...The very words uttered to me by probably the most intense individual I met in my entire life. Perhaps a little back ground is in order. A few days ago I embarked on my journey to the US, as I have mentioned in previous blogs. I had various planes to take and the whole trip was around 13 hours in total until I arrived.
As a Canadian citizen I had to go through customs on the way (while still in my country), this is usually a breeze. As I have done this a few times without a hassle I went to the booth to talk to the American customs agent thinking that this would be short and fairly easy.
I had nothing to hide, nor posed no threat... at least until this guy got done with me. I was usually given the standard questions which I answered without hesitation or fallacy, however the agent found one discrepancy, I was leaving for 8 weeks. This amount of time is supposedly "Very suspicious", which really through me for a loop because people I know go on vacation for 3-4 months at a time (usually Florida)without a hassle. However because I was 21 and leaving my country for 8 weeks to go to the US it was decided that some how I was a threat.
I was basically forced to defend my position, and when I did by stating I have the addresses/names/phone numbers of the family I was staying with to get them to vouch for me it was taken as a "Threatening statement". Note the quotations are direct quotes from the agent I was dealing with. This man then drilled me again with the same set of questions, and adding new ones to check if my story is indeed legit.
This is fine and well, although I was a bit nervous and shaken because of the power this man's position had over me at the time I did alright. He asked me personal questions like my employment and why I was so special enough to get 8 weeks off work. He then accused me of working in the US, I am assuming illegally because he never stated. I made a small remark about how trust me I'll be there to spend money on vacation not make it... and he then told me I'm being placed under suspicion marking my passport.
When I asked him why he is marking my passport, because they normally don't do that any more, he said it is to let others know what went on. Then he handed me my stuff and stated "Welcome to the United States" and sent me on my marry way. Not the most pleasant welcome I've had.
So far I haven't really done anything else significant enough to note here on the blog but I am keeping notes of interesting anti-obama and anti-government statements I keep hearing Americans say. I am also going to make note of religious billboards and bumper stickers... because I've never seen so many in my life!
I'll be posting more as I do more!
2 comments:
wow! That American Customs agent was a true asshole. Maybe that's how he's get his rocks off- by threatening people and giving them a hard time. I'm guessing that if you made any other remarks that he thought were 'suspicious', he might have had you arrested or deny your entrance to the U.S. Any way you look at it, he was clearly hostile and wrong in his thinking.
You'll find a lot of anti-government talk. Apparently when a country gets a good governement that lets them do a thousand times more than any other country and have a say in whats going on they automatically have a hatred to it. Does this make sense to anyone else?
I'm being hypocritical because I really do not like our governement and how it is being run and I hate that over half our country is idiotic enough to vote that man into office...
Sorry for the ranting.
Tell me how the trip goes XD
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