Elaine,

I always look forward to your posts because they make me think. I was just in Toronto recently and have been working with or associating closely with Canadians since 1966, and because I grew up near the beaches in southern New Hampshire, my summers growing up were filled with Canadians on vacation.

Here are my impressions:

1. Canadians are refreshingly honest.
2. The ones I have met all have one thing in common: They like to have fun.
3. They worry less than we Americans.
4. I find their customer service exceptional. The caveat: I am the kind of customer who tries to engage everyone I meet in conversation, including those working in retail. Maybe Canadians' work needs to be interrupted by conversation and interest to pump up the service.
5. In conclusion: I love my
Canadian brothers and sisters.

My advice is to write the book. I'd love to read your perspective! :)

As a non-Torontonian who spent some time there on the weekend, I'd like to add my thoughts on this:

1. Toronto traffic is positively abysmal compared to anywhere else in Ontario (with the possible exception of the Windsor-Detroit border crossing). As comedian Derek Edwards said, the 401 isn't Eastbound. It's Earthbound.

2. The retail customer service I encountered was great! I'm not sure if you hit people on a bad day or what, because my experiences were fantastic at Chapters (including Starbucks), various retailers in a mall, and even the vehicle licensing office half an hour before they closed on Saturday.

At Chapters, three different associates offered to help me, and the cashier was extremely friendly. At the MTO, the line was quite long but they wisely sent a woman down the line with common forms to help speed up the process. She joked and generally made the wait in line for a new license plate far more enjoyable.

I would certainly never make a generalization like "U.S. Customer Service can't hold a candle to Canadian Service" based on one weekend's lousy shopping in Port Huron, Michigan. I'm confident that our reputation as being a friendly country holds true in the retail sector, and I'm sorry if you had an experience that left you feeling otherwise.

Thank you all for your wonderful comments.

Lewis, I find your observations refreshing. Thanks for being in the Canadian fan club. You're right in that efforts made by consumers to engage retail service staff can often work. I did that frequently when I lived there. Yet, whenever I traveled to the States, I found a distinct difference.

Cam, thanks for encouraging me to write a book. I actually developed a book outline and it's been sitting in my hard drive ever since. It focuses on more than the differences in marketing and business. It encompasses my experiences as a new U.S. resident alien.

Janalynne, I love the Derek Edwards quote! My experience with Canadian customer service goes back my entire adult life, minus the past three years as a U.S. resident. I'm glad you found it otherwise. Sure, it can be hit and miss, but overall, I've always admired the American retail customer service style.

Having lived in Toronto for most of my adult life, and having spent some time in the US over the years, the one marked difference I found between the Canadians and the US is something you, Elaine, and others have touched on here: Canadians are friendly, yes, but YOU have to be the one to approach people first. Once the ice is broken, however, a wave of friendliness and helpfulness flows outward. Overall, I have found that we are a very conservative lot, and less willing to take risks than our American neighbours - be it in our personal or business interactions - and perhaps this stems from the City's very strong ties to their British roots. Or maybe it's simply our cold weather from October to April that causes us to be a bit more circumspect in nature. : )

Thanks, Michelle. I agree with you wholeheartedly. I, too, believe that even with all the multiculturalism in Canada, English Canada is still quite reserved and not as proactive as Americans are. The reason I stipulate "English Canada" is because I grew up in Montreal, where the Francophone culture is very different.

P.S. Something I meant to mention is that Canadian retailers seem to now be taking their cue from our friendly US store counterparts, and their culture of "customer service first". Whereas for the most part, in years past in Canada, you had to approach a salesperson first, now, like Janalynne, I'm finding that THEY are the ones coming up to you friendly and unbidden (but note that this usually occurs in US-based company stores).

I'll try to say this as nicely as possible (tongue firmly in cheek) – please don't confuse your experience in Toronto with what it's like in the rest of Canada. I've lived in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, and visited Vancouver and Fredericton. Toronto is like none of these.

I'd venture to say that if you visited Toronto, you were in the most American-like city we've got.

That said, we're all pretty nice people. ;-)

Elaine,

Thank you for a lovely post. I was born and grew up in Burlington, Vermont, about 35 miles from the Canadian border. My family hails from Quebec and my father's family settled there in 1685. All of my grandparents were Quebecois. We still have considerable family in the Montreal area.

My sisters and I were raised with the French language and culture from our youngest years. We learned English just before going to school. Over the years, I've worked with and befriended Anglo Canadians from the Maritimes and Ontario, as well. We love Canada and Canadians, Anglo and Franco, as well as all of the more recent peoples and cultures that have moved up there. BTW: anyone who attempts to speak French and respects the culture in Quebec, is warmly received there as a rule. I find Canadians in general, warm, hospitable, gracious. Long live Canada! Vive le Canada!

Michelle, maybe that means that the customer first attitude will catch on.

Thanks for your comment, Mark. I agree that Toronto is unique in Canada. As much as I adore it, it's a city that the rest of Canada enjoys criticizing. Almost like some Canadians enjoy criticizing the U.S. :)

As for other cities, I did acknowledge the difference in smaller locations.

"And to be fair, smaller North American cities and towns will likely present a very different experience."

Claire, salut! J'etait Quebecoise aussi. I don't disagree - Canadians are wonderful overall. After all, I'm Canadian, too! I'm just making an observation that retail customer service in Canada (generally) is second rate compared to the U.S. Of course, there will always be exceptional displays of customer service in smaller mom and pop stores, friendly neighborhood shops whose staff know their customers well, and almost anywhere in the Maritimes.

Elaine,

As Anne of Green Gables was wont to say: "I always knew you were a kindred spirit."

toutes mes amities,
Claire

Hi Elaine:

As a fellow expat who's been living here a lot longer (almost 15 years), but who still gets back to T.O. regularly, I have a slightly different perspective than yours (although I agree with a lot of what you've identified).

1. Customer service in the US is more formulaic. In general, you are more likely to be greeted, but you are also more likely to be greeted perfunctorily and insincerely. "Hello,mynameisPat,I'llbeyourservertoday.Howareyou.Wouldyouliketotrythespecial?" But, I don't find Americans to be more polite or genuine -- often quite the opposite. For me, this is a wash. You're just as likely to get served quickly and courteously in either place, but people are better trained in the US.

2. Definitely agree about the environment. I can't believe how hard it is to recycle where I live -- you have to drive 10 miles to find a depot, and how enviro-friendly is that? The US hasn't caught up to things Canada was doing 40 years ago. I think some of this depends where you live though -- Portland, for example, is ahead of almost everywhere. Some of it is a function of having had too much money for too long, and a predisposition against regulation and government involvement. Until very recently, being an environmental advocate was almost the same as being a communist -- very anti-business. But things are changing, especially as gas prices continue to zoom, we run out of landfill space, and people realize there's money to be made in green.

3. Canada's economy is booming relative to the US economy because of conditions that occasionally happen, and they're always the same. The US is borrowing heavily to finance the war (the last time the CDN dollar was ahead was during Vietnam), which is driving down its strength against every major currency. Basically, foreign countries are financing our debt, and they are getting nervous about holding too many US dollars in their currency reserves, which means they get dumped which drives the price down. At the same time, Canada is largely a resource driven economy, even with the advances in technology. So, with oil and gas prices at record highs, commodities at all time highs, metals and uranium at all time highs -- all things that Canada has plentiful supply of -- tons of money is flowing in to buy those resources. When resources boom, and the US is at war, the CDN dollar goes unrealistically high. But, it is a boom and bust thing, and commodities won't stay high forever. Still, it's a bit freaky to find that everything in Canada now costs significantly more than the equivalent stuff in the US. Just a couple of years ago it was the other way around (except for gas of course).

4. The cost of living, especially housing costs, is sky high because of (3) above.

5. Toronto traffic is indeed horrible and getting worse. But then, 1/3 of the country lives within 50 miles of Toronto's downtown. The problem is, the last time they were forward thinking about rapid transit was the 1940s when the original subway lines were built and Toronto was still a small city (before all the suburbs merged into one megalopolis). By now, the subway lines should be looking more like they do in London, but no one wants to spend the money. Public transit is really only OK if you live near Yonge St or Bloor St, or live downtown -- anywhere else, and you probably need a car to get around.

6. The biggest difference I notice between the US and Canada is what I call "the football culture". Americans are much more about team spirit and loyalty and going out on Saturdays to scream and paint yourself blue or red and support your college football team. In comparison to Canada, the US is a country of extroverts, while Canadians are more reserved and cautious. This may also have some relationship to your feeling that service is a bit better south of the 49th. On the other hand, guns and military culture are also far more prevalent.

7. You didn't mention all the things you absolutely have to do when you go back, like visit a Tim Hortons, or a Harveys, or a Swiss Chalet. Or, have some great Canadian beer (not Labatts or Molson, the good stuff). Those are the markers that tell me I'm back home -- that and the fact that everyone drives tiny cars.

Paul, I love it! You absolutely get it.

Good point about the comparison to the Vietnam War and Canadian resources. I hadn't thought of that. i.e. I'm not an economist.

I agree about the cultural differences. I didn't go into that because it wasn't related to marketing, but it does have a bearing on how business is conducted. Canada, I believe, has been influenced by its British origins and the US by its fight for independence. That history has a lingering effect to this day.

As for things "Canadian," I had to have Tim Horton's coffee and I brought back a can. I bought Quebec maple syrup, too. The real treats were the foods I can't get in the U.S. - Montreal smoked meat, Montreal cheese bagels, party sandwiches, and my favorite restaurant in Toronto - Wah Sing for amazing Chinese seafood.

Oh, but cultural differences are exactly what marketing is about.

I think what you meant to say is Canada is influenced by its French origins, and French/English conflict (since the English apparently won the war). And then, the mass immigration of UEL settlers from the US during and after the revolution which made the country a lot more British. I think it is for that reason, 230 years later, that Canadians still define themselves as "not American". More of them should move away so they can appreciate what is unique about their identity.

What's funny for me is that I don't like Tim's (for coffee) that much anymore, but I still feel the need to go there, like salmon swimming upstream.

You reminded me of Schwartz's, which I haven't been to in over 20 years, but has the absolute best smoked meat anywhere. And the boulangerie, of course. There's also a little place in Toronto called Pancers, but it's been a decade since I've been there. Montreal and that part of Toronto just aren't on my flight path anymore.

re: Toronto restaurants. For me, it's anything ethnic. The best dim sum this side of Hong Kong. The Indian places on Gerrard East, the Ukrainian and Polish places on Roncesvalles and Bloor West, and Greektown on Bloor East. The Italian places on St. Clair West or anywhere for that matter. The hotdog cart vendors downtown. It's about being able to get anything you feel like, anytime you want from Jamaican Jerk to Ethiopian lentils. But while that's what makes the neighborhoods of Toronto so cool, it's the other stuff that makes it uniquely Canadian (beer, Tim's, Chalet, etc.) And, the ever so small cars. (I still remember the first time that they told me an Escort was a full-sized car at the rental counter. Perhaps for elves.)

Good history here, Paul. I said British roots only because they won.

Schwartz's is good but try Lester's next time you're in Montreal. Amazing smoked meat.

I lived a few minutes away from Pancer's. It's also good, but why not get the real stuff in Montreal? :)

Those ever so small cars are quite smart, especially with today's gas prices in Canada.