Unfriendly customs officers :(

[solismaris]

This weekend we went to Montreal. The Canadian customs officer was efficient but polite. Asked all the right questions with a friendly manner and when finished wished us well on our visit.

Returning to USA was the polar opposite. The officer said absolutely thing; stuck out his hand. I figured he wanted our passports. "Why were you in Canada?" I answered. "What was the purpose of your visit?". I answered. "How long?". Etc. When finished, he thrust the passports back at us with the most unfriendly demeanor imaginable and said nothing. I figured that meant he was done with us and we pulled away.

No "Thank You". No "Welcome back to the United States." Nothing but a scowl.

In my experience this was not an isolated incident.

As an Ameican I am ashamed for our Canadian friends who come to visit us. Please know that we're not all jerks. But from your first encounter at the border you could be left with that impression.

[Community Alumni]

Although we ourselves often cross a couple weekly throughout the summer season, for many of our fellow rv'ers crossing either way is a rarity usually associated with few and far between vacations. Their perspective is adventure or returning home.

For the border guards it is neither; these crossings are just another of the hundreds that they must verify each day as a part of trying to keep us all safe. As individual travellers we cannot expect the 'personal' treatment but we often indeed receive such. :C

[vjstangelo]

I'll never forget the laugh we had with a Canadian customs officer after she asked where we will be lodging during our stay. I'm guessing she didn't appreciate at that instant the TT in tow. We laughed and she bid us farewell.

[solismaris]

Thank you all for your many varied comments to my posting. Your many perspectives have given me many new insights to the difficult job these people do. I'll try to keep this in mind next time.

[TexasShadow]

Most of the time, we are treated politely. Once in a blue moon, we run into a jerk or jerkess... Canadian or US. But not enough to hold a grudge over.

[n7bsn]

I might have crossed the US/Canadian border more then all of you, combined. Back in the "working world" I crossed often enough that some of both the US and Canadian personal would say "See you next time".

To the original OP, that was nothing, just short and terse.

I've had more issues with US then Canadian, both before and after 9-11. But things certainly got, more interesting, after.

One time I was returning to the US by an unusual crossing and ran into a US guard that didn't appear to understand that yes I could be in Canada driving a US Gov vehicle, on US Gov business. His questions got more and more belligerent until he asked me my grade. I told him, he stopped asking me questions and told me I could go.
It wasn't until I was a couple minutes down the road I realized why. In "his world" my grade was a 2nd level supervisor. While in mine it was just that of a Senior worker.

I did have a delay going north once, the guard at the gate told me to go in and talk to someone. I waited about 10 minutes and he came in and we talked for a few minutes. Then he told me to wait, about 20 minutes later an obviously senior person came in and sat down in a private office. After the original guard finished what he was doing, he went in to talk to what was certainly the Supervisor. The Supervisor came out, asked me for my travel-orders, I handed them to him, he said "Thank you, you can go on your way now". The last thing I heard was him telling the guard to come into his office for a private meeting..... I figured the guard received some instructions on dealing with US Gov people on official travel.

The most fun was actually a coming south. I had been up for a tournament. The US guard's finial question was "who won". I told him and he said "good, he's a great guy"

[IDman]

I've always had nice experiences at ports of oentry. Remember....they meet a LOT of jerks each day! You only had to deal with one!!

[Pangaea_Ron]

We've traveled extensively around the world and have had varied experiences, but mostly good.

Coming back into the USA from Canada we had a US agent ask us the most revealing question that I've ever heard. "What are you bringing back that you shouldn't?" I laughed, but he knew what to look for. . . he then said: That means people also." He learned more from me than from a normal interrogation. He was very good, and we left amused by our encounter.

We flew to Sydney, AUS for the Sydney/Hobart yacht race with a US racing team, and a AUS agent asked us if we were there to take the trophy from them. I expected a "cavity search" at that point. Fortunately one of our crew was a US customs agent, and he provided a few badges and pins to smooth our way through. He listened to the agent interrogate me, and he said that she was really good, and that I had now idea what she was asking. He wished that he had agents as talented as her.

We traveled on a vineyard tour with friends from WA to SE British Columbia. Our friend that owns a wine shop had wine for 3 couples, with 2 couples in the car. They went to the wrong border crossing, other than the one we had agreed on with too much wine. My wife and I had already crossed into BC, and their agent said that if we could come back to their border crossing it would be OK. We drove there, parked, and waved to the agent from the parking lot and our friends came through with the wine. A nice experience.

I once took 7 Rotary exchange students from around the world through the border crossing in Blaine, WA. One of the students did not have his proper forms and was denied passage. It took several hours for someone to come with his forms before we could cross into Canada. It turns out that the Supervisor (not on duty) at the border crossing was a fellow Rotarian, who was incensed when he found out. The next time that I brought those students through the border several months later we were waved through with only a cursory look. Just keep moving, don't make trouble.

These all happened before 9-11. There are doing a tough job in difficult times.

[Old-Biscuit]

Dang check out clerk at local grocery store was a real stinker this evening.
No smile, didn't want to chat and wouldn't even double bag my ice cream.

[docj]

I agree that it's kind of hit and miss depending on who you get and what kind of day they've been having. But I do think that how you approach the matter can make a big difference.

We were in Canada this summer for ~10 weeks so I anticipated more than the usual questions when returning to the US and, therefore, was exceptionally well organized. With me and neatly organized I had: 1)passports, 2)vehicle registration papers for the MH and the toad, 3)incorporation and registration papers for our MT LLC that owns the MH, 4) an itemized list (with receipts) of all the $1500 of purchases that we had made while in Canada, and 5) a list of all alcoholic beverages purchased in Canada.

The ICE guard asked for most of these and looked at a few of them. After he completed his interview he told me "thank you for being so well organized, it's not what we're used to around here." They do have a job to do and apparently this guy, at least, was willing to admit he appreciated my having made it a bit easier for him.

[explorenorth]

obgraham wrote:
They're just doing their job.

No, sometimes they're just AHs. I cross every 2-3 weeks and have been doing so at the same 3 crossings for decades. Most officers are "doing their jobs" - neither good nor bad. Some I've come to know fairly well (in good ways), and some should go find a job that they like.

[free_radical]

I have to agree US border guards are very unfriendly,
One time there was American Indian family going back and the officer questioned who all their kids are,said about one kid he looks more like a n!gga then an Indian..
Both parents lost their temper then and it was like a scene from Jerry Springer show

I guess the cops need to behave tough to weed out the suspicious individuals and since I have nothing to hide I'm cool and don't worry about it..
I sure wouldn't want to do such dangerous job cops have,with all the criminals and guns out there..


interesting vid about how one of the safest country to live in goes about preventing crimes
http://youtu.be/DtysTqRuJhI

[Brynjolf]

Sounds like a fairly typical crossing to me. I wouldn't call them rude... stern, maybe. And trying to put on airs of being authoritative and imposing. I've always assumed it was part of US Customs training and that they are trying to evoke a response.

Over the years, I've occasionally seen border guards crack their façade. Usually, its after the interview while and they'll smile while they wave me through, or offer some tourist advice on my destination. But, just a few months ago, during the interrogation, my border collie stuck her head out of my TV's rear window and the biggest smile appeared on the border guard's face as she went over to pet my dog; the rest of the interview (which included a look-thru of the trailer) was much more relaxed - it was still very thorough, but friendlier.

[timmac]

I had a open arms welcome going into Canada but a bad issue coming back into my own country, it was after the 911 attacks but just before passports were required going in and out of Canada but not to the person at the border check point, he was mad, made me park and check me and my daughters out on the computer checking our background, even threating to send me back to Canada but his supervisor came up behind him and said I could go thru, I sure wish I had that on video.

[tonymull]

I have run into both kinds going both ways. Usually they are nice, sometime just professional, sometimes a jerk. Once crossing into BC I had an unconrtollable urge to ask the lady if that stick up her butt came with the stool of did she have to bring it from home...fortunately my buddy slapped me.

[bob_nestor]

Like many US citizens here, I've never had a bad experience going into Canada even when pulled in for and additional inspection or background check. But crossing back into the US either by land or air is always hit or miss for me. Sometimes I get lucky and don't get hassled or get someone with a bad attitude, but many times I hit the jackpot.

I think part of the problem is they've got a list of questions that need to be answered. They use the same questions for everyone - US citizen or not, but the questions have different meaning depending on your citizenship. This is a source of confusion and frustration. For instance, the question "the purpose of your visit". For a US citizen returning to the US they want to know why you visited Canada (work or pleasure) because it affects things like imports. But for a non-US citizen they're really asking why you want to visit the US. It would help if they make it clear what they were really asking. I know not to volunteer information, but in cases like this I've learned to ask for clarification of the question(s).