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TRAVEL MEMOIRS
Celine Dion Got Me To Montreal
How you speak to tourists matters
I visited Montreal to experience a little bit of the magic of Celine Dion.
Straight from the airport, I parked my luggage with the hotel valet and skipped on over to the bus terminal.
“Where is the Montreal city tour bus boarding?” I asked the man with the tour bus badge in the huge public city bus terminal (Gare d’autocars de Montreal).
He grabbed the ticket from my hand and shook it violently in front of my face.
“Can’t you read? It says so right here! Go outside to the curb.”
I took a step backward instinctively. When he yelled in my face and shook the ticket, it felt like he was shaking me.
I bought the city tour ticket online and wanted to be sure I was boarding the right bus. I hadn’t signed up to be publicly rebuked like this.
Anger rose in me as I realized everyone’s eyes were on me. No customer service professional in America speaks to clients like this. I am a seasoned solo female traveler. Touristy questions were usually asked and answered respectfully in most parts of the civilized world.
A few minutes later, when a young white woman asked the same man the same question…
