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Comment by flyGuyOnTheSly | Hacker News Reader

The last time I so much as questioned an american customs agent about something they asked me to do, I was interrogated for 2 hours about my life, job, friends, family, phone searched, car flipped through, etc.

They even had 2 canine units circle my car and jump in and out of it at least 10 times each.

Talk about a heavy handed approach.

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Some people get off on power, and this job is as close to having power over people as some can get.

As long as you know you're not actually carrying contraband or is a terrorist, just smile, comply when reasonable, and then say politely that you'd like to see their manager to file a complaint.

Weirdly enough this isn’t much of an issue in most other parts of the world.

Really? Because Canadian customs officers are known to be a bunch of tough guys too.

I travel across the US Canada land border from time to time (in the mountain west). My experience has been that Canadian officials are universally civil and respectful while US officials are universally not.

In my experience on both sides, pleasantness is directly correlated to the number of cars in line.

As a frequent traveler between the US and Canada, I’ve only ever got grief (including accusations of smuggling) from Canadian officials. Going to the Us side it’s usually a simple “have a nice day”.

And I have Canadian citizenship.

Same here. https://borderprivacy.ca/

Signed and donated. It happens to me every, single, fucking, time, losing 1 hour every trip back home.

Can confirm. Have crossed between New York/Ontario many times over the years.

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