Oh! Chinada!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008 15:39 | 434 viewsSo if this post offends you anyway, then go visit this post and then if you feel like coming back, then you may do so.
I just wanted to point out something that I have noticed while working at my current job so far. That is that at least 90% of the callers are Asian. Very seldom do I ever get a call from a Canadian person that can speak clear English. It’s like I move to a different country every time I go into work. I spend about 80% of each call asking the caller to repeat themselves because I can’t understand a fucking word they are saying. What makes that even worse is that there is an actual line for Chinese, Korean, and pretty much every Asian language for them to call, but they still waste my time trying to tell me shit that I don’t understand. I mean WTF?? Really now?
When I ask for a valid drivers license or Social Insurance Number for credit checks, I’m not surprised when they say they don’t have one, but they have a Passport to use. Yet, we adapted to accept that too.
I haven’t use a bank machine in a long time since I usually use interact at the checkout at stores, but the other day I needed to take some cash out of the Bank Machine and nearly shit when I saw not only French and English language options, but there was even Chinese (With Chinese Characters) there too.
My question is, “Why do Canadians have to adapt to immigrants?” Shouldn’t that be the other way around?
I’ve always been under the impression that if I wanted to live in a different country, I would have to learn the language and laws, so I wouldn’t be fucked when it came time to actually live there.
The reason I am surprised at this is that while living on the east side of Canada here in the Maritimes, I haven’t really noticed a lot of Asian people, but from what I’m learning now, from Ontario to Victoria, BC, the ratio changes drastically from Canadian to Asian.
It’s great to be able to say The Land of the Free, but shouldn’t there be a line drawn someplace? That’s just my opinion, and you’re entitled to it.
Are we going to need a fence too?
*cue boo’s and hisses here.*
![:)]](http://www.macbrosplace.com/smilies/yahoo_onphone.gif ":)]"){kind=small}
January 1st, 2009 at 2:02 am
We are all here because our ancestors emigrated here. You shouldn’t be surprised when people come to join us in our open spaces from their own crowded countries which don’t treat them as they should be treated.
What bugs me is that so many skilled professionals come to Canada and can’t practice their skills here until they go through some bullshit schooling,which they have already done in their former home. What about the shortage of doctors we have, despite the fact that so many people from foreign lands are trained to heal people but can’t work here until they go through it all again?
I know its tough sometimes, but remember that most of your customers are from southern Ontario and that’s where everyone from outside the country is told to move to, so you truly get the United Nations of cultures there. I know. I talk with 50-100 people a day from the area and I get all kinds – Jamaican, Chinese, Indian, Iranian, British, Mexican, Greek, Italian. Take it as an opportunity to learn about what else there is.
And, I’ve always wondered about this phenomenon. Why is it important?
MrCoreys last blog post..The Story of Stuff
January 1st, 2009 at 2:46 am
@MrCorey – Their doctoral schooling isn’t as in depth as ours is. Have you seen how some of those doctors perform on the discovery channel? Yikes!
I believe the extra schooling is necessary for laws and hygienic safety. LOL
All our ancestors may have immigrated, but they had to learn the language and laws too.
It’s important. It’s Canada, not Chinada. or Indiada, Jamaicanada, and so on…
What really burns me is when they talk to me like they’re the ones hosting me. Like I have to cater to them, (not referring to work here) as if I’m the foreigner.
I just don’t get why I have to bust my ass working and having my pay deducted to pay for special services.
Especially now with the economy going to shit. People loosing jobs from factory close downs.
This is a touchy topic, I know, I’m OK with immigration, I just think that if you want to live here, learn the Canadian way. Don’t feel that it’s your right to receive special treatment.
There are schools, use them. Get off the fucking government’s coat-tail and educate yourself. Why is it my problem their country doesn’t want them. Ever stop to think there’s a reason for it?
Not all those sob stories you hear are true you know. I know, and you know I know from a previous place I’ve worked, and that is first hand experience and proof.
Boy I heard some doosies of stories from the Chinese folks. They think it’s funny, but I just grit my teeth when I hear them talk about it.
January 1st, 2009 at 2:46 am
@MrCorey – OH, and Happy New Year!
January 1st, 2009 at 6:33 am
I think if you live in a country you should learn their language at least.
What makes me mad, especially here in the UK, is that we get immigrants over here from everywhere sucking money from the state and not bothering to learn the language or get a job. They expect us to provide them food, a house, a job, and money. Hell I was born here and I don’t get that shit for free – why should they?
theenglishguys last blog post..post_class() and backwards compatibility
January 1st, 2009 at 6:49 am
@theenglishguy – That’s my point too. But Corey asks why it’s important?
It’s the same here also.
I’ll just come out and say one of the conversations I heard before from a Chinese fella that is not even a Canadian Citizen.
“I come here, and live off of government support. I do nothing, get a job and they still pay me. Soon I will have my family to come here with money I save because Canada pay for me.”
That’s what I grit my teeth at. Especially when they laugh as if they are pulling a joke on the Canadian Government, when it’s actually my fucking money going to that shit!
EDIT: My money and Every Other CANADIAN with a SIN Number that is working.
January 1st, 2009 at 10:24 am
@macbros – I agree with you that freeloaders need to be stopped, but you have to stop and wonder how widespread this is. I don’t agree that a very high percentage if immigrants are loafing off the government. I realize that the individual that you worked for before has a practice of blatantly violating labor laws and doing anything he can to make the most money off of his employees. That’s a family thing. His brother does the same thing. They are more to blame than the immigrants they help bring to the country. That two faced bastard you worked for once hired a woman to peel potatoes on piece work – $1 for every 50lb bag that she peeled.
I agree, the leeches should be dumped in a big pile of salt.
I don’t agree with you about the doctor thing. What you see on TV is a 10% slice of the world, true only for a few. Its true that the medical standards are lower in many places and that many people practice healing with what they have in poor areas, but these are not the doctors that we are illegitimately denying jobs in their own field (they just become cab drivers, my friend).
Can anyone honestly tell me that our beloved Canada has the very best medical care in the world? (we’re about 26th, by the way). Does that mean that all of the doctors who have studied in Birmingham, Bristol, Sussex, Glasgow, Manchester, Paris, Bonn, Hong Kong, Tokyo, or Sydney don’t have the credentials that our doctors do? I think that they do.
MrCoreys last blog post..The Story of Stuff
January 1st, 2009 at 1:49 pm
It won’t change until we change our attitude to work.
The Americans keep on saying that immigration fuels the economy, these immigrants do the work no-one else will do. But if we stop the free housing, food, etc., then immigrants won’t come or the flow will slow down, and the people who are born and bred here will take those jobs because they need to. I’m not against immigration, just against immigrants taking British jobs – it should be British first then any jobs left over for those who immigrate.
The Doctors thing btw, happens here too. Positions in our universities are taken by foreigners who we -know- are simply going to go back to Burma, India, China. Those positions could have been filled by people born here (and should be IMHO).
theenglishguys last blog post..post_class() and backwards compatibility
January 1st, 2009 at 4:19 pm
@theenglishguy – The thing with doctors in Canada is that we are short and there are no natives who can fill the positions. Of course, many have gone to the US for triple the money and 1/3 the patients, but still, we have British, French, German, Turkish, Chinese, what have you immigrant doctors who aren’t allowed to practice their profession here unless they go through medical school again. There should be a test that they could pass to get accreditation, but there isn’t.
MrCoreys last blog post..Welcome to 2009
January 1st, 2009 at 11:49 pm
The language thing affects us here in the U.S. all the time. I also think if you move someplace new that you need to adapt to the way things are done there to some extent. I’m not saying people shouldn’t respect their native cultures, because they have the freedom to do that here, but in return, the language should be learned and the laws should be adhered to (and the taxes should be paid as well as the contributions towards social services) as they are expected of everyone else in the country.
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:30 am
@teeni – You pretty much said what I was trying to say.
January 2nd, 2009 at 3:37 am
LOL @ Chinese Ads. How appropriate!