short uncle sam visit

I drove down to Buffalo last night to pick up my daughter and her boyfrined. They had flown into New York from Iceland and then on to Buffalo via JetBlue. I bought her JetBlue tickets after I found out that a direct N.Y.C. - Toronto flight cost three times (yes, that's correct: THREE TIMES) as much as a N.Y.C. - Buffalo flight. If the difference were a hundred bucks, I wouldn't have bothered with the drive down. But for this kind of a "price differential" (as car salesmen like to say when they "service" their customer) - I would have been a fool not to drive.

The immigration check going in is pretty rigorous: not impolite but certainly thorough and aggressive. Everything after the immigration check is a breeze and a pleasure. Customer service is invariably excellent, smiles abound and "no problem, hon" is the most frequently heard catchphrase. As I was waiting for my daughter to emerge from the gate, I asked one of the passing passangers which flight she was coming from. She stopped, smiled and told me before waving and walking on. Not twenty seconds later, a lady approached me, again with a beaming smile, and said: "I could not help but overhear you asking about the JetBlue flight - my daughter is coming in from Kennedy on that flight and she just called me to say they're deplaning". I thanked her and two minutes later my daughter and her boyfriend were running towards me.

Whenever I go to the States, I always get the same feeling: people are more polite, customer service is incomparably better and most of all, most folks seem to just plain enjoy life! There is some of the same attitude in small towns across Canada (thought not as effusive) but definitely none in stuck-up, rushed, sour, holier-than-thou Toronto. I cannot count how many people in this city I've talked to who feel they are somehow "superior" to the Americans. I have never understood what that superiority was about. We may be building an opera house and have marginally less snow than Buffalo but what else? Paul Martin as Prime Minister? Dalton McGuinty as premier? Is that what we feel superior about? The sense of community is all but gone here. Our waterfront is horrible. Our transit is rapidly going to seed and road rage, sidewalk rage and mall rage are all the rage. If there are grounds for any kind of feelings of superiority - I can't see them. I, for one, love visiting the U.S., despite the post 9/11 border rigor.