Long lasting cringes

Gym receptionist: "Have a good workout!"
Me: "You too!"
 
Still cringing about it 8 hours later. 
 
Another one - saying "see you later" to the driver when getting off the bus. 

Ok, the first Juan is accepatble. Subconsciously you heard "have a great day".
 
Now, the bus driver.... is that your normal route/timetable and is the driver regular?  

bapu
 
Now, the bus driver.... is that your normal route/timetable and is the driver regular?  

What's with all the inflatulation with Fiber?
 

You too, Beeps?

sharke
 
Another one - saying "see you later" to the driver when getting off the bus. 

Don't worry about that one, everyone around here says that, all the time, even if it's the first time they've clapped eyes on you.
 
In shops they also say 'that's you now' at every point in the transaction. Sometimes I say 'Yes, I know it's me' but never get a reaction.

Yeah I think most have said similar things. I end up thanking people for being people sometimes lol.

Rain
There was a short adjustment period when we first came to live in the US.
 
If you make eye contact with someone or if you share an elevator or something, they acknowledge and say "Hi". Sometimes I'll be on my way to the mailbox and a neighbour I've never encountered before will roll by in car and wave.
 
Back in Quebec, unless you actually know someone, people generally just turn their eyes and ignore each other. You just don't talk to people you don't know and you usually do as much as you can not to have to bend that rule. In spite of how warm and welcoming we've been brainwashed to believe we were as a nation...
 
Also, took us a few times to realize that "how are you?" was used interchangeably with "hi" - I'm still not entirely comfortable with that one, tbh...

"how are you?"
"miserable"
 
Try that once in a while just to see if you get a "that's great" response.

this says a lot about how we live now.
growing up in a small country town you knew everyone and a stranger was just that and would be asked "who are you and what are you doing here"
apparently we can recognise and identify around 150 faces,possibly because that was the ideal size for an agrarian community which is obviously a skill that is pointless in the big city.
now we have 150 contacts in our Fakebook account,some of whom we have never met??
 
the funny thing I found when on the road,particularly in the US was that until you said something you were just another face.
once people heard the accent though they went out of their way to be helpful and most were so proud to show off their piece of America and were chuffed that you had come all the way to see them.
I admit using the occasional "G`day mate" got me out of some sticky situations.
smiling at strangers is great fun-their involuntary return smile can be hilarious.
cheers
 

Well... I guess I totally glossed over the East coast Canadians. I was only there briefly but good lord are they ultra polite. Like to the point it was almost creepy. I remember multiple times in small town New Brunswick having cars come to a complete stop to let me cross the road, not at intersection, and I wasn't even trying to cross! Just standing there or walking a little slow and they'd stop and wave me across. I asked some of the locals and they said that's just how things are there.
 
As far as Quebec... I love Quebec but definitely rudesville. Especially to non frenchies. Fortunately although my french is horrible I am actually french for the most part and because of my family I have next to no anglo accent when speaking it. It's kind of funny because I'll generally try to begin convos there in french to avoid the judgments but I really do suck at French so I end up making the people think I'm crazy or mentally deficient until they realize that my first language is English. Just making the effort though seems to make them more willing to help or speak English. Many of my purely anglo friends will have people outright refuse to speak to them in English even though the person knows English perfectly well. Even an anglo accent is enough to get treated like crap.
 
Still I love it. Lots of fun, cheap food and hot wacky women. Don't think I could live there though. Just a little TOO much joi de vive. I'd probably be dead within a year.

bitflipper
Burglary, however, is apparently not considered impolite in Canada. It's where I had my car broken into. And one fellow came up to me at a gig and asked "what's that thing?", pointing to our mixer. I said "it's called a mixer", to which he replied "you want one?".

Was that the one that was stolen from your car?

Krist,
 
Are you speaking of Quebec or The X Series Forum?
 
 
 
 
I keed I keed of course.

Rain
I've said thank you to coffee machines and other such distributors quite a few times.
I've also wished a good one to an employee leaving to attend a funeral.
 
And then there's the classic "you too" when the waitress wishes you bon appétit...

Well, of COURSE you did, you're Canadian! 

Random thoughts on Canada, from a lower-48 perspective...
 
Quebec is a major market for my software, something I can only pull off with the help of a Montreal-based company we partner with. But keeping up with their demands requires effort disproportionate to the size of the customer base. I can't even escape it here. They keep sending me more translation requests via email, each marked "Urgent". It's often something quite trivial, where the difference between the English and French spelling is a single trailing character, nothing to impede a user's understanding of the message.
 
In any other country in the world, save perhaps France, software users are content with English prompts. In the 80's I attempted to enlist help for a German translation of the software I was working on back then. My German counterparts in Frankfurt said it wasn't worth the bother, that nobody cared.
 
It should be noted that eastern, central and western Canada have quite distinct personalities, just as those regions do in the U.S. Saskatchewan reminds me of Alaska, a place where "characters" are not only tolerated but expected. Alberta is home to rugged individualists, a lot like its neighbor Montana. Also has a similar number of alcoholics. But most of my time in Canada has been spent in B.C., which might as well be a suburb of Seattle, such are the similarities. B.C. doesn't feel like a foreign country. Texas does. Alabama does. Sometimes, even Southern California does. Boston, most definitely. But B.C. feels like home. At least, as long as I don't attempt to follow local politics.
 
Curiously, packaging and signage are required to be in both English and French, and in the same font size. Even when the English and French words are the same! Odd, because if there is an unofficial second language in B.C. it's Chinese, not French. And when I go to Quebec, I notice that the same requirements don't seem to be enforced there. They don't even use international signs consistently, such as the circle with a bar to indicate "do not enter". Don't ask me how I found that one out.
 
My friend JP (Jean-Paul, natch) explained some of the curious dichotomy that is Quebec. Apparently, long ago the city of Montreal was divided into English- and French-speaking sectors, lines that represented socioeconomic delineation that were not to be crossed. The English section had the nicest homes, the wealthiest families. If you were a French-speaker chances were an English-speaker was your boss or owned the company you worked for. A lot of class resentment built up, and over time the English-speakers began to migrate away from Montreal, replaced by newly upwardly-mobile French-speakers. They've been gradually taking over the city ever since. Or re-taking it, depending on your perspective. But they still have a chip on their collective shoulder.
 
Today it's a schizophrenic city. If you greet someone with "good morning" they effortlessly switch to English - at least within the service industries I deal with. But even if English is a prerequisite for employment, say in a hotel, an emploer faces a fine if you don't offer an employment application in French. JP says some agitators actually apply for jobs they have no interest in, just so they can turn the companies in if they're handed an English form.
 
My experience has been that the French-speakers are much more tolerant once they find out I'm American, and not one of those snobs from the other side of town. Unlike most of the rest of the world beyond North America, where I tell them I'm Canadian.

bitflipper
Random thoughts on Canada, from a lower-48 perspective...
 
Quebec is a major market for my software, something I can only pull off with the help of a Montreal-based company we partner with. But keeping up with their demands requires effort disproportionate to the size of the customer base. I can't even escape it here. They keep sending me more translation requests via email, each marked "Urgent". It's often something quite trivial, where the difference between the English and French spelling is a single trailing character, nothing to impede a user's understanding of the message.
 
In any other country in the world, save perhaps France, software users are content with English prompts. In the 80's I attempted to enlist help for a German translation of the software I was working on back then. My German counterparts in Frankfurt said it wasn't worth the bother, that nobody cared.
 
It should be noted that eastern, central and western Canada have quite distinct personalities, just as those regions do in the U.S. Saskatchewan reminds me of Alaska, a place where "characters" are not only tolerated but expected. Alberta is home to rugged individualists, a lot like its neighbor Montana. Also has a similar number of alcoholics. But most of my time in Canada has been spent in B.C., which might as well be a suburb of Seattle, such are the similarities. B.C. doesn't feel like a foreign country. Texas does. Alabama does. Sometimes, even Southern California does. Boston, most definitely. But B.C. feels like home. At least, as long as I don't attempt to follow local politics.
 
Curiously, packaging and signage are required to be in both English and French, and in the same font size. Even when the English and French words are the same! Odd, because if there is an unofficial second language in B.C. it's Chinese, not French. And when I go to Quebec, I notice that the same requirements don't seem to be enforced there. They don't even use international signs consistently, such as the circle with a bar to indicate "do not enter". Don't ask me how I found that one out.
 
My friend JP (Jean-Paul, natch) explained some of the curious dichotomy that is Quebec. Apparently, long ago the city of Montreal was divided into English- and French-speaking sectors, lines that represented socioeconomic delineation that were not to be crossed. The English section had the nicest homes, the wealthiest families. If you were a French-speaker chances were an English-speaker was your boss or owned the company you worked for. A lot of class resentment built up, and over time the English-speakers began to migrate away from Montreal, replaced by newly upwardly-mobile French-speakers. They've been gradually taking over the city ever since. Or re-taking it, depending on your perspective. But they still have a chip on their collective shoulder.
 
Today it's a schizophrenic city. If you greet someone with "good morning" they effortlessly switch to English - at least within the service industries I deal with. But even if English is a prerequisite for employment, say in a hotel, an emploer faces a fine if you don't offer an employment application in French. JP says some agitators actually apply for jobs they have no interest in, just so they can turn the companies in if they're handed an English form.
 
My experience has been that the French-speakers are much more tolerant once they find out I'm American, and not one of those snobs from the other side of town. Unlike most of the rest of the world beyond North America, where I tell them I'm Canadian.

Back in the late 70s and early 80s, I was able to visit Quebec a couple times.  Before I went the first time, people warned me that if I asked directions I'd get a shrug or "I don't speak English".  As it turns out, I found myself needing to ask directions almost as soon as I left the train station.  Wouldn't you know it, I got a shrug.  Granted, he was an older gent that may actually have not known English.  After that, no problem at all.  That includes one guy who led us through the labyrinth of their underground mall/subway system.  He went a great deal out of his way to make sure we got where we needed to go.