Wait, wait, he clearly said that Americans have the same level of intelligence as everyone else and he gets jumped on for that?
What, you want to be acknowledged as a smarter nationality now, lieu?
I saw absolutely nothing objectionable at all in his rant. Except for the fact that someone, somewhere, thinks that Dorval (or PET, if you prefer) is anywhere in the vicinity of the Rockies.
The first time that I heard Zig Zigler’s very old joke, President Carter was referenced. I highly doubt he really did it that since every hotel clerk on the job more than two months has heard that one already.
Also, as a seasoned business traveller, I have used the trick of calling the national hot line trick a time or two to get a room. Holiday Inn, for example, always holds a few rooms for the national toll free line and the local proprieter has no access to them. The owner of the hotel must agree to this, among other things, in order to get to use the Holiday Inn name. There is no reason to be angry at the clerk who most certainly was not lying. He can only go off of what is on his system.
Haj
Classic 
Mentioning the tendency to make jokes about people in other, nearby areas is assholishness now? Really? So I can’t point out to my aunt in Indiana that folks in Kentucky tend to make Hoosier jokes, even though she already knows? And she can’t tell me that Hoosiers tend to make Kentuckian jokes? I think I’ll just stay in my family full of assholes, thanks.
Caller ID.
And Sublight, everyone else in the world is as stupid as you.
IME caller ID only tells you that it’s long distance when it’s from another country. On my caller ID when I get a call from England or the States it simply states ‘Private Number’ and ‘Long Distance’ and doesn’t even give you a number. Another province will tell you it’s from a certain province. (‘Hey Manitoba called! How cool is that!’)
Unless you actually state where you are calling from you could be from Timbuctu for all the people know. And I won’t venture a guess as to how many hotels (chains or otherwise) have their prices converted into any currency at any given time on the computers.
The American dollar is the most recognized monetary unit on Earth. When on the telephone, you should state the price like this “The room will be 100 Dollars American or 50 Dollars Canadian.” This clears the confusion, I believe. If I owned a hotel or business in Canada, I would have a favorable American exchange rate to attract repeat business and to make myself some extra money.
But of course. You too.
You know, I took that to mean “some folks think they are superior, but they do the same stupid shit too”.
Am I wrong?
At that rate, I’ve got 50 million Canuck Dollars here I’d like to exchange for the Yankee variety. Are you game?
I will say that if I called a Caandian hotel to make a reservation and they quoted me a price in dollars, I’d definitely ask whether they meant USD or Canadian Dollars. While I would expect the price to be in Canadian dollars, I would want to confirm that, precisely because they might be trying to be helpful by quoting me a price in my own currency. That’s not stupid: that’s just caution.
Daniel
aren’t american dollars stronger than Canadian dollars? So if they quote me in Canadian dollars and I pay in American dollars, I’d be getting unexpected change, right?
Where’s the harm?
That interpretation works for me, as well.
I’m just not seeing the assholishness or America-bashing that others are. Perhaps I’m simply not sensitive enough to pick up on these things.
I don’t know what’s up with the Cyros bashers. If anyone here actually read the OP, then you will note that only one of his six complaints was directed towards the Southern Scourge. The other five apply equally to Canuks, Uzbeks, Laotions or any other nationalities. Obviously, some US dopers need their eyes cleaning with a good smegmatic.
While he certainly mentioned the fact he’s from one country and considers all others to be “stupid”, might I inquire as to how my asking which “company” he worked for was misinterpreted as chest pounding, bruised ego nationalism?
If someone says you’re dumb but come spend your money with my hotel chain, are you going to make a reservation on the sheep truck to come pick you up at 8:00?
He’s a customer service rep. He thinks you’re a dumbass that ought to make his job painless. Here’s the dotted line. Those of you that drew the longest straw feel free to sign. I for one would likely go elsewhere.
Nothing jingoistic about that. It’s a business decision.
Another reason that I like to confirm whether the price quoted is in $CAD or $US is that, as on my last trip, I was able to upgrade the room and stay an extra day because I allowed for a certain amount for hotel expenses in $US and found out that the $CAD price I got with the reservation meant I could actually fit a better room and another day into my budget.
Thus confirming that and not treating me like a moron got the hotel extra money.
By the way Cyros, as I mentioned before I think your stated points were valid. I didn’t mean for a problem with your presentation to take any focus away from that. I looked and didn’t see anything in any other of your posts to indicate you’re anything other than a decent fella. Will look forward to a cheery interaction with you in some other thread.
This is the same problem as we had with CrazyCatLady in her thread. Don’t you think it’s likely that, just like everyone else, Cyros uses the Pit to say stuff that s/he would refrain from saying in real life?
Well, it is until 1 January.
Gee, I don’t see any American-bashing here! It must just because all us Yankees are so darn sensative! :rolleyes:
Speaking as someone who’s lived in both countries…yeah, this is a jerkish comment, and I found it mildly offensive. I’m with lieu. I deal with a lot of Canadian as well as American vendors at my job. I would hope that I when I work with a Canadian vendor, I’d get the same quality of customer service as if I were working for a Canadian company. But if I knew my customer service rep felt the same was as Cyros, I doubt I’d get it. I would prefer to take my business elsewhere.
Wow, I wasn’t expecting my little rant to draw this much attention.
First, please rest assured that I am polite, friendly, tactful, and always provide the best customer service I can to all of my customers.
Now, let’s correct some misconceptions.
Canadians do make fun of Americans. Has nobody seen Rick Mercer’s “Talking with Americans” bit? How about the series of Canadian beer commercials that was on TV last year? One of the more common themes in Canadian comedy is poking fun at the perceived lack of knowledge that Americans show about their neighbor to the north. American’s also make fun of us. No Big Deal.
I did say that Americans were as stupid as everyone else. This seems to have raised some hackles. This was my bad I guess. I didn’t realize that USA’ers were so sensitive that seeing America and stupid in the same sentence would shut down their reading comprehension. Please let me clarify now. All I was saying was that the level of intelligence displayed around the world is about average. You all ask the same dumb questions over and over again. Now, before you jump on me for that let me point out that I did not rant about any of those dumb questions because most of them are only dumb if you are a frequent traveler. If you put a microphone in any customer service situation you will hear the employees bitching and complaining about their customers. It is a natural thing to do. All my life I have heard it, from my first job at Subway right through till now.
To be honest, it was the whole quoting in Canadian dollars thing that motivated this rant. I did throw in a couple of other things that happened to me recently so as not to seem to be US bashing (that didn’t work too well, eh?). Normally it is not a problem, when someone’s breath catches over the phone when I quote the rate I just generally quickly add that it is Canadian dollars and ask if they want the approximate in US. The problem is that even though I give you an approximation of what it is in US dollars, the hotel is guaranteeing the Canadian dollar amount. Now, recently the Canadian dollar has gotten a lot stronger in the market. It went from .63 to .73 over about a week. I am getting a lot of calls lately reconfirming reservations that were made a while ago when the dollar was still in the toilet. Perhaps you can see the problem…
Me: That is $CND 250 per night which is about $USD 180.
Guest : It was only $USD 157 when I booked it.
Me: “Explaining currency conversion over and over and over and the guest still not really understanding”
And finally, to the “Would ya have a room for the President” question. Sure, if he called in advance and the hotel was sold out we would bump someone out of their room (and book them a room at another hotel at no charge). If he arrived unannounced and we had a room that nobody had checked into yet we would probably do the same thing. Now, if you can explain why having your business is worth the cost we incur to do that we might be able to find you a room.