Re Number 35.
Should anyone ever call me a Porridge Gow, I'd see the funny side of it and just laugh it off.
So why the need for asterisks?
FOURO.
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Re Number 35.
Should anyone ever call me a Porridge Gow, I'd see the funny side of it and just laugh it off.
So why the need for asterisks?
FOURO.
The ones who do all this stupid racist card etc are to my mind people who are of a very shallow disposition with little else to do. Thankfully you can go to NZ and buy as many G. **** as you wish and no one will stop you. As for taking it down from your car, that is giving in to them.
Re Number 38.
Apart from the fact that I am aged 81 and started my engineering apprenticeship at 15, I aggree with every visible word in this well written letter by 73 year old Robert Hall. I am sure he wouldn't have used asterisks when he wrote it.
What's the point in using asterisks to hide words already well known to everyone.
It is my opinion, asterisks used for the purpose of "not wanting to offend" do the complete opposite for what they were intended.
FOURO.
Shaun #37
My wife and I used to spend six months of the year in Oz—we made 14 trips in 13 years. On passing through Australian immigration one trip, the immegration officer asked "How come you spend so much time in "s'tralia"
We told him We loved it there and he answered.
"Then you should move here.......still you'd never get a visa... you're the wrong bloody color."
And he was either a Pakistani or an Indian!
Last time entering Uk, though the gate for 'others' I was asked if I wanted to seek asylum?????? I was told that all visitors are asked this question. the lady asking the question was of Indian origin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've not been 'home' to the UK for about 4 years so things may have changed but when I was 'living' here in the USA and working out of the UK without fail Heathrow immigration staff were grumpy/didn't acknowledge a polite hello/were not white (but of course maybe UK born and bred)/clearly were unhappy in their job and made you feel like you were an inconvenience to them. Coming back to the USA the US customs and border staff were always polite albeit mostly officious but never so rude to ignore you when you spoke to them.
My parents have visited us here 3 times since I left the UK and have always remarked how helpful the immigration and customs staff have been [here]... BUT for their first visit (for our wedding), the UK insisted that they prove they were entitled to a UK passport - a process that included submitting a birth certificates, marriage certificate and references and then traveling to London for an interview/interrogation and then a 2 week wait for the decision. Both white, both born and raised in the UK, both worked and paid taxes/NI all their working lives, neither had traveled further than France on their school trips and more recently with my sisters and my trips to Dieppe.
SDG
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I've not been 'home' to the UK for about 4 years so things may have changed but when I was 'living' here in the USA and working out of the UK without fail Heathrow immigration staff were grumpy/didn't acknowledge a polite hello/were not white (but of course maybe UK born and bred)/clearly were unhappy in their job and made you feel like you were an inconvenience to them. Coming back to the USA the US customs and border staff were always polite albeit mostly officious but never so rude to ignore you when you spoke to them.
My parents have visited us here 3 times since I left the UK and have always remarked how helpful the immigration and customs staff have been [here]... BUT for their first visit (for our wedding), the UK insisted that they prove they were entitled to a UK passport - a process that included submitting a birth certificates, marriage certificate and references and then traveling to London for an interview/interrogation and then a 2 week wait for the decision. Both white, both born and raised in the UK, both worked and paid taxes/NI all their working lives, neither had traveled further than France on their school trips and more recently with my sisters and my trips to Dieppe.
SDG
Shaun, my experience of USA border and immigration staff is the opposite from you. They are the most miserable unhelpfull people you could ever wish to meet.
Only met one who was human, he joined the cruise to speed up immigration, he was polite talkative, friendly, the rest morons.
Regards
Vic
Arriving home from Mauritius to Manchester Airport flying with Emirates, we approached immigration and customs and were asked where we flew from and with which airline. Upon answering we were waved through without any passport inspection, whereas an entire flight from Pakistan Airlines had been herded into a cordoned off area and were being rigorously assessed. Perhaps that sort of situation may prove that profiling and stereotyping are routinely implemented by Border Immigration staff in many areas where the possibility of illegal entry exists.
Maybe it was fortunate I stayed out of the Indian Ocean sunshine and propped up the bar instead- a bronzy may have prejudiced my UK entry.
Gilly
Immigration officers make decisions based on what you say and how you say it, therefore how you present yourself is important. Just imagine yourself being an immigration officer, what would you do.?
Dealing with Joe Public at work can be very frustrating. Some people think because when they buy a plane ticket they buy you along with it. I was a member of a passenger search team at Heathrow and came across some very nasty people.
During the height of the NI problems Belfast flights were top security. Everyone from the captain down had to be frisked under the watchful eye of armed police. I remember one British Airways captain saying to me, "if you search every passenger the same way you searched me, then I have nothing to worry about". I'm proud to have met and searched Enoch Powel who was very mannerly about being searched.
British Airways crew members were given the oppotunity to refuse to fly on the Belfast route at this worrying time.
FOURO.
Trust me I know what working with Joe Public as passengers is like - I currently work for a fast ferry company that carried well over a million passengers last year.Quote:
Originally Posted by FOURO
I was also stationed at LGW as a paramedic for several years. I think airports have a machine at all the entrances that wipes passengers brains of any common sense and the ability to look after themselves! :)
That's why I always do my best to be polite, helpful and courteous to anyone I encounter who is working.
SDG