I’ve crossed that very border about 10 times a year since I was a baby. I’ve crossed there (and at the Peace Bridge) in cars, on bicycles and on foot. Whats been hammered into me as long as I can remember is...DON’T BE AN A..HOLE WITH THE BORDER PEOPLE!!!
This isn’t a new rule. I don’t think that jerk would have been treated much different in 1965. If I acted that way towards a CDN officer, I’d expect the same.
They also prod and provoke just to get a sense of who you are, sample questions I’ve really been asked:
“are you bringing any business machines with you?”
“ do you have any weapons,hand grenades etc with you?”
“ how much vodka is in that orange juice?
This guy failed the Ahole test and this is what has always happened on the bridges when you do.
Same here - I’ve lived on the border and worked on it.
I once crossed the border from Montana into Canada on a camping trip. Immigration Canada asked me the standard questions, including weapons. I remembered that I had a survival knife with a switchblade in my gear and told them.
Nope - not authorized and I was told I could not enter Canada. I didn’t give them any lip, even though the nearest city for a gang fight was 250 miles away. I politely turned around, went back to the concrete pylon border marker in the no-man’s land between border stations, buried the knife under a rock one inch inside the USA, turned back to Canada, politely said I didn’t have it any more and consented to a full search of the car, was cleared, and moved on into Canada for my camping trip.
They saw what I was doing from both border stations, but I didn’t give anybody any lip, and had no problems.
Four days later I came back to the USA, stopped by the rock and got the knife and came on home.
Now imagine if I had given these guys an attitude like the Canadian A-hole. I’d probably be in jail on a weapons charge.
There was vodka in the OJ, wasn’t there? LOL