To be honest, before I moved here I thought Canada was going to be basically the same as the US, and while there are many similarities between the countries, there are plenty of differences as well. I think recognizing a fundamental difference is critical to being happy here. If you think you are moving to another state in the US, you have been misled and it will make assimilation much more difficult.
Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – you surely know these words from the US Declaration of Independence, but do you ever really think about how these affect your daily life in the US? I didn’t, but after moving to Canada I’ve realized they are truly fundamental to the way we live our lives and the expectations that we set. However, this phrase doesn’t exist in Canada per se – the corresponding phrase in Canada is “peace, order, and good government” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life,_liberty_and_the_pursuit_of_happiness). This says a lot for how you will encounter things after you move to Canada from government services down to the grocery store experience. You’ll see it come out in experiences in later posts as well but below are some of the annoying things this brings with it as well as some of the positives
The Annoying Part(I think this is best illustrated through a series of examples):
Example 1: I was at the grocery store around lunch time when we first moved in, and just as I was going to check out they shut all of the checkout lanes except for one so the cashiers could go to lunch. I was literally shocked – all these customers now had to wait in a long line so everyone could eat lunch together? I’m very familiar with rotating breaks, and it seems like that could have been an option if the store wanted to better serve the customer. But you know what? Not one customer left, they all stood in the line and waited (talk about peace and order!). I still don’t understand but now I just know to avoid going there at lunchtime. But sounds like a business opportunity to me!
Example 2: I was trying to get a cell phone here in Canada. I settled on the iPhone 4 from Rogers, but they were out of stock. I figured they would be, but was willing to wait. I had to go to three locations before I found a sales person who actually seemed interested in making a sale. While I put my name on a “waiting list” (basically a sheet of paper with names and phone numbers) at all three locations, I still haven’t heard from the first two (6 weeks later). The guy working at location #3 was definitely a person who wanted my business and knew he was getting a commission from the sale. So in the end I got my iPhone 4 after about a three week wait, but my point is what were the first two locations doing?! None of the three people I interacted at those locations seemed at all interested in making a sale at the end of the day.
Example 3: A Starbucks location had its hours posted. However one day a friend decided to wander over to get an afternoon pick-me-up to find out they were closed, two hours prior to the posted closing time. Now granted it was a civic holiday, but the point is the hours were posted and they chose to close at least two hours early. To my knowledge that would not happen in the US; it just isn’t the way we do business.
If you haven’t caught on, you will quickly once you move here. These things happen all of the time, but you’ll get used to it.
The GOOD Part:
- People are generally polite.
- Rules are fairly well defined, and there is less personal discretion than in the US so while I find the rules cumbersome, at least once you know them you can count on them not being arbitrarily interpreted by the person helping you.
- If you have an entrepreneurial spirit, I think you could make a killing here.
- As a general rule, I think people here are better at putting family and work/life balance as a priority than the majority of Americans. Which is possibly a reason why:
- There are lots of civic holidays.
- Parental leave is fantastic! http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/lp/spila/wlb/wppp/02leave_benefits.shtml
Keeping this fundamental difference in mind will definitely make the transition smoother!
No comments:
Post a Comment