Glaswegian

And they hadn't even got to know you yet

PhillyD

Well it could be that Vancouver is one of the unfriendliest places I have ever lived in. Victoria on the other hand we have only good memories of. And as for my attitude, no sorry you might have to accept that sometimes people are just rude because that is how they are!

Thanks for your good wishes.

MikeUK

Well I can say without doubt that parts of Vancouver are beautiful and the people very pleasant.
I can also say that parts of it are a festering shit hole populated by a bunch of ignorant arseholes.

However I can say the same about…

Montreal, Toronto, London, Thunder bay, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Edmonton, Lethbridge,

And for what its worth numerous other cites in North America and Europe…

My its amazing how much the world has in common when you really think about it

willmore

You are really asking for either a good hard smack on the head, or putting you on my ignore list.....


My message wasn't rude - I'm in a really good mood. Just imagine what I could have actually written if I had been in a bad mood

willmore

Exactly......and what you make of a situation can really affect the outcome.....

Iginla

I'm not trying to get into a debate about the better province/city here.

BUT!....

I think it's worth remembering that whilst Vancouver is probably the most prettiest city in Canada the economy there and in BC as a whole isn't as good as other parts of Canada. The house prices don't seem to reflect this lack of (compared to other parts) economic prosperity.

In short it's a beautiful place with some of the most expensive housing in Canada and the least jobs.

What I think people need to ask themselves is can they afford to live there on the salary they would be receiving? Or as Glaswegian has pointed out would they be better aiming for a less aesthethic part of Canada where they can afford to live and start networking from there in the hope that a decent job might present itself in BC in the future.

We currently live in Calgary.

Would I rather live in Vancouver? Probably yes.
Would I have a better standard of living in Vancouver with all its aesthetics? Probably no.
Would I rather be unemployed in Vancouver than Calgary? Definate No!

Guggler

Excellent point!! How refreshing to get away from this 'Oh, it must have been something you did, something you said, etc'. The fact is that, like it or not, there often is a preponderance of people in a certain area with certain traits and characteristics (in this case negative, since you mention 'rudeness') and this cannot be written off with 'Oh, it's the same everywhere, blah, blah, blah'.

Glaswegian

We currently live in Calgary.

Would I rather live in Vancouver? Definite NO
Would I have a better standard of living in Vancouver with all its aesthetics? Definite NO
Would I rather be unemployed in Vancouver than Calgary? Definite NO

Aesthetics are very much in the eye of the beholder ... personally I'm too busy admiring the blue sky and mountains most of the time to notice what the city looks like

willmore

Perhaps you misunderstood my message. I wasn't implying that the inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour that he had received over the past 5 years was directly related to his attitude. I was taking exception to the fact, that he had made it sound as if Vancouver was the only place in the world that he had received this type of behaviour.....which I'm sure isn't true.......and sometimes when a person is unhappy with a portion of their life, it may indeed come across in different ways.

And yes, I lived in Vancouver for 6 years while going to UBC - personally I would never live in a big city. I have also travelled extensively and yes, this type of unacceptable behaviour is found everything.....

Osteopath

Some great replies and I think there is very little that is unfair or unreasonable on either side of the points of view. I know of many that would never leave Vancouver and I am genuinely happy for them.

Credit has not been a problem as they keep flinging it at me. $8500 credit card limit, $25k credit-line, $35k car loan, mostly based on my first three months in Montreal.

BC girl is prepared to move to Blighty, but that is another difficult situation to try and get through - we are now thinking that we might as well as well look at more options and are thinking of Aus and NZ as well.

Montreal is a possibility, but osteopathy in Canada is stuck in the dark ages with some factions slagging each other off "left, right and centre". Hardly professional and a stress-free environment!

My work permit problems were due to HRDC in Vancouver not being able to agree to the same conditions that were agreed in Montreal. The clinic decided to work on the Montreal agreement, which is not what they signed off with HRDC. I trusted them and got on with it ... and I was shafted!

Life in Vancouver has been a disappointment. Service and tips are expected, even for bad service. I would never tip for bad service in Britain, but they make a song and dance about it here.

I have had little trouble making friends in the past until I came to Vancouver. There are enough articles in the local papers about "isolationist neighbourhoods" in Greater Vancouver to make me feel that it might not just be me! Most of the friends I have here are "out of towners": Vancouver Island, Ontario and Quebec, whom have found it surprisingly difficult too.

One friend said that it feels as if Vancouverites make you hang on to see if they can find a better offer before they decide to do something with you. It is difficult to disagree sometimes. There is certainly more of a "money and status" culture here than I ever expected.

However, each unto their own!

yukonifm

I hate to wade into this - have something to add.

I was born in Canada - and my experience of Vancouver is the same as yours! I can also add my experience in Toronto and Montreal weren't very great either.

There is much more to Canada than the capital cities of each province and territory - venture further afield and you will find a much different experience

Osteopath

I keep telling BC girl that we need to experience Yukon and NWT, but she seems to be somewhat reluctant! I drove from Montreal to Vancouver and was by and large warmly welcomed everywhere.

MikeUK

I can safely say that the NWT and Yukon are some of the most beautiful parts of Canada..

However it is no joke when they talk about cold… We visited in June The ferry on the great slave lake was closed due to ice.. and on the shoreline at Hay river the ice still stretched out as far as the eye could see, Whitehorse is beautifully sunny and pleasant during the day, nice t-shirt weather, the water is ice cold in both the lakes and rivers, and even in June you’ll need a full fleece and jacket at night….
Plus they have real bear issues in that part of the world…whilst we stayed in Hay river several houses had some of the siding torn off by hungry bears looking for food after coming out of hibernation…
But if your looking for the real Canada of lore it really is the real thing…

laceybank

For sure, Scivers is a word I would use and they encourage/demonstrate it at an early age. Take snow days for example. On a snow day here in Ontario teachers still have to go in. Whenever I drive my kids in on a snow day the staff always say “the kids would be better off at home�. All they do with the kids is put all ages in the library and have them colour or watch videos all day. Why not use these days to teach some valuable one on one stuff
I was an exchange teacher in secondary school here 2 years ago and we had 10 snow days, on each and every one of them, the staff encouraged the brave kids who came in to go home! I am beginning to wonder about the education system here, what with part time for the first 2 years, numerous snow days, zillions of videos watched, lack of external examination system…it’s a bit mickey mouse!

iaink

Seems to produce generally polite, intellegent, well balanced human beings? Maybe they should leave it alone