Border Control

You know what job must suck?
Being a Border Control Guard.
Let's think about it. First of all they are trained and paid to be suspicious. Secondly they work in a tiny little box. Thirdly they never get to have actual conversations with people, just question and answer periods.

I really dislike crossing the border. I avoid America whenever I can, partly because crossing the boarder is stressful and partly because the good ol' U S of A is not really that amazing. My country invented insulin, nuclear weapons, hocky AND Ryan Renolds, so I'm sorry, but it's pretty hard to beat that list.

I have to go to the USA twice in two weeks, one for my vacation that never happened, and again next weekend to pick up the Kamloops Christian School Guatemala Missions Team from the airport in Seattle.

Going through the border bugs me because I am the LEAST suspicious person on the face of the earth. I wear Jeans and hoodies, I work in a church and Christian school, I'm a small town girl that does'nt do anything remotely dangerous or questionable. And yet... every time.... somehow they just don't like me and I get asked way more questions than I think are necessary. Am I really so shifty that you have to ask me 36 more questions than you asked the guy in front of me? Or is it just that I am so fascinating that you want to get to know me better?

It also stresses me out that they ask the questions so fast so they can try to get you to make a mistake.

Usually the problem arrives going into the US. One time in college on the way to a wedding in Philedelphia, the guard was so suspicious that a group of 7 friends all knew the SAME person and were going to the SAME wedding, and that one of the boys played the cello, that we almost had to get the cello out and play it to prove that everything we were saying was true.

This time the stressor was coming back into Canada. I hand the guard our passports.
Where's home? Kamloops
How long were you in the US? About a day and a half
Purpose of visit? We were supposed to fly to Vegas but my sister got sick so we couldn't go.
Where were you going? Vegas
Where did you stay in the US? Bellingham
What hotel? Holiday Inn
How much did you spend? About $100 between the two of us.
What hotel did you stay in in Vegas? We DIDN'T go to Vegas. We couldn't get on the plane so we stayed overnight in Bellingham. Now we are going home because our trip is cancelled.
Did you have reservations in Vegas, at what hotel? The Tropicana (By this time I'm wishing we still had that bag of barf in the backseat and asking him to throw out to prove the sickness excuse)
Do you have your airplane tickets? I have our boarding passes, will those work?
Yes. Let me see them. (I pass them over and our story is proven)
Have a nice day.

If I were in charge here is what my standard question list would look like.
Can I look at your passports please?
Canadien EH? Welcome home!