Lent à Apprendre

Now that our time here in Quebec is limited, I've finally started to figure some things out...maybe because I've stopped trying. It's taken me WAY too long to realize that when at the grocery store (which is almost daily) I should go to the checkout with the young man, NOT a young woman. For some reason, most young women (at the checkouts, anyway) either refuse to speak English or can't. They then either ignore me or shoot a demeaning look in my direction. I usually try to get in and out of the grocery without so much as a peep. But when I get "checked out" by a guy (at my age we're talking about just the groceries gettin checked out) he's MUCH more sympathetic. I've even had bag boys translate for the female cashier. I wonder why this is?

I've discussed these nuances with my Quebec friends (both francophone and anglophone) and while most hadn't experienced this directly (mostly because they speak french), they weren't surprised by my experiences as an anglophone. One friend, who grew up speaking french, admitted to going in to McDonalds and refusing to speak anything but english. The young woman behind the counter had to go get a manager to complete the transaction...and she still got the wrong food.

I'm not saying that everyone in Quebec is a mean french-speaking zealot. There are a lot of GREAT people living here. If you're in Quebec and you're reading this, you're one of them :)

I'm also getting closer to figuring out the 4-way stop. It SHOULD be like any other 4-way stop...meaning that you proceed in the order in which you arrived at said 4-way stop. At least in my neighborhood, the rules are a bit different. I've had some close calls because I didn't follow the modified rules, which I'll try to outline below:

1. At first I thought that priority was given based on the price of the car. For the most part, I was mistaken. JUST the Audis get to go first. Sometimes they don't even need to really stop because everyone knows they have the right-of-way. If two Audis arrive at the same time, the one with an Audi behind it gets to go next. If an Audi is second in line, it gets to go immediately after the car in front of it...especially if the driver is wearing a suit and a bluetooth earpiece.
2. Pedestrians: After said Audis have cleared out, pedestrians have second priority. This is not as cut and dry as it should be, however. The order in which pedestrians are allowed to cross in front of cars depends on the level of "gear" adorning the pedestrian's body. There is a lot of spandex involved in dressing properly for a stroll or quick jog.

I think there may be a correlation between the amount of spandex/jogging accessories and car choice.