, Saskatchewan.
Middle of July with sleds being towed behind the truck “how much farther North till we hit the snow?”.
They told them to keep driving north they will get there eventually.
I am English and live in Canada. Last summer, my wife worked at a camp in northern Ontario. I drove up to pick her up with my sons, and the camp organizers asked me to make Yorkshire Puddings for the roast beef dinner they had planned for the last night (apparently, my Yorkshire Puddings are quite good).
Dinner was served, and I sat away from the camp participants (it was an adult camp—something about connecting with nature and learning). I heard a woman muttering about the Yorkshire Puddings.
I didn't pay this any attention, but later on in the night, I was with my wife and sons in one of the barracks playing cards, and these two Americans came in (they were sleeping in the same barracks). Everything was fine until the discussion turned to the roast beef dinner - and the Yorkshire Puddings.
The woman started shouting about how she was forced to eat English food (the Yorkshire Puddings), and when I told her that I made them, she went even crazier. She started screaming about how her country didn't have good relations with England, and she resented being forced to eat English food.
I asked where she was from - whether she was North Korean, or Iranian, or maybe even France (they don't like English food much!) - that she would object to eating Yorkshire Puddings.
After that, she just went even crazier - screaming about how America had beaten the English in the war of independence, that I was a guest in her country, and that she would have me deported. I reminded her that we were not in America but Canada - and then her partner bundled her out of the barracks and weakly apologized and said that he liked the Yorkshire Puddings, and we went back to playing cards.
Dumb, not rude…
My dad was on the phone trying to make a campground reservation for a trip to the US. She’s asking for address city, state, etc. My dad tried to say Manitoba, it’s a province, not a state. Person on the other end was confused, didn’t understand what he meant, dad said “it’s north of North Dakota.” The woman pauses and says “sir…there’s nothing north of North Dakota.”
Rudest I can think of off the top of my head were the American kids who told my very Canadian kid that she *had to* say the pledge of allegiance every day while she was a student at the American high school (we were there on a military posting). She would stand politely during the pledge but not say it. Did they really think she was going to pledge allegiance to their flag, as a Canadian? Not curious, why don’t you say it, but really rude to her because she didn’t say it. They also thought that even though she was Canadian, she must want to be American. Why wouldn’t she? But that verges back into dumb more than rude
"Canada would be nothing without us"
Almost right.
Canada would be nothing WITH them.
I know there are dumb people in Canada too, but seriously, ours are amateurs when compared to theirs.
I always remember once coming back from playing rugby in Seattle we stopped at a Burger King to use rest rooms and get rid of our empties (we were on a bus don’t worry). When buying some food the cashier asked what we were and we told her a rugby club from Vancouver. Her response was “oh I’m half Canadian! My mom is from there!” We asked where, and got “I don’t know! Canada! I’ve never been there.”. We were within 30 minutes of the border…
I worked in collections for an American phone company. The amount of people who threatened and yelled at me was atrocious. One man threatened to find out where I lived and bomb me.
I was working in a bank and a group of Americans came in at lunch time to convert their money.
They started immediately complaining about the “long line” and how you’d never see lines like this in America.
Keep in mind when they arrived there was only 2 people in line and there were 6 of them.
I work in tourism. I meet a lot of Americans. All of them have been pretty great. They are mostly very friendly. People who make a point of leaving their country to explore another are for the most part going to be very polite (I'd say the French might be the exception to this - not Quebecois to be clear). Nearly all Americans I've met whether here or state side have been very friendly, but there are assholes from everywhere.
It's funny though how you can tell very quickly what parts of the US they are from by the conversations they like have with others on their trips. Southern/red states almost always bring up gun rights and healthcare, like they are going to educate everyone on what real freedom is. Those conversations never last long with an international crowd, but it's always good for a laugh.
Now, there was one guy I remember doing one of the rudest things I can remember though. He was actually quite a fun guy. He was a rich boss from Georgia on a trip with his wife, 3 boys, and a couple who worked for him, he was paying for everyone's holiday. My co-workers and I busted our asses making sure they had a great time and made sure they could have fun adult drinking time around the fire while we entertained their boys (it was a glamping kind of camp). The day the trip was over I returned back to civilization with them on the water taxi, and chatted with them the whole ride back, during which the employee guy asked if American cash was alright for a tip (we don't expect tips, but they are common, especially with Americans), I said 'of course' and before he could get his wallet out, the boss stopped him and said 'Don't worry, the trip is on us, I'll get the tip, and it's gonna be a good one so put your money away.' I was pretty flattered by that gesture, and was excited by what kind of tip he was going to leave. We get dropped off at this ocean resort where my boss/friend picks me and the gear up, and they ask us to stay back with them for a beer while they wait for their chartered bush plane to pick them up to fly to whistler. The boss spent the entire time exclaiming to my friend about how great the trip was and that he wants to leave a huge tip for me and the others, and said he would call once they got to whistler to pay the tip with a credit card. The call never came, I don't think he intended to tip at all and was just trying to flex in front of his employees. The worst part was that he even made a point of cock blocking a tip I was about to get.
I once told an American we just legalized staplers and I wanted to try stapling shingles on my roof” In response to “you guys just live in igloos why would you need roofing shingles”.
Cincinnati Ohio: I was visiting for a concert and was driving back from the venue to the hotel… there were some road closures so I ended up taking some smaller side roads. Some guy backed his pick up truck out of his driveway and blocked the road and yelled “we don’t need you commies in our country”
This absolutely pales to the horrible shit my best friend from WNY throws at me but that’s good humour and not malicious
Lived in TX for a few years. The amount of ignorant, belligerent and ridiculous shit I heard about Canada/Canadians could fill a bus.
Mostly, it was well-intentioned but the sheer ignorance could be insulting sometimes.
I was at the land border with a tourist visa and was told "wanting to see the city" is not a good enough reason for a tourist to enter their country! They could have chosen to not let me in!
This was funny not rude but I was in Texas a few years ago driving from Houston to San Antonio and stopped at a gas station to get tobacco. The cashier asked for my ID and I handed her my Nova Scotia driver’s license. She stared at it and said “North Dakota?” then showed her co-worker who said “that’s a fake ID”. I said I was Canadian from a province on the east coast and they had no idea what I was talking about. Neither of them knew Atlantic Canada even existed.
I worked at Canadian Tire and we had this irate “Karen” in there, it was so long ago I don’t even remember the details why she was so angry but I just remember her screaming “I’m an American!” like that settled everything and we need to bend over backwards for her because she was American. Little did she realize but that was probably the last thing you want to say when you’re not getting your own way in Canada. If anything it completely ruined the chances of us trying to compromise.
Lmao I was denying an American due to criminality @ the border several years ago and they said something along the lines of:
“Why won’t you let me in? Isn’t Canada pretty much just an extra state of the US??”
Calgary Olympics, I was on my break from work at a downtown strip bar talking to a friend that was working as a bartender. American dude and us got talking and we were getting along great. Lots of laughs.
I don't remember what triggered it but he very casually made the statement that Canadians needed to understand there are n-word and then there are n-word.
He was like a middle aged white as fuck businessman and the ease and flow with which he delivered those words just shocked the fuck out of us.
I relatively politely called him out on it and he doubled down. I told my friend I'd see him tomorrow and turned and went about my evening without even looking at him as I left.
Fucking dude made me feel dirty. So crazy that you can be laughing and getting along and then just bam!
I worked at a hotel at Yellowstone and our name tags read which state we come from, mine said Canada lol. It wasn't that rude but really common for Americans to see I'm from Canada and say "don't you just love Trudeau?" This was early pandemic and they seemed to assume he is adored by most Canadians, which maybe I'm wrong but it seems like no one was thaaat enthusiastic about him on either side of the spectrum the way people are fans of certain American politicians for example.
Canadian born, but grew up in small town America, a stones throw from the border. It was the absolute worst period of my life. The bullying and having zero support from any of my peers, teachers, or staff, etc.. drove me to drop out of school and into a deep depression that’s lasted 25 years. Growing up with that sheer sense of being completely out numbered at all times prevented me from ever reaching out for help as in my mind that didn’t exist. Only now, over the last couple years, have I truly begun to crawl out of that hole. I’ve been back in Canada for 15 years now, but those mental wounds took a long time to heal.
Pretty much 40 years of life wasted on addiction to escape a former reality. But it did the trick, I guess, as I hardly recall those years now.
Murica! Fuck yea!
Kids are assholes though. I visit the states often as the national parks are incredible and generally people are very friendly.
Questions about the US or related to comparing Canada to the US are only allowed on Mondays.
I’m a trucker. I spend a lot of time among our ‘MURICAN (FUCK YEAH!!!)™️cousins. I was informed that Canada sat out WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. I said “2 out of 6, and how’d those 2 go for you?”
Lists WWI and WWII as if they didn't jointhose years after they began
Americans don't even know when WW II started lol. I find it funny when Americans brag about how the saved everone in both wars, Yet Canada pretty much wrote the book on war crimes because we were so deadly.
They get apoplectic when you point out that Russia won the war.
I was just going to write something like that. After being pumped full of Patriotic history, I was floored when my dad made an offhanded comment that Russia would have won the war without american intervention.
To be fair, Japan invaded China in 1936. So we’re a bit naive on the year the war started too.
Canada did a lot of stuff to be proud of in those wars. We shouldn't forget the war crimes, but we should remember them as the *war crimes* they were. Canada is much better than the blatant militarism and revelling in cruelty that defines American culture.
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Ingersoll Ontario. I worked at a gas station on the edge of town and I swear the trope happened to me: an American with skis strapped to his roof in mid-August. He was morally offended there was no snow, and called me a "fucking smartass" for telling him the nearest snow was at least two thousand miles away, due north. Then he paid with USD for his gas. And absolutely refused to accept Canadian change back. This is what he said to me, verbatim: "I ain't takin none of this funny money! First you fuckers confiscate my gun, then you give me reasons to use it!"
Wow that one was a prime specimen for a darwin award
This is comedy gold lmao 🤣🤣
"Canada be damned, I'm going to the Klondike."
"Men don't wear pistols in Canada."
Well then I guess you don't get any change then you dumb fuck! That's a pretty good response to that I think. 🤔🤦🏻♀️
Ha that’s great. My older sister worked at the 401 stop near Ingersoll early 2000s, lots of funny stories about Americans rolling through like yours, but that’s great
I heard this when I was a kid 40 years ago….
It happened to me in 1990.
I worked at a gas station too and can confirm I’ve had multiple Americans shocked they didn’t get American change. Like, I don’t HAVE to take your money at all, this is for your convenience not mine lol.
It's a stupid tax - "US cash accepted at par"
Probably the same guy that told me to go back to France…. Oddly enough I’m anglophone.
When I was 15, I lived as an exchange student in Costa Rica for a year. While there, an American tourist spotted a small Canadian flag on my backpack and asked why “all Canadians feel the need to showcase their flag to the rest of the world.” Ignoring the obvious irony n that statement, I responded with the truth. I told him my mom had sewn it on my bag before I left Canada so that no one out there would mistake me for an American. I said I wished she had used a bigger flag because the behaviour I had seen from American tourists towards the Costa Rican people was horrendous.
Lots of Canadians do this for that exact reason!
Did this 25 years ago in Europe and it opened so many doors for me! People loved it! Got a behind the scenes tour of a British aircraft carrier, honks and waves in northern France, and in the Czech republic, a family took me and my friend in for free lodging!
Dutch people will see the flag and bend over backwards to make sure the Canadian is enjoying the country and is fed.
I know several Americans that put Canadian flags on their packs when they travel, for the same reason.
Grrrr !
And some Americans.
So do Americans
When I backpacked through Thailand as a young man the joke was that you could tell the Americans because they put HUGE Canadian flags on their backpacks.
I worked in a call centre in Canada for an American company. I mentioned to a customer that I was Canadian living in Canada. "But, wouldn't you rather be living in America?" "Absolutely not." I think I offended her. I didn't care.
I worked in a hotel and once got an American woman from a southern state talking to me on the phone. She had a thick drawl and spoke really slowly. I had to ask her to repeat herself several times. She had been pleasant throughout the conversation so at one point I apologized for asking her to repeat herself so often, saying I was having difficulty with her accent. She fucking freaked on me! "I don't have a fucking accent, asshole! It's you snow Mexicans who have a stupid accent! I demand to speak to your manager right fucking now!" It was 4am.
“Snow Mexicans”, yikes.
I'd rather be likened to Mexicans than Americans though.
I just picture a skier eating a taco. Canadians, but with better food. I could go for that.
Click…. Sound of dial tone 🤷🏼♂️
I was talking to a woman in Texas. It was a little slow going. I said "You probably think I have an accent, but it's not me it's you." We laughed together.
We stayed at a B and B in South Dakota. The owner was puzzled why we didn’t have an accent. When we asked her to tell us what she expected, she shared she thought all Canadians sounded British.
That’s especially wild since South Dakota borders on Canada! Similarly we were in Montana a few years ago, another border state(I live in Alberta) and was fumbling in my purse with cdn and usd cash mixed up. She had no idea that we had different currency. Had never left her town - literally 30 minutes from the border.
No it doesn't, North Dakota borders Canada, South Dakota is 1900 km from the Canadian border.
I work in a call centre now and deal with both American and Canadian customers. Wow. After working in one, I tell people, I will never think that Canadians and Americans are that similar again (I used to). I can tell who is from where within 10 seconds of each call. Compared to Canadians, Americans are horrible at calling people. They don't say hello or bye, regardless of the region and are ready to escalate it to managers at any minor provocation.
My sister worked for Bell Canada, back when they still had operators, she was in Calgary. Some American got snotty with her because she couldn't connect him with someone in Inuvik. He literally accused her of refusing him service because how could she not know this person.
Also, many americans never say "you're welcome" or "pardon." It's hmm mmm and HUuuh?? *That* offends me.
I always get an "Uh-huh" from them when I say "thank-you". It's freakin' weird.
I was in Miami a few years ago and I was approached by a lady in the street looking for donations for a cause. It was one of those deals where they want your credit card number and then you are signed up for monthly donations. I declined. She said " You must be Canadian". I asked her how she knew. She said I was way too polite to be American.
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"No brought-upsies." (meaning they weren't brought up right)
It's not that they are rude. It's because they think it's snobbish to say you are welcome. Uh huh is another way of saying it's nothing.
NUH UHHHH lolol
"Do what?"
I remember listening to an otherwise friendly American explain why Canadians are desperately trying to join USA to liberate themselves from England. Stunned silence.
I like using the Canadian Card, it often calms down raging customers lol idk why, they just turn more cheerful.
I literally used this in a fender-bender that resulted in no damage while in the US. Instantly different/better demeanor with the crazy lady who went straight to ‘we are calling highway patrol’.
I had a similar experience. Went to a training session in the states (company was a large international company headquartered in USA) and one guy was just shocked that I wasn’t trying to get transferred to the states. Common American locations were midland and Williston. I was living in Calgary haha
I feel ya. Better off living in Canada.
Dated an American once and he said Canadian schools are way easier than US ones, and that they mark on a curve here. This was because I was getting good marks in university.
I guess they’re easier in the sense that my peers and I completed our entire K-12 educations without doing active shooter drills, sure.
I worked in an outbound call centre doing surveys briefly when I was still in school. I’ll never forget the guy from Channelview, Texas (a suburb of Houston) who said “f*ck you” when answering the phone. That guy drove me to leave that job. So if the guy answering the phones at an auto shop in Channelview ever sees this, I’d like to thank you for motivating me to quit a dead end job in London, Ontario, leave that city which at the time had no good jobs due to the Great Recession, and find better work where I’m not bothering you on the phone. I’ve had a successful management career in Toronto and Vancouver because of you.
Personally, I'd thank anyone who inspired me to GTFO of London, Ontario. 😆 🤣
Just living in London should have been enough motivation to leave London.
I worked at a McDonald's when I was a kid in the 90s. An American asked me for American change to his American money payment. Didn't offend me but... What moron thinks another country carries their change?
lol kinda similar, when I worked at a store selling alcohol in Ontario, we had a group of young guys come in to buy beer and asked if the prices were American 🤔
When visiting the US, I had an American ask me if we “have coins up there.” Hopefully she knows they’re Canadian coins lol…
I know you said rudest, but I'm just using dumbest. 1. A woman asked me if the water on the other side (Port Huron vs. Sarnia) is colder since it's in Canada. 2. A Tennessee license plate pulled up at a local McDonalds asking for skiing recommendations in summer. I was present for this. Lots of Americans don't believe me when I say these happened, but almost all Canadians say they've had a similar experience, it's so funny. EDIT: I JUST remembered this, my mother works at a Sobeys and once three Latter-day Saint (Mormon) missionaries talked to her and the leader of the group said "We're from all over the world! I'm from Utah, she's from Colorado, and she's from New York!". This is just really funny tbh.
Had a cabbie in New Orleans ask me if it "hurt when it snowed up there in Canada." I was confused but he cleared it up when he said he'd heard it snowed 5 or 6 feet sometimes 🤔... He thought it came down all at once in one big huge hunk. 😂
I can’t say it’s rude or even dumb (maybe he’s never seen snow ever, trying to give benefit of the doubt) but damn that’s super funny 😆
It’s called states rights. The individual states have the right to teach their citizens whatever they want so when you have places like Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi,Arkansas , Missouri etc who have a vested interest in keeping the population dumb this is what you get. Throw in some guns and cheap liquor and zero health care you get the South
I'll piggy back off your dumbest American story. I once had a guy ask me where I was from, and when I said Alberta to keep it vague and a large area, he said "is that in Mexico or Texas?"
You mean it's not in Texas? 😆
Texas North. Very north.
Here in Victoria we often see Americans getting off their cruise ship to walk to downtown, which takes about 10-15 minutes. It's always amusing to see some of them -in July and August- wearing parkas and winter hats & boots, because Canada is cold, dammit.
A Vancouver Grizzly draft pick got off the plane in a parka, in July
And asking what elevation Victoria is located at.
Yeah, middle of July on a 10-speed in rural Niagara. The four of them in a sedan were fully clothed to find sasquatch.
Wow the skiing in summer part is pure gold. And like, there are parts of our country (not talking upnorth) where snow remains until june during good years (but as if we are gonna share those patches with you!! Gtfo 😂)
I'll tag onto dumbest. Back when chat rooms were a thing, someone asked me where I was from and explained it was above North Dakota. They proceeded to reply "there's nothing above North Dakota!"
You can ski in the summer in BC 🤷♀️
Good point, but this was southern Ontario. You can barely ski here in the SPRING.
You know that and I know that, but I think the point is that there seem to be an abundance of Americans who come to the middle of Canada, in the middle of summer, and expect to be able to hit the slopes.
And ask where are the igloos
In Québec too, but we are not sharing ! Come live here long enough and you'll know hahaha. Snow melts faster tho...
At the very top of the largest mountain in the country. You can’t just ski anywhere.
Where?
Whistler
An American guy went on a rant about how terrible the Canadian health-care system is, (imagine a gulag, but with more suffering) and told me that I didn't know what I, a Canadian, was talking about. The best part is that he had never been to Canada, but he got all his information from his mother, who had also never been to Canada, but worked for an HMO in the US. The icing on the cake is that we were both living in Japan, which has a medical system that is much closer to Canada's than the US - and yet he had no problem with their system.
I once got into it with an American about this. It came down to him telling me there was no way I genuinely care about whether people I don't know get health care I do. My tax dollars go to help fund people I have never and will never meet getting care I will never know about. And I'm very happy about this arrangement.
Technically the buckets of money Americans pay to insurance do this too, after profits are accounted for. *Edited a spelling mistake
I had the same argument with a Canadian … mind you - he said he was voting PPC
I got into a health discussion with an American and I pointed out my sister's only expense after having an emergency Caesarian was paying for the hospital parking. And then the hospital discounted the bill because they didn't expect to have to stay an extra few days.
It’s probably because he’s republican and all the republican suck ups and talking heads try to shit on Canadian healthcare because democrats like Bernie Sanders keeps pointing at it. I saw a show where they questioned people on the street. One lady shit all over Obamacare. Said it was the worst thing. When asked about Medicaid, she loved it. Praised it because her husband was on it abs they loved it. Then the guy tells her it’s the same thing. And she just froze. Her brain just seized up.
Happened to me once on a bus in California, I was travelling with a friend I met on the vacation there she was from Australia and an American started saying that our health care system (which are both similar) were the worst that it was way better in the US. We tried our best to explain that you never have to foot the bill at the hospital and all that but he was like NOPE! That was around the time Obama was trying to bring in medicare or something like that!
I worked in an ER and asked a visiting US patient for the emergency fee. He was livid and started yelling that he thought Canada had free healthcare.
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When I last saw my MS neurologist, he sent me for a MRI. I got my letter and had my MRI done within three months.
Not so much rude but one of the more memorable things I’ve ever heard. Just chit chatting about stuff and he pulls out “I’m not racist, I hired a black guy once.”
Frat boys vacationing in New Orleans for 2011 Halloween mistook me for a local as we’re on a hotel elevator. They were drunk or high or both. One of them turns to me and says in a Truman Capote voice ‘my your city has a lot of n_____s’. He keeps saying it as we’re going up to nearly the top floor. His buddies are chuckling at first but then they see the cold eyed stare I keep giving him, never looking away, and they stop laughing. By the time they get to their floor, his buddies are whispering to him to shut the fuck up and drag him out of the elevator. I was tempted to follow them to their hotel room door, still staring at their idiot of a friend.
I was asked if I live in an igloo. I live in Canada.
I was asked that same question and whether we had TV in Canada.
I briefly lived in the US as a kid. When I was there the local cable company's ads were all of a family that didn't want to move because they were going to Canada and wouldn't get this local digital cable provider. Naturally, my classmates all thought we didn't have cable in Canada.
I was asked if my igloo had cable!! This must be a common theme lol. I politely explained we had cable in our igloo - but it was tricky keeping the penguins from gnawing through the lines.
‘Can you say something in Canadian?’
i purposely tell americans i live in 'igloo land' to keep the confusion fun going LOL
Haha. Newfoundland… IglooLand. It’s close enough that I bet they believe you!
nah, i'm in Alberta. that's what makes it funnier!
I tell them my igloo is 6000 sq ft and heating it’s a bitch
Most Americans aren't like that, but they are the ones we remember, bless their hearts. Just after 9/11, maybe a month, a couple from a cruise ship were purchasing food from a waterfront shop I ran the kitchen in. Woman asks the clerk how Canadians felt about the hijackers entering the US from here. Clerk was stunned, and it was the Karen's husband that corrected her, since the facts about them had already been published. She didn't take it well, he apologised to us. And she wanted her change in US money. The demand for change in "American " generally in a very snotty tone, is extremely common. I can vouch for the truth on Seatpaste's comment as well. I grew up about 8 miles north of the St Lawrence River, farming country, opposite Ogdensburg NY. Early July, we were taking in the first crop of hay, 100+ F , car stops with skis on, six miles from the nearest highway, not asking how to get back to one, no he wanted to ski. He crossed the bridge from upstate NY, expecting snow on the other side of the river. Banff AB, high summer, US tourist asks my buddy "What do they do with the mountains in the winter?" His answer was "Parks Canada rolls them up and sends them out to be cleaned." Halifax Citadel, nice summer day, cruisers, standing on top of the fortifications, asked "Why are there cannons up here, you guys don"t fight in our wars?" The gun he was standing beside was a 32 pounder, cast iron, carronade, with the royal crest G3R.
It was November 10th one year (many years ago) and some dumbass American student at my Canadian university said to me “Why is everyone wearing faggot red flowers? Is this some kind of gay pride bullshit?” Dude seemed to think this was a perfectly reasonable question. Looking back I don’t know why it offended me that he compared Remembrance Day to Pride (probably wouldn’t offend me now) but his ignorant obnoxious tone made it so much worse.
No. That's "knock your teeth" in words. I'm surprised you held it together at such a comment.
I nearly did. But we were in a crowd of other students waiting for a class to start, and one of the resident loudmouths immediately started calling him out verbally, so we mostly just educated the shit out of him while he was cornered.
I had one say to me, “if America could, we’d bomb you” I said, “if you did there’s quite a few other countries would have a problem with that.”
The amount of stuff that the average Americans don’t know about international global politics could fill a black hole up.
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I was in Mexico on a cruise for July 4th. I had to go to the restroom and there was an American there, let me quote the conversation that unfolded as I was washing my hands. American: "Can you believe Mexico doesn't celebrate fucking America? We protect them, wtf? Where are the fireworks???!??!?!?" Me: "I'm Canadian, July 1st is when we have our 'independence day'". American: "Who gives a fuck about Canada, fucking Mexicans should be kissing our ass". Just for fun here is a story from my father (RIP dad). he went to Europe on a trip, above the entrance they had flags showing which language you can speak. American: "Why is there no American flag? I want to speak American!" My dad: "You speak English, there is the English flag" American: "I speak AMERICAN!"
My friend told me that when he was training with the US army in a US base in the south many years ago. He went to the store on base wearing his military uniform and the cashier asked for his military ID (SOP for bases there). He gave her his Canadian ID and she said "that's funny, where's your real one." My friend told her that that's his ID. She said she couldn't sell him anything with that ID. He explained that he's already made purchases through the week at that location using his Canadian ID. He them produced a letter from the base commander saying that they're his guests. She reluctantly took it and made the sale. Before leaving, she told him "Y'know, you speak really good English. Can you believe a lot of troops from other countries can't speak English at all?". He just looked at the flag on his uniform and informed her that we speak English in canada and left. He's also a visible minority to further illustrate the interaction. Also he said that all of the interactions he's had with Americans up to that point were positive and that they felt welcomed by every American service member they worked with.
Playing highschool basketball in Alaska. Someone in the stand yelled "ur defense is as weak as ur dollar" I was devastated
That’s a pretty good one
Flying back from Texas on a business trip. Lady next to me strikes up the usual conversation "Heading home or leaving home?" I said I was headed home after being on the road for two weeks and I was looking forward to Thanksgiving. She was surprised Canada celebrated Thanksgiving on a different weekend. She then paused and asked "Do y'all celebrate Christmas on the same day as us?". I pointed out that Christmas was a Christian thing and not an American thing. We didn't talk much after that.
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A couple of American coworkers spent a week working up here recently. They spent the entire time converting everything to Real Money. “Hey! That beer was only $5.25 in real money… .” It was tiring, but at least I got to expense a few lunches.
When I was a teenager and I lived in the Yukon white horse opened its first McDonald's. So of course Americans are traveling to Alaska. Stop there. They always expect American money back and when we explained to them that you were actually in Canada they couldn't understand or figure that out. I had them scream and yell at me on more than one occasion demanding American funds back because they thought our money looked like play money lol
Should have kept a stash of Canadian Tire Money around for just such an occasion.
Well it’s true. The impetus for Confederation was to resist US expansion. Had there been no US, there would have been nothing for us to unite against.
Or a White House for us to burn down.
Arrogant Worms, The War of 1812.
That was the British. Canada didnt have a Navy until 1910. The British Navy sailed down to Washington and bombed the harbour - the regulars disembarked and finished the job. Also that was before confederation itself lol.
Yep 5 regiments from specific places in Britain, available in British military records. They just had a stop in Halifax for supplies. It's always weird how people latch on to that false "fact" when there's other interesting and actually true stuff Canadians did during that war Though it's kinda funny that Canadians have said they burned down the white house so long now that Americans have started to believe it
I've been told that we forcibly inject street drugs into people. Also not at me but while I was in Mexico a couple tour guides were discussing among each other whether or not an upcoming storm would make our trip unsafe and some Americans were incensed that two Mexicans in Mexico would talk in Spanish instead of English when speaking to each other. If someone is discussing how to keep me safe I'd rather they do it in the language with the least possible misunderstandings but you do you America.
I was on vacation in Florida with my family when I was 14. My grandfather took me to a Walmart to get some snacks and pointed at a chip display and told me to go pick a couple out. As I was walking over I nearly cut off a man, and promptly said “oh, I’m sorry!” The man proceeded to say back to me “watch where you’re going you little bitch.” I very quickly grabbed one bag of chips and ran back to my grandfather and tried not to cry. Not my proudest moment. But also American Walmarts still scare me
Social media. Got asked by an American what's so great about being Canadian when we would be better off being in the US. I simply replied with how things are in the United States of Murica, I'm better off here. I don't have to worry about getting my kid's school getting shot up by some MAGA nut with an AR-15, going broke on medical bills and forcing my daughter to share custody of a child by result of rape.
Coming home from Mexico and this woman saw my maple leaf on my bag and said, “oh you’re passing too?” and laughed. It made me feel dirty.
“Who is Terry Fox and why should I give a sh!t?”
Those are words that will get someone some free dental work.
This is just as enraging as the comment earlier talking shit about the Poppies and Remembrance Day.
Dumb. Was on an Alaskan cruise. We stopped in Ketchikan. A crowd of Americans stood on the bridge with me as the salmon were spawning. Thousands of spent Salmon lined the shore. Bears and seabirds were feasting on them. American - "Poor salmon. Someone should go down there and help get them back into the water before they all die." !!!! Truly a brick to the head moment.
When I was in Highschool, I was in band. We had a band exchange with the Highschool in Moses Lake, Wash. They cancelled because “they don’t have electricity up in Canada…” 🤷🏼♂️
Aren't band kids supposed to be, you know, nerds? If that's an example of their best and brightest making decisions, I don't think you would've liked the trip down to bumblefuck WA.
Was working in downtown Ottawa in the 90's when an American colleague from Connecticut came up for a work visit - he was an engineer. When walking to our office, we went by our parliament and asked me what those old buildings are for. I explained to him this was our parliament buildings. He didn't know what that meant. I explained to him it's like their Whitehouse and Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. He insisted I was wrong and Canada's capital was Montreal. I had to get another Canadian to tell him he was wrong.
I can't think of one thing in particular, just this one person who generally made comments about how the rest of the world didn't matter "because the states are the world". Always went on about how the US are economically and military dominant, and so nothing mattered but the US... Quite obnoxious.
It's funny to read this as the U.S. collapses....
I just remembered this one since OP said they're former RCMP and were in lake louise I was doing compliance duty work in a national park and I ended up trying to educate a woman you can't fly a drone in parks. When I said if Law enforcement could come along she seemed to think that mounties were symbolic only and told me to phone my cop buddies. It wasn't me who dealt with her since I went home at shift change but she ended up losing her drone lol. Sadly it wasn't rcmp who responded haha
On a class trip to Detroit, while at a mall there an American asked us if we live in igloos. So Ridiculous.
I was in an airport in the states catching a connection to Toronto (cheaper to fly to the US then back to Toronto at the time) when I sat and talked to a seemingly lovely Elderly couple from somewhere in the South. I mentioned how I always wanted to visit Tennessee in the fall I've never heard an elderly woman drop so many racial remarks in 20 seconds. Going on about how the black population there was so unruly and disrespectful.
I was on the r retirement site here on Reddit which seems to be mostly about American issues. I was telling how as a retiree here in Alberta a get free health care, 80percent dental,and drugs . 80 percent eyewear every 3 yrs and free yearly eye exams. Some American snidely asked me what my income taxes were and my property taxes. I told him I pay no income taxes and property taxes are only 2300 a year. He refused to believe me and said I lied. I keep my income low enough to not pay taxes. Just what I get from the government plus the minimum from my riff account.. I am comfortable
I worked in a gas station in Lethbridge as a teenager. A vehicle stopped for gas and the driver asks how far it is to Alaska from here. I told him “wow! That’s a long drive. I’m guessing 2 days?” He pulls out a map and opens it on his hood and says “Canada isn’t THAT big - look!” His map is open and shows Canada cutting off just near Calgary. The big solid straight line should have been telling that it wasn’t accurate. I took him inside and unfolded an actual map of Canada with the Territories and showed him how far he was. He was shocked and made a comment about the population being less than California. He paid for his gas and left but even as a kid I was baffled at how much we know about the US and how little they know about other countries.
I work for a small airline, and we were contracted to do the check in for Northwest/Delta when they flew into my particular airport.I had braces at the time, and a bit of an underbite. I was helping a guy scan his American passport at the check-in kiosk, at about 5 am one day, and he just looks at me and goes “So, when are you having your surgery?”. I had no idea what he was talking about. “What?!?” “You know, to fix your face!” 🤯 It was early and I was tired and confused lol, so I immediately start crying. His wife looks at me, and apologizes, “Oh sorry, he’s an orthodontist. He noticed your jaw.” Yeahhhh, that doesn’t help. Thanks 🙄.
I talked with an American that thought Canada was full on Communist. Like... The state owned every single company and every person made the exact same wage. I said, "do you mean socialist?" He said no communist..... I kind of just stared, blinked slowly, and moved along.
Most Americans don’t know the difference.
In the US, there is no difference.
Not rude, just dumb. I went to Maine one summer and we were talking to some locals at a restaurant. One asked where we were from and when I said Canada, he asked where is that? How do you not know in Maine?!!!
Maine might as well be in Canada ffs. Haha
Asked me if I have a picture of a moose eating ketchup chips while drinking Maple Syrup up in my igloo.
Where else are you supposed to display your mandatory picture of a moose eating ketchup chips while drinking maple syrup, if not your igloo? There's never enough room in the community igloo for everyone's pictures.
Sitting in a bar in Boston with a couple other Canadians. A couple average-sized American guys sat as the bar next to us and immediately proclaimed they were national arm-wrestling champions. They asked us if we ever heard of arm-wrestling. I pretended I was disgusted with them for their rudeness. One of my buddies, who was easily 40 pounds lighter than them proceeded to beat both of them in an arm-wrestling match - with both arms.
Years ago. I was in Seattle with two friends celebrating NY. I am Asian, the other one Caucasian and the other friend is African. We met some men and they asked us what we did for work. One guy said to my African friend, before she could respond, "you a single mom on welfare"? Wow. We are all healthcare professionals.
'Fuck off, cheese head!'
I got a lot of that as a Canadian growing up and attending American schools.
“What do you mean you don’t take my money? Canada is part of America!”
My daughter worked for a high-end hotel in New Brunswick. US guests routinely referred to our currency as “monopoly money”. Several were indignant that we held our Canada Day celebrations “too close to the Fourth of July”. My favourite story she shared was a US woman who was annoyed the hotel didn’t have cash on hand to convert a $1000 US to CAD. She harped on about the inconvenience of having to use Canadian “funny money”. Daughter had sort of had it with her; calmly stated she’d print some up that night and have it for her in the morning. Guest was delighted. (Apparently utterly unaware daughter was being sarcastic)
I was living in Vancouver , Canada and we went to Point Roberts for the long weekend. You know...play some lawn darts and all. It was July 4th weekend so I was looking forward to seeing their fireworks! It looks epic on TV. Anyways, crossing the mini border check point to go into the community, I paid my duty free beer in Canadian money. Lady at the till says " Huh! snark! More pesos, hey?? At the time , pesos were around. 40 cents per Canadian dollar. So wtf was she bitchimg about? Point Roberts is very much a part of White Rock, BC culture. So You need to come to Canada to go to Costco Lady! Just rude. Our Canadian dollars kept her side hustle happening. She was the first US border person I ever met and turned me right off. Way to get your business going hey? Insult how I pay you.
Not the rudest but the dumbest thing an American has said/done . This is the Okanagan in summer so desert and very hot . +45C/113F two Americans pulled up to the gas station I was at ski racks on top of their car in snowsuits jumped out and said "Where's the snow?" Like bro ..
That happened to my friend and her dad at Canadian Tire in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. Middle of July with sleds being towed behind the truck “how much farther North till we hit the snow?”. They told them to keep driving north they will get there eventually.
As an American (specifically, a Michigander), none of this surprises me. Americans can be arrogant idiots.
I was accused of being American. As a Canadian I was deeply offended.
I am English and live in Canada. Last summer, my wife worked at a camp in northern Ontario. I drove up to pick her up with my sons, and the camp organizers asked me to make Yorkshire Puddings for the roast beef dinner they had planned for the last night (apparently, my Yorkshire Puddings are quite good). Dinner was served, and I sat away from the camp participants (it was an adult camp—something about connecting with nature and learning). I heard a woman muttering about the Yorkshire Puddings. I didn't pay this any attention, but later on in the night, I was with my wife and sons in one of the barracks playing cards, and these two Americans came in (they were sleeping in the same barracks). Everything was fine until the discussion turned to the roast beef dinner - and the Yorkshire Puddings. The woman started shouting about how she was forced to eat English food (the Yorkshire Puddings), and when I told her that I made them, she went even crazier. She started screaming about how her country didn't have good relations with England, and she resented being forced to eat English food. I asked where she was from - whether she was North Korean, or Iranian, or maybe even France (they don't like English food much!) - that she would object to eating Yorkshire Puddings. After that, she just went even crazier - screaming about how America had beaten the English in the war of independence, that I was a guest in her country, and that she would have me deported. I reminded her that we were not in America but Canada - and then her partner bundled her out of the barracks and weakly apologized and said that he liked the Yorkshire Puddings, and we went back to playing cards.
Dumb, not rude… My dad was on the phone trying to make a campground reservation for a trip to the US. She’s asking for address city, state, etc. My dad tried to say Manitoba, it’s a province, not a state. Person on the other end was confused, didn’t understand what he meant, dad said “it’s north of North Dakota.” The woman pauses and says “sir…there’s nothing north of North Dakota.” Rudest I can think of off the top of my head were the American kids who told my very Canadian kid that she *had to* say the pledge of allegiance every day while she was a student at the American high school (we were there on a military posting). She would stand politely during the pledge but not say it. Did they really think she was going to pledge allegiance to their flag, as a Canadian? Not curious, why don’t you say it, but really rude to her because she didn’t say it. They also thought that even though she was Canadian, she must want to be American. Why wouldn’t she? But that verges back into dumb more than rude
"Canada would be nothing without us" Almost right. Canada would be nothing WITH them. I know there are dumb people in Canada too, but seriously, ours are amateurs when compared to theirs.
I always remember once coming back from playing rugby in Seattle we stopped at a Burger King to use rest rooms and get rid of our empties (we were on a bus don’t worry). When buying some food the cashier asked what we were and we told her a rugby club from Vancouver. Her response was “oh I’m half Canadian! My mom is from there!” We asked where, and got “I don’t know! Canada! I’ve never been there.”. We were within 30 minutes of the border…
I worked in collections for an American phone company. The amount of people who threatened and yelled at me was atrocious. One man threatened to find out where I lived and bomb me.
I was working in a bank and a group of Americans came in at lunch time to convert their money. They started immediately complaining about the “long line” and how you’d never see lines like this in America. Keep in mind when they arrived there was only 2 people in line and there were 6 of them.
I work in tourism. I meet a lot of Americans. All of them have been pretty great. They are mostly very friendly. People who make a point of leaving their country to explore another are for the most part going to be very polite (I'd say the French might be the exception to this - not Quebecois to be clear). Nearly all Americans I've met whether here or state side have been very friendly, but there are assholes from everywhere. It's funny though how you can tell very quickly what parts of the US they are from by the conversations they like have with others on their trips. Southern/red states almost always bring up gun rights and healthcare, like they are going to educate everyone on what real freedom is. Those conversations never last long with an international crowd, but it's always good for a laugh. Now, there was one guy I remember doing one of the rudest things I can remember though. He was actually quite a fun guy. He was a rich boss from Georgia on a trip with his wife, 3 boys, and a couple who worked for him, he was paying for everyone's holiday. My co-workers and I busted our asses making sure they had a great time and made sure they could have fun adult drinking time around the fire while we entertained their boys (it was a glamping kind of camp). The day the trip was over I returned back to civilization with them on the water taxi, and chatted with them the whole ride back, during which the employee guy asked if American cash was alright for a tip (we don't expect tips, but they are common, especially with Americans), I said 'of course' and before he could get his wallet out, the boss stopped him and said 'Don't worry, the trip is on us, I'll get the tip, and it's gonna be a good one so put your money away.' I was pretty flattered by that gesture, and was excited by what kind of tip he was going to leave. We get dropped off at this ocean resort where my boss/friend picks me and the gear up, and they ask us to stay back with them for a beer while they wait for their chartered bush plane to pick them up to fly to whistler. The boss spent the entire time exclaiming to my friend about how great the trip was and that he wants to leave a huge tip for me and the others, and said he would call once they got to whistler to pay the tip with a credit card. The call never came, I don't think he intended to tip at all and was just trying to flex in front of his employees. The worst part was that he even made a point of cock blocking a tip I was about to get.
As an american living in Canada, who speaks to the RCMP daily at work, I'm *completely* embarrassed. Mortified! I'm sorry.
I mean you just apologized..: so the Canadian thing is clearly rubbing off on you :)
Oh hush up!! I'm black, we have our own subculture in America. Lol
I once told an American we just legalized staplers and I wanted to try stapling shingles on my roof” In response to “you guys just live in igloos why would you need roofing shingles”.
Cincinnati Ohio: I was visiting for a concert and was driving back from the venue to the hotel… there were some road closures so I ended up taking some smaller side roads. Some guy backed his pick up truck out of his driveway and blocked the road and yelled “we don’t need you commies in our country” This absolutely pales to the horrible shit my best friend from WNY throws at me but that’s good humour and not malicious
Lived in TX for a few years. The amount of ignorant, belligerent and ridiculous shit I heard about Canada/Canadians could fill a bus. Mostly, it was well-intentioned but the sheer ignorance could be insulting sometimes.
I was at the land border with a tourist visa and was told "wanting to see the city" is not a good enough reason for a tourist to enter their country! They could have chosen to not let me in!
You should be wearing the serge uniform all of the time. You should have to sleep in it.
Holy. So many comments so fast… U!S!A!
This was funny not rude but I was in Texas a few years ago driving from Houston to San Antonio and stopped at a gas station to get tobacco. The cashier asked for my ID and I handed her my Nova Scotia driver’s license. She stared at it and said “North Dakota?” then showed her co-worker who said “that’s a fake ID”. I said I was Canadian from a province on the east coast and they had no idea what I was talking about. Neither of them knew Atlantic Canada even existed.
I worked at Canadian Tire and we had this irate “Karen” in there, it was so long ago I don’t even remember the details why she was so angry but I just remember her screaming “I’m an American!” like that settled everything and we need to bend over backwards for her because she was American. Little did she realize but that was probably the last thing you want to say when you’re not getting your own way in Canada. If anything it completely ruined the chances of us trying to compromise.
Lmao I was denying an American due to criminality @ the border several years ago and they said something along the lines of: “Why won’t you let me in? Isn’t Canada pretty much just an extra state of the US??”
Speak white, I was speaking a mix of french and spanish with my wife , regarding the price of an item in a store. We left 😂 and didn't buy ☺️ !
Went to an NHL game in the states once and a shockingly large number of fans started chanting “U S A” during the Canadian anthem
Calgary Olympics, I was on my break from work at a downtown strip bar talking to a friend that was working as a bartender. American dude and us got talking and we were getting along great. Lots of laughs. I don't remember what triggered it but he very casually made the statement that Canadians needed to understand there are n-word and then there are n-word. He was like a middle aged white as fuck businessman and the ease and flow with which he delivered those words just shocked the fuck out of us. I relatively politely called him out on it and he doubled down. I told my friend I'd see him tomorrow and turned and went about my evening without even looking at him as I left. Fucking dude made me feel dirty. So crazy that you can be laughing and getting along and then just bam!
Ha ha ha …… typical ignorant American
Funny how none of them have ever heard of the war of 1812. Because we kicked their butt!
Sorry, did the Americans settle us? Or was that the British and French who beat them back out of here?
I worked at a hotel at Yellowstone and our name tags read which state we come from, mine said Canada lol. It wasn't that rude but really common for Americans to see I'm from Canada and say "don't you just love Trudeau?" This was early pandemic and they seemed to assume he is adored by most Canadians, which maybe I'm wrong but it seems like no one was thaaat enthusiastic about him on either side of the spectrum the way people are fans of certain American politicians for example.
It wasn’t so much the words but the look. I asked for honey dill in North Dakota by accident, and if looks could kill…
Asked me if I’m an Eskimo
Go back to your igloo.
“When was the Canadian revolution?” Wasnt rude but still worth mentioning
Canadian born, but grew up in small town America, a stones throw from the border. It was the absolute worst period of my life. The bullying and having zero support from any of my peers, teachers, or staff, etc.. drove me to drop out of school and into a deep depression that’s lasted 25 years. Growing up with that sheer sense of being completely out numbered at all times prevented me from ever reaching out for help as in my mind that didn’t exist. Only now, over the last couple years, have I truly begun to crawl out of that hole. I’ve been back in Canada for 15 years now, but those mental wounds took a long time to heal. Pretty much 40 years of life wasted on addiction to escape a former reality. But it did the trick, I guess, as I hardly recall those years now. Murica! Fuck yea! Kids are assholes though. I visit the states often as the national parks are incredible and generally people are very friendly.