Comment by andyking | Hacker News Reader

Comment by andyking | Hacker News Reader

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I dread crossing through American border control at the airport every single time. I use O'Hare, and they literally look and talk to you like dirt. I'm doing nothing wrong, I'm visiting America for legitimate reasons, yet I'm barked at like an army recruit.

Last time, I couldn't tell what the guy behind the glass screen was actually asking me to do, which irritated him immensely. "Lef'and." "Lef'and." "LEF'AND." It took a few tries for me to realise that what he was trying to say was "Can you put your left hand on the scanner, please?"

Maybe it's because I'm British, but I find the British border and security people far more pleasant, which is strange because on the whole, I find British people colder than Americans. Even when something goes wrong, they're apologetic (I was randomly picked for a full pat-down last time I flew out of Manchester, and it was all done with friendliness, good humour, and apologies for delaying me slightly.)

"Please" and "thank you" cost nothing, and would likely be quicker than these repeated barked orders. I like the American people--on the whole, I find them pleasant, polite, good-humoured, decent people. I mean, I am marrying one! So where do they find these people who work on the borders? Every single time I go through, I'm incredibly nervous of doing something slightly wrong, which makes me more nervous because I look nervous and worry they'll think I'm up to something. It's terrifying.

I'm an American living in Britain, and the difference in border crossings looks the same from my perspective. I dread trips back to America at this point. That said, the border control on the Eurostar can occasionally reach American levels of paranoia for some reason. At the airports it's always very pleasant, although the queues can be astonishing.

In fact a large part of the reason I left America is because I wanted to be able to participate in globally-networked businesses, and America's border policies were making that increasingly difficult. This doesn't just impact tourists -- it effects business travellers and academics even worse. Britain has always been much more open in that respect, but recent policy changes are sending it in a very American sort of direction, which I find quite distressing.

I don't know what, if anything, America can do to reverse this. The Obama administration doesn't seem to be actively beating the drums of xenophobia the way the last administration did, and yet the growth of these kind of institutions continues unabated. Why?

Coming into the UK through Heathrow, as a non-EU citizen, can be quite unpleasant. It's less so nowadays than before, and it was also highly dependent on where you are coming from and what passport you are carrying and when you are landing. That said, they tend to warm up the more you seem to know the drill and the more stamps for entry you have in your passport. For first time visitors the experience can be pretty aweful as they play Jeremy Paxman on you after you've just spent 10 hours on a flight. That said, if the immigration officer is of an ethnic minority they are usually much nicer. It's one of the times I don't feel bad for racial stereotyping, when I have a choice of desk after 40 minutes of queuing and aim for the non-white officer.

I find the other UK airports to be much friendlier in general, they even say 'please' and 'thank you' and even have a sense of humour.

I really like London City airport.

Last time I landed there I literally blitzed through immigration and boarded a DLR train like 15 minutes after landing.

A beautiful approach, too.

I'm not sure how keen Londoners are on being blitzed.

Even now.

The behaviour of all british border agents whether actually at the border or at embassies around the world are a credit the country, in my experience.

They understand that the border is the public face of a country and likely the only contact with the state a visitor will make.

I remember once going through the non-EU queue in Manchester, when the (black, probably Nigerian) guy in front of me got a bit of a going over about his visa status, until he broke down, then the agent discovered that he was a UK permanent resident as she was flicking through his passport and she realised he'd been turned away in Amsterdam (seems on a family visit). Anyway, the mood changed in an instant, he got a hug and advice about how to make sure the trip would work next time.

It was nice to see a human response in such a situation.

I had one of the irritable incoherent ones once. He said "put your forefingers on the fingerprint reader". So I did. He then looked at me as if I was defying him in some way, and repeated himself angrily. I looked at him in confusion, and just as he seemed to be psyching himself up to send me off for extra screening, I worked out that he wanted me to put my four fingers on the reader.

Presumably he says the same thing to everyone, and to this day I wonder what must be going through his mind when half of the people passing his desk seem to be ignoring his instructions.

As an American, I also prefer the British border security folks. They're polite and they have a sense of humor, but are still thorough.

Last time I went to London for work I explained that I was coming over to set up a network. What followed was an extended comedic interaction about how I was pulling the cable, the size of the spool needed, and whether I had flushed one end down the airplane toilet to let it unspool as we went.

Well, as a white middle-class American citizen flying in America, I dread the TSA checkpoints myself.

Sorry, man. :-(

There is somewhat of a stigma regarding government employees because they are mainly unionized and impossible to fire.

They can pretty much get away with anything short of criminal activity (and sometimes even that). What incentive do they have for being polite? It sucks but they aren't paid as well as private sector and they don't really care.

I think you're being overly reductionist here. Has every rude service interaction you've had come from a union worker? Has all good service come from non-union workers?

That's certainly not the case for me.

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