Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bourquetheman]

My mother sent me these and I laughed hard. This isn't meant as a flame thread, I'm sure there are ignorant Canadian tourists too!

(Yes, they're ALL TRUE as heard at the information kiosks manned by Parks Canada staff!)

1. How do the elk know they're supposed to cross at the "Elk Crossing"signs?
2. At what elevation does an elk become a moose?
3. Tourist: "How do you pronounce 'Elk'?" Park Information Staff: " 'Elk' Tourist: "Oh".
4. Are the bears with collars tame?
5. Is there anywhere I can see the bears pose?
6. Is it okay to keep an open bag of bacon on the picnic table, or should I store it in my tent?
7. Where can I find Alpine Flamingos?
8. I saw an animal on the way to Banff today - could you tell me what it was?
9. Are there birds in Canada?
10. Did I miss the turnoff for Canada?
11. Where does Alberta end and Canada begin?
12. Do you have a map of the State of Jasper?
13. Is this the part of Canada that speaks French, or is that Saskatchewan?
14. If I go to B.C., do I have to go through Ontario?
15. Which is the way to the Columbia Ricefields?
16. How far is Banff from Canada?
17. What's the best way to see Canada in a day?
18. Do they search you at the B.C. border?
19. When we enter B.C. do we have to convert our money to British pounds?
20. Where can I buy a raccoon hat? ALL Canadians own one, don't they?
21. Are there phones in Banff?
22. So it's eight kilometres away... is that in miles?
23. We're on the decibel system you know.
24. Where can I get my husband really, REALLY, lost??
25. Is that two kilometres by foot or by car?
26. Don't you Canadians know anything?
27. Where do you put the animals at night?
28. Tourist: "How do you get your lakes so blue?"
Park staff: "We take the water out in the winter and paint the bottom."
Tourist: "Oh!"

[billybrobby]

[Hater Depot]

[mindmetoo]

I used to work at a gas station near the US/Canada border. Windsor/Detroit to be exact. Naturally I got asked for directions by Americans. I was always surprised at the number of Americans who a) thought they could drive from Ontario to Vancouver BC in a night b) wanted to buy a map of Canada to get to Toronto.

The weirdest one was a guy that wanted to buy a map of Canada. I assumed he wanted to go to Toronto. You don't need even a map of Ontario to get to Toronto. Just down the 401.

Anyway, I asked the guy "where do you want to go?"

"Capers".

Hrm that was a new one. Maybe that was a town south of London, on Lake Erie or something.

"Capers? Is that a town?" I asked.

"No, it's a bar."

Oh yeah. It was a popular bar in Windsor. Drinking age is 19 in Ontario and 21 in Michigan. Lots of American boy/Canadian girl couplings. (ObKorean Swipe: we don't mind foreigners on top of our women).

In my most polite tone, with just a hint of "stupid American!", I'm like "oh, you don't need to buy a map of Canada... I can just draw you a little map to the place..."

Jesus. Man had no idea he was in the second largest country in the world. How do you make a map that combines local scale with a hemisphere spanning scale? I dunno.

[Ya-ta Boy]

I was teaching high school when I accepted my first job here in Korea. I pulled down the world map and showed them where South Korea is. In every single sophomore class (15-16 year olds), someone raised his/her hand and asked if I was going to drive. It's discouraging to know that some sophomores never grow up, isn't it?

[krats1976]

Hee hee... funny.

Almost as good as the Americans who come to Alaska and ask what the exchange rate is, or where they go through customs. Or the ones who bring clothes for a warm climate because they think they're down by Mexico (cuz that's where it is on the map).

[periwinkle]

Where do you put the animals at night? Te he!!!!!! Must've been a question asked by a really little kid~ I hope...

Hosers....

[sistersarah]

i worked at a historic site (1812) near niagara falls for three summers. 90% of our customers were american and most of them really nice.
but most couldn't help cracking a few about the war. just smile and nod...

anyway, my favorite questions were:
- when do they turn off the falls?
- are these prices in american dollars?
- is that salt water out there? (lake erie)

we used to make a staff T shirt every year that said "tourist season" on the front with a picture of daffy duck and elmer fudd. on the back were the top dumbest questions. niagara parks commission put an end to that after a while.

[teachmeenglish]

I lived in Louise and Banff for 4 years and the sad truth is I've heard many of these or simmilar myself. One sad truth was that it was not just the Americans that were a bit ... uh ... uninformed. We used to laugh at teh Japanese tourists too. Hey cute bear... I want a picture with it... close to it... it is cute like hello kitty.... (I then inform them that it can sprint at 40km/h and its claws can rip off a car door, It is amazing how thier attitude changes)

[Hollywoodaction]

[ilovebdt]

19. When we enter B.C. do we have to convert our money to British pounds?

This is my favourite, but that's only because I am a Brit.

[Wrench]

Ironically I was thinking of geting a shirt that had British Columbia with the coat of arms on it.. I wonder how many people would be completly buffled by it.

[Newbie]

[TJ]

The north of Western Australia is extremely rugged. There are two types of climate ... hot and very hot. Large areas are totally unpopulated. There are enormous areas where there are no roads, shops, telephones, fuel supplies or water.

Every year a couple of tourists get lost and die - usually from thirst and/or heat stroke. They break all the basic survival rules .... ie. they don't inform someone of their travel plans. They don't carry spare fuel or food and especially spare water. If their car breaks down they leave it and try to walk out. In short they break all the basic survival rules.

Sometimes their bodies are not found for a long time.

Recently a 63 year old German woman became separated from a tour group and still has not been found. Sadly she is probably dead by now.


Police and locals do all they can to find these careless tourists BUT something must be done to save these individuals from themselves.

[Tiger Beer]

When I was freshly out of University I worked for awhile in both Yellowstone National Park and Grand Canyon National Park. We had the same kind of 'stories' but mostly on Europeans or Japanese.

Yellowstone always had goofballs who'd throw their baby up on a buffalo before taking a picture of that - and yeah, major mishaps occured!

Sometime I'll look up all that stuff - but both parks published actual books on the dumb questions asked there.