Camembert Sandwich
It was a great day for me, in terms of health (the past 5 weeks or so I'd felt pretty rotten, overall, including this morning, but suddenly felt a ton better), and it's amazing how much better that made my perception of the whole day. So good, in fact, that I decided that after work it was high time for a giant Illy cafe latte and a crudite sandwich at Cafe Crepe. They were out of the really yummy ham and brie ones, but they still had a camembert one left, and that was good enough. I sat there for a little while and lazily munched on my sandwich and sipped my coffee and read my book, and it made me happy.
After that, my energy continued into calling a few more credit card companies and giving them my new address. First you may wonder why it's taken me so long to do so, and second, why it's that big a deal. Sort of in answer to both, the scoop is that it hasn't been a problem, since I can check my accounts online and pay them online, and since foreign addresses are a major change to them. They don't allow foreign address changes on their website, and when talking to a rep in person, the discussion often takes up a huge chunk of my evening and usually goes something like the following:
Matt: Hi, I need to change my address.
Clueless Account Representative: That's fine, sir. What is the new address?
Matt: It's a Canadian address — I recently moved to Vancouver.
CAR: No problem. Go ahead.
Matt: Okay, it's [gives apartment number].
CAR: [types]
Matt: [gives street number], Seymour Street.
CAR: Wait, which number was it?
Matt: Both. The apartment number usually comes before the street number here. But you can do it after if that's what your system needs. That's okay, too.
CAR: [silence]
Matt: Just put a hyphen between them.
CAR: [silence]
Matt: Hello?
CAR: As in [apartment number] hyphen [street number]?
Matt: You got it.
CAR: Um, which one is the hyphen?
Matt: The dash thing.
CAR: Oh. Okay. So, [apartment number] dash [street number] Seymour Street. How do you spell that?
Matt: S. E. Y. M. O. U. R.
CAR: S. E. U.?
Matt: [Wondering if my accent is getting that mangled already] No, S. E. Y. M. O. U. R.
CAR: Street or drive? [For some reason they always ask drive. Only drive. Not avenue or boulevard. There is indeed a Seymour drive here in town, too, but we haven't even made it to the city and province part yet, and half the time they don't even know how to spell that, so I don't think it's a matter of an automatic address search].
Matt: Street.
CAR: [Types. Long pause.] The city please?
Matt: Oh. Vancouver, BC.
CAR: Can you spell that?
Matt: Sure. V. A. N. C. O. U. V. E. R.
CAR: Two words?
Matt: No, all together.
CAR: What state is BC? VC? Whatever you said?
Matt: The province is BC. Stands for British Columbia. In Canada. Foreign address.
CAR: Oh. [Pause.] Can I put you on hold?
Matt: Okay.
CAR: [Hold music starts. Often it's an endless repeat of a single song, because the licensing fees are cheaper that way, I assume. I don't know. After a couple of minutes I begin unpacking crates, putting away laundry, and otherwise not being near my desk or credit card.]
CAR: Hello, sir. Thank you for holding. What was that account number again?
Matt: [Sighs. Runs downstairs. Reads number.]
CAR: Okay, so that's [reads address].
Matt: Yes, and there's also a postal code. Sort of like a zip code.
CAR: Oh, okay. Can you give that to me?
Matt: Sure. V as in Victor. The number 6. B as in Boy. Number 6 again. L as in Larry. Number 6 one more time.
CAR: V6B6L6, right?
Matt: Yes.
CAR: Can I put you on hold again?
Matt: Okay. [Waits another five minutes.]
CAR: Okay, so, that address was [reads entire address, then triumphantly announces at the end] Canada! Correct?
Matt: Yes. Question for you. The phone support number asks me to enter the zip code for my account when I call. What do I do now that it's not a five digit number?
CAR: [Silence.]
Matt: You know? Nevermind. I'll figure it out.
CAR: Good! I mean, thank you. I mean, sir, thank you so much for being a loyal account holder since 1993. Is there anything else I can do for you.
Matt: No thanks. Bye.
I understand now why Canadians get so irked at Americans. Canada is the left-handed person in a right-hander's world. Everyone expects you to sort of just do it the same way as the US, except nothing quite fits, and then people get all strangely irritated at you, as if it's your fault personally that Canada is not the same as the US.
* * *
Speaking of Canada, vs. the United States, I'm not sure if it's apparent to Canadian born people (need to ask my friends at work), but I find it really amusing how easy it is to identify the American corporations here.
Canadian based chains, like Chapters or Roots just sort of are what they are. Sure they may have a national pride sort of display of Canadian products, or have maple leafs on things, but that's no more weird than the US having American flags on clothing and labels and so on.
American chains, here, though, seem to go utterly overboard in trying to convince the Canadians that they're actually Canadian chains.
The Sears logo here actually goes S E A R S # where the # is a maple leaf.
The McDonalds has a little maple leaf awkwardly wedged in the bottom of the golden arches.
And Home Depot has given up its trademark orange theme (I swear, that's normally the most orange place in the world) and traded it in for Canadian red, not to mention printing "B.C.'s Home Improvement Warehouse" in big huge letter under the name.
Much silliness.
After that, my energy continued into calling a few more credit card companies and giving them my new address. First you may wonder why it's taken me so long to do so, and second, why it's that big a deal. Sort of in answer to both, the scoop is that it hasn't been a problem, since I can check my accounts online and pay them online, and since foreign addresses are a major change to them. They don't allow foreign address changes on their website, and when talking to a rep in person, the discussion often takes up a huge chunk of my evening and usually goes something like the following:
Matt: Hi, I need to change my address.
Clueless Account Representative: That's fine, sir. What is the new address?
Matt: It's a Canadian address — I recently moved to Vancouver.
CAR: No problem. Go ahead.
Matt: Okay, it's [gives apartment number].
CAR: [types]
Matt: [gives street number], Seymour Street.
CAR: Wait, which number was it?
Matt: Both. The apartment number usually comes before the street number here. But you can do it after if that's what your system needs. That's okay, too.
CAR: [silence]
Matt: Just put a hyphen between them.
CAR: [silence]
Matt: Hello?
CAR: As in [apartment number] hyphen [street number]?
Matt: You got it.
CAR: Um, which one is the hyphen?
Matt: The dash thing.
CAR: Oh. Okay. So, [apartment number] dash [street number] Seymour Street. How do you spell that?
Matt: S. E. Y. M. O. U. R.
CAR: S. E. U.?
Matt: [Wondering if my accent is getting that mangled already] No, S. E. Y. M. O. U. R.
CAR: Street or drive? [For some reason they always ask drive. Only drive. Not avenue or boulevard. There is indeed a Seymour drive here in town, too, but we haven't even made it to the city and province part yet, and half the time they don't even know how to spell that, so I don't think it's a matter of an automatic address search].
Matt: Street.
CAR: [Types. Long pause.] The city please?
Matt: Oh. Vancouver, BC.
CAR: Can you spell that?
Matt: Sure. V. A. N. C. O. U. V. E. R.
CAR: Two words?
Matt: No, all together.
CAR: What state is BC? VC? Whatever you said?
Matt: The province is BC. Stands for British Columbia. In Canada. Foreign address.
CAR: Oh. [Pause.] Can I put you on hold?
Matt: Okay.
CAR: [Hold music starts. Often it's an endless repeat of a single song, because the licensing fees are cheaper that way, I assume. I don't know. After a couple of minutes I begin unpacking crates, putting away laundry, and otherwise not being near my desk or credit card.]
CAR: Hello, sir. Thank you for holding. What was that account number again?
Matt: [Sighs. Runs downstairs. Reads number.]
CAR: Okay, so that's [reads address].
Matt: Yes, and there's also a postal code. Sort of like a zip code.
CAR: Oh, okay. Can you give that to me?
Matt: Sure. V as in Victor. The number 6. B as in Boy. Number 6 again. L as in Larry. Number 6 one more time.
CAR: V6B6L6, right?
Matt: Yes.
CAR: Can I put you on hold again?
Matt: Okay. [Waits another five minutes.]
CAR: Okay, so, that address was [reads entire address, then triumphantly announces at the end] Canada! Correct?
Matt: Yes. Question for you. The phone support number asks me to enter the zip code for my account when I call. What do I do now that it's not a five digit number?
CAR: [Silence.]
Matt: You know? Nevermind. I'll figure it out.
CAR: Good! I mean, thank you. I mean, sir, thank you so much for being a loyal account holder since 1993. Is there anything else I can do for you.
Matt: No thanks. Bye.
I understand now why Canadians get so irked at Americans. Canada is the left-handed person in a right-hander's world. Everyone expects you to sort of just do it the same way as the US, except nothing quite fits, and then people get all strangely irritated at you, as if it's your fault personally that Canada is not the same as the US.
* * *
Speaking of Canada, vs. the United States, I'm not sure if it's apparent to Canadian born people (need to ask my friends at work), but I find it really amusing how easy it is to identify the American corporations here.
Canadian based chains, like Chapters or Roots just sort of are what they are. Sure they may have a national pride sort of display of Canadian products, or have maple leafs on things, but that's no more weird than the US having American flags on clothing and labels and so on.
American chains, here, though, seem to go utterly overboard in trying to convince the Canadians that they're actually Canadian chains.
The Sears logo here actually goes S E A R S # where the # is a maple leaf.
The McDonalds has a little maple leaf awkwardly wedged in the bottom of the golden arches.
And Home Depot has given up its trademark orange theme (I swear, that's normally the most orange place in the world) and traded it in for Canadian red, not to mention printing "B.C.'s Home Improvement Warehouse" in big huge letter under the name.
Much silliness.