I hate US customs!!!!

[The Monsignor]

Originally Posted by florencia9699

But what drove me crazy was that my first name is María, and I have two last names... the first being Pérez... now in every freaking paper they would just write María Pérez... that is even more common than being John Smith. Argh!!!! serioulsy... the lady at the school actually refused to sign me up with both my last names... and from that day on I had to come up with a way that they would, so every time I filled out a form in the US I'd put a "-" in between both last names...

-Florencia P-B.-

Yeah, welcome to the difference in cultures - here we don't include our mother's name in the last name - (there's a mere 7700 'William King's' in the U.S., so I feel your pain) If you hyphenate your last name, they figure you must be married, and that's his last name you've tacked on.

On the other side of the coin, maybe I'm a bit jaded, but that whole 'when in rome, do as the romans do' thing we preach to others here (particularly Americans abroad) applies to some degree here. If they don't use your full name here (including your mother's surname), because it isn't culturally recognized (or legally) does it really matter that much? We're expected to respect local customs when abroad (rightfully so) so it wouldn't be reasonable to expect them to adapt the law for foreign customs, would it?

[MeTurk]

I was actually fairly impressed with US customs when I was over there. We where a bit late getting to the airport when leaving Las Vegas and there was a cue that looked as long as the airport and we thought for sure we'll miss the plane with all the new checks but the cue moved extremely quick.

I'd probably regreat it if it happened but I'd like to be pulled aside by US customs. You see it on TV and hear about them all the time, I felt like I missed out on a traditional American custom.

Originally Posted by joe7f

Only when it comes to Freia Melkesjokolade :D

I liked Norway and its people so much that I when I arrived back in the US I began learning what is possibly the most useless language ever. It has only 4 million speakers, and more than half of them speak English better than I do.

--Joey

4 million! That's loads, we'd be delighted if 4 million people could speak Irish, I'd say maybe 50,000 speak it. So if your looking for a dead language.

Although there is finally a youth orientated resurgence so maybe theres hope for us yet and it's just been made an official language of Europe so all the people that can speak Irish will now be able to get jobs translating every European document into Irish.

[Joker]

Originally Posted by MeTurk

I'd probably regreat it if it happened but I'd like to be pulled aside by US customs. You see it on TV and hear about them all the time, I felt like I missed out on a traditional American custom.

Let's just say its as traditional American as getting mugged in Central Park after dark.

[florencia9699]

Monsignor, I totally understand your point, but unfortunately my second last name is not my mum's. My dad's name is like that, and so is my grandfather's name. Hehe, fortunately, when I have children, i'm not going to add it to them. So they'll have super easy names.

[The Monsignor]

My bad, that's the most common reason for someone having name problems here... Of course, it's not uncommon for civil servants to butcher someone's name just so it makes their job easier...

[joe7f]

After thinking about this some more I think I have a solution!

Everyone says the key is to have the TSA be government employees instead of private workers. Bullshit. Government workers are some of the most depressed looking people you will ever see. Think about your experiences at the DMV, IRS etc.

On the other hand who are the happiest people you ever see? Disney employees. Turn the TSA into a Disney subsidiary and people would go through security faster and be treated better.

I'm only partly joking, by the way.

The Monsignor, you are right about people conforming to our culture. It always bugged me to see people living, not visiting, living in a country and not speak at least some of the language. In Marbella, Spain, tons of Brits live there and don't speak 10 words of Spanish. A friend of mine said she heard a British guy go in to a store and yell at the top of his lungs "Does anyone speak English?"

There are a lot of languages out there, but no one is so busy that they can't AT LEAST learn to ask a person in THEIR language if they speak English. Americans are particularly bad at this but Canadians and Brits are a very close second.

--Joey

[The Monsignor]

It doesn't help that in most industrialized nations, English is taught in schools, even though it isn't the main language. In America in particular, there's no foreign language requirement in school at all!

There's a lot of that kind of narrow-mindedness around, though. It's like a boss I used to have - he thought nothing of spending all his waking hours at work, (because his home life was crap) and he wondered why nobody else was 'dedicated enough to put in a little extra effort' and stay 60 hours or more a week. To him, it made perfect sense, so he automatically assumed that it was just as logical to everyone else. Completely blind that other people may actually value their time off...

Americans tend to do that pretty commonly - but many first world nationals have that same thing - 'life in my country is so great that I just don't understand why everyone doesn't do things the same way!'

[Joker]

Originally Posted by joe7f

After thinking about this some more I think I have a solution!

Everyone says the key is to have the TSA be government employees instead of private workers. Bullshit. Government workers are some of the most depressed looking people you will ever see. Think about your experiences at the DMV, IRS etc.

Granted there is a point there, but having the job security of a govn't job with all the great benefits, retirement, etc, I would have a nice big ol' smile on my face. The pay may not be as much as the private sector, but who cares?!?! :P

On the other hand who are the happiest people you ever see? Disney employees. Turn the TSA into a Disney subsidiary and people would go through security faster and be treated better.

Thats because they're not employees, they are in Mouse-speak, "Actors." No bullshit. And post-Mouse they ain't usually that happy! Everyone I've ever met that worked for the Mouse hated it.

As for learning a language or at least key phrases, its something that begs consideration from every Punk here. Think of it like this: You are an ambassador of your respective home everywhere you travel. Out of common courtesy (which doesn't exist much anymore) knowing a few things about where you are travelling is important.

But nonetheless, I seriously doubt an elderly woman in a wheelchair needs the VIP treatment from the TSA morons.