There are some Americans who live near Canada who have strong opinions about Canadian retirees. This is because some Canadians decide that they would prefer to retire here in the U.S. and so after their last day of work they begin to look for a home in the States. There are some that are not very happy with what they would probably call the Canadian invasion.

It’s Called A Line, Stand In It With The Rest Of Us

It has been observed that some Canadians have the custom of being a bit impatient. Most of our manners are closely linked to the customs in the area in which we grew up. What Americans consider rude and pushy other cultures consider quite normal and acceptable. For example, it has been noted that Canadians are line jumpers. That can be very offensive to Americans but who knows how this is viewed in Canada.

Canadian Drivers

Canadian retirement planning involves the complete removal of the knowledge of how to drive from the Canadian retiree’s brain. Canadians, as a rule, drive like maniacs because their speed limits are usually 20 to 30 MPH faster than those in America. But when they retire they all of a sudden decide that the scenery in the United States is lovely and they want to drive 20 or 30 MPH below the speed limit to enjoy it.

This part of Canadian retirement planning also involves forgetting what a car horn means when every person behind you is laying into their horn because we all want you to move along now.

Shopping Together

It is impossible to find a parking spot in American malls in border towns because all of the spots are taken up by cars with Canadian license plates on them and a “sexy grandma” bumper sticker. Christmas shopping has become a near international incident in our local malls and if one more Canadian cuts me off in the mall walkway and acts like they never saw me standing there and walking in the same direction then I may escalate that international incident to an act of war. Now that their money is worth a little more than ours I am sure that this will only get worse long before it gets better.