Please when you travel outside your own Country, have some respect for the counrty you are travelling in. I am losing patience with " some " of the cruise shoppers who waltz into our store and buy something and then refuse to take our awesome colourful Canadian $$$$ for change back. Today I had to do two voids from seperate transactions because they refuse to take our money… and they are rude when they say out LOUD…“I don’t want any of your canadian money I want American cash back” !!!. FRUSTRATING to smile and explain were not a bank. 
And one more shoutout… one tourists asked if our Flag came in any other colour… I’m serious…he did… my mouth dropped…I could not beleive what he said. We have alot of Mexicans up here too…
Feels good to vent to ya’all… LOL
Just say “If I went to buy something in the states, could I get Canadian money back?”
So far the record for me was a refusal of sale on 26 cents in change. Had to cancel the sale. Like come on give me a tip, I at least deserve it for putting up with your ugly mug and bad use of the English language. y’all know what I’m talkin bout.
lol. I do dislike retail some times, most of the time everyone is great though.
I’ll ask again…
Why do they call it tourist season if you can’t shoot them???
Last year in the credit union, a lady? slammed the ATM with her fist and started yelling that she didn’t get American money…she’d pushed English!!
Safeway parking lot, a guy taking picture of a dog in the back of a pickup. Heard him ask another guy…wonder how they trained that wolf to stay in the truck??
Cab driver was asked if he knew what time the whales would be in the harbour?
I used to work at a Crappy Tire store when I went to university - couldn’t tell you how many times I had to explain the Canadian Tire money - and how if you returned something and didn’t bring back the CT money, the amount of it would be deducted off the cash you got back. Now THAT was fun! 
Funny things I have heard said by patrons of the cruise line…
“Wow, I wonder how they got all these american bald eagles up here??”
“I didn’t know Canada had so many Mexicans this far north.”
When I was up there a few years ago for a grad reunion, I spent one afternoon downtown during a cruise ship visit. I was shocked to see how rude and boorish the cruise ship passengers were to the shop staff they were in contact with. Which was weird because at the time, I was living in a 4-season resort community with LOTS of American and overseas visitors and could not recall seeing anyone (outside of the occasional drunk) acting like like the sort of asshats I saw wandering around Rupert that day.
I live in a community now that sees a fair bit of American tourists dropping in and aside from the fact that some are a little confused that we are not selling cigarettes (I work in a drugstore that refuses to carry cancer sticks) they are for the vast part a really nice bunch. My theory is that the kind of people who are willing to sit back and take a cruise versus tourists who are actually driving about or have come to your community as a true destination, has something to do with the behaviour. Does this make any kind of sense, because I’d have a hard time dealing with these boat people!
I’m sure Canadian tourists don’t behave like this at all.
I’ve personally witnessed Canadians acting like this in Cuba 
Not tipping, insisting everyone speak English, etc. Lots of Canadians have a heck of a time with US cash – all the same colour! 1 dollar bills! How about the Canadians that get annoyed when they can’t use INTERAC in the US?
I’ve travelled with Americans in Europe who would put most Canadians to shame with their knowledge of languages, customs, etc.
Perhaps this particular cruise is really cheap and attracts people who have never been outside of the US before or something, but it’s not really fair to generalize.
I still call bullshit on the “Mexicans” comment. Maybe it happened once or twice, but not nearly as much as people claim. It has all the classic elements of an urban legend. And when you try to track down who actually heard the comment, it’s always “A friend of a friend.” Someone swears their friend heard it, and when you ask that friend, they say that no, it was another friend, etc.
But anyway, I’ve met plenty of nice Americans off the cruise ship. As for wandering around in and out of traffic, etc, maybe they’re just doing the “when in Rome” bit. Ever drive downtown when the cruise ship isn’t in? Take your average Rupert wanderer and drop them in Montreal and watch the fun (wasn’t that in another thread?).
But heck, it sure is fun to poke fun at Merkins. But remember that for every Sarah Palin, there’s a Barack Obama. They’re not all stupid. We’re not all smart, either.
I for one enjoy seeing new faces each week. It’s refreshing, and most people enjoy their time here, and will strike up a conversation with the greatest of ease.
I personally have more problems with the container ships crew that barely speak a word of english. We’ve had guys in for the past 2 days, and 2 of the 12 spoke enough english to explain to the others what was going on. Unfortunately, those 2 of the 12 were only around for an hour out of the 6 hours they were in our store yesterday! No lie either… 6 hours… out of our usual 8.5 hours we are open in a day!
The guys all left very happy with their purchases though… after one guy tried to argue with me for 2 hours… thinking I was ripping him off!
Well-said, MiG!
I’ve had positive experiences with American tourists when I’ve spoken with them. I agree. Prejudging all American tourists is foolish.
AWESOME QUOTE:
“But heck, it sure is fun to poke fun at Merkins. But remember that for every Sarah Palin, there’s a Barack Obama. They’re not all stupid. We’re not all smart, either.”
Seriously,
How hard can it be to keep $100 US cash and change in a drawer for tourists. Do businesses not know that the cruise ships mostly have American tourists? Did the cruise ships, just show up or have they been coming for 4 friggin years. You are the business, adapt for Christ sakes. Typical Rupert business responses, get your heads out of your asses and quit complaining. The only town in the world where businesses complain about the customers. 
Canadian money is the ONLY legal tender in Canada.
agreed!!
There’s no competition, really. But if there were, then yeah, the Trinket store that had a sign saying “We give US change” would get all the customers. Unfortunately, there aren’t really enough trinket stores anyway.
This is why you see signs in windows that say “we speak English” all over Europe. Those are the shops that get the English-speaking tourists. Imagine that.
A rather harsh comment about Rupert retailers, and the comparison with the rest of the world is surprisingly authoritative - you don’t look like you get out that much. In days gone by perhaps.
I have to admit though that I was impressed in South Korea with how businesses would readily accept foreign cash - Yen, Euros, US$ and, if you told them the exchange rate, $C - but even there I only recall them giving their own money in change.
He might have come from a part of the world where prices are negotiable and a bit of haggling is the norm, even courteous in a way, rather than our take it or leave it style of retailing. In South Korea the first customer of the day often gets a good price, which I thought was a nice touch. I somehow doubt they do that in North Korea, and definitely not in Canada. I sometimes drop the odd hint but so far no takers.
I second that!!
Adapt to the new line of tourists that are coming to Prince Rupert.
Oh jus’ stfu and sell me the GD wooden monutie 
Buch of furranurs 
Part of the problem with giving change in US instead of Canadian is that most POS systems give the teller the amount of change in Canadian currency. I’m sure there might be a way of changing that but ours tells us how much Canadian to give back. If I give them that in American they get to much back.
I probally could have sucked up the 26 cents in that one transaction and if the person had being slightly polite through out the transaction I might have.