Border Police

Yesterday I experienced some mild trauma during my travel from Toronto to San Francisco and that was at Pearson airport in Toronto. The US customs or immigration person decidedly hated me. The big problem was that I filled out my "declaration" card completely, except for the "Address" field which I left blank because I wasn't carrying my sister's home address on me. I did not think this was a big deal. It was apparently a big deal to my customs officer.

My US customs officer:
1. Was named Garcia (a female with the first name of Garcia should have tipped me off that she was a bad mofo).
2. Looked not-so-scary because she was my size (on the littler side).
3. Looked really scary when she scowled at me after I smiled and said "Hi" as I approached her counter.

The uncomfortable part of my interview:
G: You don't have an address filled in here.
M: I don't have the exact address of where I'm staying.
G: Where are you staying?
M: With my sister in Berkeley. [I DID fill out the city and state, just not the address]
G: What is she doing there?
M: Working.
G: Does she have a VISA?
M: Yes....
G: You don't have her address? [Insert skeptical look here]
M: I do not have it on me.
G: Do you know ANYTHING about where she is? Do you have a phone number?
M: Yes I do.
G: Well write it down. [Insert shoving of declaration card toward me]
M: [Filling out card]
G: [In a menacing voice] Next time you travel to the United States you BETTER know the address of where you're staying. If you're going to come into OUR country, we have to know where you are going to be staying. Is that clear?
M: ....OK.

My thoughts:
I'm glad a customs officer is going to waste time scrutinizing me [a 5'3" obviously unthreatening filipino girl] and be worried about me coming into the States when there are some other much sketchier characters out there. I also think that Garcia either needs to find a job that will give her a level of higher job satisfaction, or she should get laid. I also that if Garcia has yelling tendencies, she probably shouldn't be in a job that consists of talking to people all day.