I agree. They are there to do a job, not to be your mate. I do think some of those working on the USA borders when arriving by air are probably more brusque than at other airports I've been through. Then again, when arriving at LA the person dealing with us actually did get chatting because she said she was jealous of the amount of annual leave we got compared to her.
My brother was in America recently with a dozen or so Europeans, from all over europe and they went to an air show. They all had to line up for security to check everything but as soon as they knew he was from England, they waved him straight through with a smile and no checks. The rest of the party was stuck there for over an hour with everything gone through with a fine toothed comb. We do still have friends over there. We also know people who work on the US military bases in the area, including the one the president landed at last night, and it's fair to say they share a European view of their leader in chief.
Well I for one agree with @Loofah . Whilst the thread has been conducted, generally, in a polite manner, it does seem that the content has been swamped and overrun by one particular and somewhat tediously repetitive political topic, even when many members have frequently tried steering the 'subject' of the conversation back to the 'Whaatt??' of the Original Poster's intention. It has become very 'lop-sided', which in my view shows a lack of respect for the OP to the point of rudeness.
I don't think anyone expects Customs/Immigration officials to throw their arms around visitors and give them a bear hug but I do expect Embassy officials to at least be well mannered when dealing with prospective visitors to their country. The way things are these days, no one would suggest that it's an easy job with the increase in drugs, weaponry and people smuggling or the ever present threat of terrorist activity. @Tinkerton I do agree that the thread has strayed somewhat and is currently about 1 person - much the same as the "News" outlets at the moment but the poster who began the thread has also posted about the same issue and hasn't mentioned being offended or lack of respect by others. However, I would also say that the thread title of Whaaattt ? suggests anything which could be considered as Unbelievable or as Victor would say "I don't believe it !!"
As the creator of the thread, I’d just like to say that I would dearly love it to go back to its Victor Meldrew origins. I wanted it to be funny and stupid. Politics really don’t fit into the idea of “Whaaatttt!” in my opinion. Politics is just “Oh for F’s sake”. Maybe a new thread is need for politics, under the heading Oh for F’s sake”. Like to start one up, anyone?
This thread or indeed any thread would not be closed for its political content alone lots of other factors ie rules and protocols not adhered to etc would also be taken in to account and disscussed by the Admin Team who will make that decision if and when the need arises 2025 NEW Rules & Protocols
Mmm - agreed that politics can't often be described as Funny but can certainly fit the Stupid bit IMO. A thread entitled OFFS intended for politics only will soon veer off in other directions tho - I have been known to use the phrase myself when I've dropped a carton of milk on the kitchen floor. As the F word does now appear quite often on TV/Radio, even Victor would propbably use it in extreme circumstances
I dropped a full bottle of French Dressing on the floor once. Nightmare to clean up, glass shards and all, with guests due imminently.
I think the worst one for us, and we still have the stain, was a vacuum pump full of used engine oil - I'd done an oil change on the car, used the pump to suck it out through the dipstick hole as that was easier and faster than jacking the car up and removing undertrays etc... anyway, I squeezed it in between work, so the pump now full of used oil was placed under our gazebo and Mrs C helpfully stood it on a block of polystyrene to stop it marking the patio if any happened to drip out. Whilst at work a few days later (and I still hadn't got round to emptying the thing) a storm blew through - one of those where it goes from calm to completely mental, blowing a hoolie, thunder, lightning the lot for about half an hour and then goes again.... the wind caught this pump and threw it over on it's side. We found it hours later when we came home. You can imagine my language.
Ouch @Fat Controller - that certainly merits use of the OFFS phrase and you're still living with the stain as a reminder. According to my Scottish friend, your version uses E rather than U which altho somehow sounds a wee bit more polite to more delicate ears still expresses the same sentiment I always find myself doing the Rolling Eyes thing when watching/listening to some programmes - warnings about Distressing Images when reporting on war scenes, Warning about containing Attitudes of The Time when the prog. was made decades ago neither of which should come as a shock to the viewer/listener. Then a warning about Bad Language when obviously many of us make use of some expletives ourselves.
The 'e' tends to be more Irish, although has crept a wee bit into Galloway (Galloway Irish as they are known) - I am from slightly further east, so it has a U with me... often prefaced with an "awfur" If you've not seen it (and it is very old, but available on YouTube) watch Parliamo Glasgow by the hugely talented Stanley Baxter and you will see how us Scots often slam almost a sentence into one word - think of the OFFS phrase, more as awfurf***sake
I'm all for political discussion, although we are only suppose to touch on the subject here, but i must admit it was getting a bit Trump Trump Trump as Nelly the elephant would say.
