Montreal Rant

[Guest phillyfan]

Team recently went up to Can/Am in Montreal. Had some time now, and finally am able to rant. No offense to any Montrealians here, but damn, they are rude! Was with my coach and asked for directions inside of a pizza shop, these were his exact words, "I don't speak English, get out of my store!" We sort of laughed at each other but asked 2 more people for help on the way out, they continued to ignore us as if we were not there. Every other corner there were drug-dealer, hookers, you name it. Hope it was just a bad-section of Montreal, and not the city as a whole. On the way home, my coach and my family flew home. The Assistant Coaches opted to drive. They started a day before us, and asked for directions from several citizens. They ended up going 2 hours North before they realized they were tricked, so some 12 hours later they show up, 4 hours after we got home. My rant for the night. Feel free to post your run-ins with any of those Montrealians. BTW-My team skated away with the Silver. Beat by this really talented Boston team, very physical, talented players.

[NCPUCK26 0]

After watching Bowling For Columbine, I've always had the idea Canadiens were very nice a friendly, but theres always a few rotten eggs in a basket, so you can't expect everyone to be nice, but if i were you i would also be pissed. I've had a few bad expiriences in Canada, but nothing different from somewhere such as NY or LA.

[Chadd 916]

Montreal is a really nice city but nearly everyone I met was less than pleasant.

[bulletproof_funk 0]

Montreal has some pretty insane drivers. The highway and signs there aren't very well set up so it's quite easy to miss a turn-off because most are pretty last-second. I can't say I've been there long enough to be treated rudely, maybe indifferently.

[Gongshow11 1]

a lot of french canadians can be rude...the speratists. Don't worry I hate them as well. i'm a "montrealian" as you put it. I dont consider myself such a bad guy.what street phillyfan were you on when this happened. Cuz if this was on st.catherines/ st.laurent, a lot of arrogant people there.

[hockey_player_11 0]

I'm not a fan of montreal. My friends have all been there and they love it, I cant understand it though. I was there a couple years ago, and we parked our car for 2 hours, and it got broken into. Too bad the idiots only stole some dirty laundry and kids ski boots.

[Guest phillyfan]

I have no idea what street it wsa on, 90% of the street signs were in French. It used to be where the signs were half French/ Half English,now most everything is in French.

[69bEoWuLf69 0]

i also am i a montrealer....i have to agree....even to me..their somewhat own brand(im not french...im italo-canadese) they are rude to me.....if u meet an english person den they are nice....the french(most of them) are rude....and as yglod said...the st-catherine area...full of drugs and prostitutes...:S...but apart from dat its a nice city...and oh!...the highway...just a bit of time to get used to ....there are signs up above that say so and so exit in 5 km or something....but it is to be agreed on there are some parts dat are not showcase clean and some ppl dat are not the nicest ppl

[Dan_The_Man_16 0]

I am from Oshawa, just outside of Toronto, and anytime I've been to Montreal (quite a few times) I find the highway is a bitch to drive on, with all the bridges and no English sub titles. I find the speratists hold a grudge against English speaking people, why, I can't answer.

Also Bowling For Columbine accuratley portreys about 95% of Canadians. Big ups to the filmmaker for standing up to the NRA, who goes to a town where such a tradgedy happened promoting guns.

[Ryan_04 0]

People in Québec are weird, period. They're crazy drivers, from what I remember they cuss alot too (en français of course), and it seemed to me like the majority of the population smoked .

[Gongshow11 1]

People in Québec are weird, period. They're crazy drivers, from what I remember they cuss alot too (en français of course), and it seemed to me like the majority of the population smoked .

welcome to another form of france

and 69bEoWuLf69, please stop writing "dat"

[MDE3 0]

Having lived and worked in Montreal many moons ago, and left the city in 1983, I understand your frustration. I speak both languages fluently, and embarrassed a number of pro separatists any number of times, who assumed that I was only English speaking, and went on about "les tetes carrees" laughing at us poor "ignorant English" (French slang for the English speaking population..litterally translated as "square heads"). I always enjoyed addressing them in their own "patois" right after.

I have visited there infrequently since, and can say I was happy to leave the city back in 1983, about 6 years after the first time the Parti Quebecois" was elected to power in Quebec. Prior to that Montreal was one of my favorite cities of all times, friendly, fun, and a great social environment whether you were English Canadian, French Canadian, or American....Montreal was a very cosmopolitan city. There were a few incidents like those you speak of, but it was an exception rather than the rule. I had hoped that the city had given up on some of that nonsense, but alas...it seems not.

First understand I am Canadian, living in the US, and had similar though not language related types of problems even when visiting in Ontario at times, mostly in rural areas, and mostly to do with the exchange of American money into Canadian dollars.

My pet peeve was always when I went into a convenience store, restaurant or similar, just after arriving, and before I had a chance to convert any cash, purchased a newspaper or a cup of coffee with US$ and was offered 10% exchange from someone who would take it to the bank and get 30 - 40%(at that time) the same afternoon. They seemed to assume nobody really knew what the current exchange rate was, and gleefully took the opportunity to abuse their American visitors, not only stealing their money, but insulting their intelligence at the same time.

This is the same type of provincial attitude which takes place in Quebec, but in a different context. What's funny about those who love to abuse English speaking visitors, and the English in general, is that they are the first in line to hop on a plane to Florida or Arizona as a snow bird. In fact the commercial side of Quebec, outside the major cities, probably reflects more American influence than any other part of Canada, which I find really amusing.

[thejackal 46]

Montreal's great...if you're a local and speak French. Also, a lot of people do smoke up here. One of my friend's friend goes into the subway, lights one up, and no reaction from anyone. And i do agree that some people here are real bastards, but ya just gotta live with it.

[hockey_player_11 0]

Montreal's great...if you're a local and speak French. Also, a lot of people do smoke up here. One of my friend's friend goes into the subway, lights one up, and no reaction from anyone. And i do agree that some people here are real bastards, but ya just gotta live with it.

That and the bar's dont card you, apparently.

[thejackal 46]

The drinking age here is 18, so what's wrong if they card you and you cant get in? Personally i dont like alcohol and only drinks a little during New Year's day or other special occasions.

[Guest phillyfan]

Oh gosh, how could I forget, one of the positive aspects of Montreal. Drinking age=18. Half my Midget team are seniors, we're all hanging out at a bar, nice little somthing to ease the craving, ok, maybe more than a little, but that was a hell of a lot of fun! That's why we took home the silver, loosing 7-0 in the final game the day after...

[beantown 0]

phillyfan, which boston team did you beat...just wondering because i'm from boston and i may know of the team and possibly some of the players...by the way, how old are you?

[Guest phillyfan]

I don't recall exactly, but next time I see my coach I'll let you know. I am 14, but was playing Midget Major 17A. They went up as the H&M Nationals, ask your friends if they played them.

[Speed Demon 0]

When I went to Montreal, I found that everyone was really nice in the downtown area.

[MDE3 0]

Was just there in January, and all the people I met "on the street" or in any casual situation were just fine and yes I do speak fluent french, but even with that...one night late I needed a room...and went to several major hotels...one told me I could ony get $1.10 exchange on the US$ currency I had....the exchange houses were giving $1.28 at the time(literally around the corner) but were not open(CDN$ was at it's highest peak in years)...and I wanted to rent a room only until 12:00..noon..and it was already 5:30 am..they wanted full rate..no "day rate"..just because they felt they "had me"..I was looking pretty tired. This sort of thing happened at 3 different hotels..before I gave up cursing(to myself).

This was the sort of attitude that bothered me...I often felt that the larger commercial businesses were just waiting to pounce on unsuspecting visitors....not to say it wouldn't happen in NYC or other major cities...but they leave you feeling like if you were local, they might have helped...US car plates and you became fair game.

Believe me when I say..Montreal was for the longest time my favorite Canadian City, maybe it's just my expectations are too high.

[Guest phillyfan]

That reminds me of our money situation as well, people were offering to exchange thhe US for the CAN money, as if our team and the members were complete idiots. As if we knew they weren't going to go down the street and profit off of us. One fellow even admitted charging us a 20% mark-up for his service. We promptly told him no, in an American way.