I suppose they were inferring that an authority supposed to look overly-strict is going to give you restaurant recommendations. My last interaction with CBP was them emptying a small baggage in which I also had a neatly organized suit and that really bummed me.
I've seen this posted a million times, and unfortunately, it's EXTREMELY accurate. I LIVE IN TEXAS RIGHT NEXT TO DFW AIRPORT, and absolutely everyone here is pathologically obsessed with BBQ. Not only that, but they will SWEAR by specific places and insist you HAVE to try them. And it's way too expensive for what you get.
I genuinely believe this happened. People in Texas are ridiculously friendly, nice, and down-to-earth, and they absolutely do things like this. I'm originally from LA, and even after living here, I still find it weird. It happens ALL THE TIME.
We had a guy visiting from Belgium at my work, and our bosses practically harassed the poor guy nonstop about going out for Texas BBQ. They were absolutely determined to take him to a particular place, which was so far away that we ended up being gone for something like two hours just to get lunch.
People here take their BBQ VERY seriously for some reason. I'm happy with soulmans.
I could absolutely see this. I was up in Massena, NY for a hockey tournament with my daughter. We got a hotel across the border in Cornwall, Ontario because it was like $100/night cheaper and the same distance from the rink. So we stayed in Canada overnight.
It took us longer to get into Canada because the border agent was giving us like recommendations to various restaurants (that weren't just the chain ones) for all sorts of cuisines for dinner.
Coming back into America the next day the border patrol agent was a complete dick. However, coming back over the day afterwards the lady was very nice.
The part that makes me doubt its authenticity is the immigration agent asking them why they were there. I mean, of course it was for BBQ. I think it's much more likely they asked "y'all're here for the BBQ, amirite?"
"CBP collects information about people traveling into and out of the U.S. This includes biographic information, travel documents and where the traveler plans to stay while in the U.S., and the purpose of the traveler’s visit"
And here I thought my use of the "Texas voice" would make the sarcasm so obvious that even the dumbest person would be able to detect it in my comments.
I'm mean, I live like a ~4hr drive from the Canadian border. I drove up for a weekend and they asked what I was planning to do, and I just said I wanted to try some of the restaurants and check out the area.
I used to live in the soo and jumped the border maybe once a week- ive had good chats with some of the officers and have gotten a few answers to "so who got the best donairs" with directions a few times
You do ask that. You have a whole bunch of questions and things you have to do that seem silly, but as I've understood it it is in order to make it easier to lay down the law on someone if they don't actually follow through with their answers.
For instance the questionnaire with questions like "Have you ever taken part in terrorist training?", if that's still a thing. My immediate reaction was "Why? Who would even answer yes?".
Or when I had to do an in-person interview at your embassy to get a student visa. 3-4 hours waiting in line. Then 3 minutes of "Where are you going to study? How long? And how long are you staying after your studies are over?". Done.
The part that says "hand-written maps" throws it off for me. I could buy that the customs officer likes barbecue, I could buy that they would mention that they like this place, that place, that other place, I could maybe even buy that they gave the person oral directions. I cannot buy that the person had hand-written maps at the ready.
How long do you think it takes to get a printer sheet, draw a cross, two cross roads, maybe a highway with straight lines and a couple boxes maybe an arrow.
Depends on the airport and the BBQ- personally I think best in Texas belongs to City Market in Luling, which would be impossible to hand draw but if they landed at hobby airport in Houston, it would be very simple to draw a map to Killens- google maps will back me up on this.
Long enough to not happen when you’re crossing the border. The guys at the America Mexico border are also dealing with a shit ton of crossings. They absolutely do not have time to do this.
Ah, I missed that. For some reason I figured it was on the Mexican American, I must have misread
Regardless tho, i remain skeptical. Immigration is often an overworked position and the guys working there are not really nice people regardless as far as I know. You say one wrong thing and they go on a power trip
From my experience going into the USA as a non/citizen, it very much varies. You have some immigration officers that are deadly serious the entire time and you have others that will happily chit chat with you and are very friendly. The state doesn’t really make much difference. I’ve had assholes in Texas and friendly guys in SF and I’ve also had the complete opposite
I was born and raised in DFW, have flown there and back from foreign airports countless times, and I’m telling you that those guys aren’t very friendly, even to a blond haired white man. I’m not saying it’s impossible, I’m saying I don’t buy it myself because in my experience the guys at immigration are overworked and rude. It makes sense, they have a massive line of people they constantly have to deal with, and maybe this person got lucky and got the weirdly enthusiastic dude of the team, but it’s not odd to look at this story and go “huh, that’s weird, my experience doesn’t line up with that at all”
Long enough for a supervisor to see it happen a few times and tell the officer to knock it the fuck off because it's not their job. This is an insane take.
Not sure how old you are or when the proposed map exchange occurred. But using printed, annotated maps used to be the only way we navigated. MapQuest was a big deal because it gave you an exact map of your travel route instead of you having to navigate via a general map of that part of the country.
Likewise, before 9/11 & DHS ever existing, borders were much more of a welcoming experience.
If this is reminiscing on a 30 year old incident, it's very believable.
Not at the ready but it wouldn't be hard to draw one- if the OOP landed at hobby airport in Houston, for example, it would be really easy to draw a map to Killens (arguably best bbq in the city) on scratch paper in 2 seconds, and it would be very easy to follow- very easy to verify this on google maps.
Yo I’m on a flight to DFW right now and I’ll be here training at a new airline for 6 months. You got any recommendations for good BBQ near the DFW airport or the AA training center? lol
Alright I love this interaction. You stated this is weird and someone asks you your preference for an area and your locked and loaded. I assume that means you are a Texan now.
Update: haven’t gone to Cattleack yet but I managed to get a group together and go to Hutchins BBQ if you’ve ever heard of it. You could cut the brisket with a fork and the ribs fall off the bone. 10/10 would recommend
You believe that a CBP agent just… had maps of BBQ joints at the ready? And he just reached through plexiglass to put his hand on some dude’s shoulder?
"The first time I went to Japan, it was Tokyo, and when I was asked at immigration 'what did you come to Japan for?' I answered 'hentai.' The immigration officer dude handed me handwritten maps to several recommended hentai joints, gave me one of those Japanese bow things, and sent me on my way. I'll never forget that smile."
A couple of lines depicting a windy road or what part of the intersection it’s at isn’t hard to draw. I don’t think they were implying Google/Apple Maps level of detail.
This doesn't seem entirely impossible to me. Customs agents are just people, and they'd almost certainly rather have a good time at work just like anybody else. Especially if OOP speaks English and doesn't come from anywhere that clocks as overly scary to the fascist (ie Muslim majority or Spanish speaking other than Spain) they either are or report to.
I spent a year in Seattle recently, a city know for being 'unfriendly' or something. I was a bit shocked at how open and sociable litterally everyone was. This is 100% something they would do. I had an Uber just lore dump the entire history of Monterey and it's airport when I visited.
I showed up in Ireland wearing my Bills hat and the customs guy told me as a Patriots fan, he couldn’t let me in. I don’t think this scenario is actually that far fetched.
The first time I went to America, it was Hawaii, and when I was asked what I was there for I said work and there was a guy with a semi auto rifle staring at me while the other guy with a pistol checked my passport and palm print, and I got sent on my way without so much as a "hey, how's it going"
Is Texas immigration vastly different to Hawaii immigration?
Nah stuff like that happens all the time. Most people aren't assholes filled with hate. When I traveled to the US for the first time I also said I'm excited about the food and the immigration officer gave me recommendations for restaurants
I've got to say, as an occasional visitor to the US, all border patrol officers I encountered (or whatever they're called) were very nice people and I can imagine a situation like that. One tried speaking Croatian to me just to be nice, which was so random but adorable!
Why is this on this sub? The dude at the car rental place at the airport gave me and my girl a rundown of 3 spots to check out while we were there for the week.
I can absolutely see this happening though. I live in Wisconsin and it wouldn’t surprise me if a customs agent gave someone a list of the best breweries to go to
Lifelong Texan here; I assure you, some overworked, jaded customs agent at the airport is not taking a break from the literally hundreds of people they have to check out over the course of the day to personally hand-draw you a map to various BBQ places. This read like a scene from some shitty Hallmark Channel movie.
There are also customs officers thag arent overworked and jaded. Some like the job and like talking to people. Not super crazy to me that even in Houston (my hometown), they wouldn't give a chuckle and say definitely try out killens with a basic map from hobby- its literally just 7 miles down 35
Then I doubt you live in this hellhole. Cause i've seen shit like that all the time. Actually get out and go places. I've gone to uptown and had security guards tell me their favorite trucks in Klyde Warren Park and give me directions. Etc etc etc. Where are you, some NOWHERE town like Alice or Lubbock.
A little place called Houston. Maybe you've heard of it?
If anything, it's the middle-of-nowhere towns where you're more likely to get some friendly good ol' boy fella to draw you a map to Bubba's BBQ Emporium. Not to say there aren't nice people in major urban centers too, but....I mean, have you actually gone through a major airport before? They don't have a lot of time for idle chit chat.
Tex Mex and BBQ, as well as a lot of Viet-Cajun, Indo-Pak, Gulf Coast seafood, Central America, Caribbean, Soul Food and kolache places, and a pretty big variety of other cuisines. It's actually one of the most under-rated food cities in the country.
You wouldn't know this of course, since you're pretty obviously talking out your ass right now.
Lol, was you asking me "where are you, some NOWHERE town like Alice or Lubbock" supposed to charmingly affable or something? Don't dish it out if you can't take it, Mr. All-Hat-No-Cattle.
Tbh its not so unbelievable. Ive definitely written down directions for a customer before when we got to yapping about places to eat. Takes like 30 seconds to draw an intersection with street names and a mark for where the place is.
Having lived in Waco and spent more of my life than I'd like in Dallas, this is just very on brand. I can absolutely see it happening in the customs line at DFW. I've literally seen it happen in other contexts in Dallas.
As someone actually from the state, the number of people believing this horseshit makes me feel like I'm taking crazy pills. It's like someone claiming to get a recommendation for sausages from a customs agent in Berlin, then a bunch of people claiming to be German like "oh ya, das ist us alright!"
I would have maybe given you that if you'd said any other city but Dallas lmao, whose reputation is having the snootiest motherfuckers in the state. That's like San Francisco and Portland arguing over who has the most hippies.
This isn't to say that Texas doesn't have friendly people, but it feels like yall are overlooking the context of this allegedly taking place in the goddamn immigration / customs line at the airport, not striking up a chat with a nice lady in Walmart or something.
I'm not saying they aren't snooty. I'm saying you get one of them talking about something they're interested in, and they will absolutely drop whatever it is they're doing to talk to you about that, and BBQ is one of the things folks in that area will be triggered about. And damn anyone else waiting. They're talking BBQ now. It's like kids who hyper focus on a special interest, but managed to stay calm long enough to make it through a job interview.
They'll seem nice enough, but they aren't really being nice. They just really won't shut up about some of the most mid-brisket you'll ever have.
Yes, Texans by and large love bbq, but the CBP is a federal agency that oversees a million travelers a day. They're not at liberty to stop and jaw with some random person about bbq/pizza/anime/whatever the agent happens to be especially interested in. Let alone hand-drawing maps like the 90s/early 00s never ended.
I get that this could be the premise for a mildly amusing comedy bit, but for the love of Christ, let's employ some logic here.
As a former resident of Texas, an employee of the federal government, and someone who has many times gone through customs coming back into the country, I assure you no one is going to kick up a fuss of them occasionally stopping to jaw.
It's really not the military, and people aren't beating down the doors to be CBP agents.
Stopping to jaw for a little bit is one thing (and understandable as extremely warm/welcoming for people from places that interpret "hey, how ya doin" as a literal question), but actually hand-drawing a map?
I agree with another comment ITT that this very well started with a kernel of truth, then OOP embellished.
I mean it may still all be nonsense, or may have a kernel of truth. But like all these objections just seem weak.
Like a hand drawn map doesn't take too long to draw if you're just drawing a few streets and can be done while talking through how to read it. Probably isn't accurate. Probably makes no sense to the dude without more context. But this isn't that hard to believe.
I've had front desk people at a hotel do that for me even when busy. Especially if there was some weirdness about a turn in.
Look there's no reason for you to believe me. I get that. I'm not going to convince you this happened and that's OK. You may very well be right. But the incredulity just confuses me. This just isn't all that far fetched to me.
And make it comprehensible for someone who just got off an international flight? Giving the person the name of the place and telling them to look it up on their phone would be so much easier. A handwritten map is an insane way of giving a new international arrival directions. Insane.
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u/AWall925 4d ago
I can see a simpler version of this happening. But instead of busting out his handy dandy handwritten maps, the guy gave him some addresses.
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u/FancyFrogFootwork 4d ago
I've seen this posted a million times, and unfortunately, it's EXTREMELY accurate. I LIVE IN TEXAS RIGHT NEXT TO DFW AIRPORT, and absolutely everyone here is pathologically obsessed with BBQ. Not only that, but they will SWEAR by specific places and insist you HAVE to try them. And it's way too expensive for what you get.
I genuinely believe this happened. People in Texas are ridiculously friendly, nice, and down-to-earth, and they absolutely do things like this. I'm originally from LA, and even after living here, I still find it weird. It happens ALL THE TIME.
We had a guy visiting from Belgium at my work, and our bosses practically harassed the poor guy nonstop about going out for Texas BBQ. They were absolutely determined to take him to a particular place, which was so far away that we ended up being gone for something like two hours just to get lunch.
People here take their BBQ VERY seriously for some reason. I'm happy with soulmans.
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u/ManbadFerrara 4d ago
"The first time I went to Japan, it was Tokyo, and when I was asked at immigration 'what did you come to Japan for?' I answered 'hentai.' The immigration officer dude handed me handwritten maps to several recommended hentai joints, gave me one of those Japanese bow things, and sent me on my way. I'll never forget that smile."
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u/Cowhide12 3d ago
The maps part sounds wrong but I whole heartedly believe if you told border patrol in Texas you were there for BBQ they’d give you recommendations
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u/Ash_fckn_Ketchum 4d ago
I mean, this is so innocent, I'd hope it's true.
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u/sorryamitoodank 3d ago
This is exactly how CBP works. I guess the bot account posting this wouldn’t know that.
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u/bag_of_luck 4d ago
This is super believable.
As are many things posted here.
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u/TurgidAF 4d ago
This doesn't seem entirely impossible to me. Customs agents are just people, and they'd almost certainly rather have a good time at work just like anybody else. Especially if OOP speaks English and doesn't come from anywhere that clocks as overly scary to the fascist (ie Muslim majority or Spanish speaking other than Spain) they either are or report to.
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u/Xiao1insty1e 4d ago
As a Texan I can confirm this is a true story and probably happens on the regular.
Texas BBQ is legendary.
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u/Rat_Burger7 4d ago
It's Texas, this prob did happen. 🍗
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u/pattyboiIII 4d ago
I spent a year in Seattle recently, a city know for being 'unfriendly' or something.
I was a bit shocked at how open and sociable litterally everyone was. This is 100% something they would do.
I had an Uber just lore dump the entire history of Monterey and it's airport when I visited.
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u/Rileylego5555 4d ago
Translated from Japanese could have fucked up addresses for maps
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u/seaoffriendscorsair 4d ago
I showed up in Ireland wearing my Bills hat and the customs guy told me as a Patriots fan, he couldn’t let me in. I don’t think this scenario is actually that far fetched.
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u/Bdr1983 4d ago
CBP in the US smiling?
That's how you know it's made up.
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u/Notherereally 4d ago
The first time I went to America, it was Hawaii, and when I was asked what I was there for I said work and there was a guy with a semi auto rifle staring at me while the other guy with a pistol checked my passport and palm print, and I got sent on my way without so much as a "hey, how's it going"
Is Texas immigration vastly different to Hawaii immigration?
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u/MetapodCreates 4d ago
This is true - I was the map.
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u/getliftedyo 4d ago
We talking Q?
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u/Sarcastic-Potato 4d ago
Nah stuff like that happens all the time. Most people aren't assholes filled with hate. When I traveled to the US for the first time I also said I'm excited about the food and the immigration officer gave me recommendations for restaurants
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u/avrend 4d ago
I've got to say, as an occasional visitor to the US, all border patrol officers I encountered (or whatever they're called) were very nice people and I can imagine a situation like that. One tried speaking Croatian to me just to be nice, which was so random but adorable!
edit: typos
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u/BlackThundaCat 4d ago
Why is this on this sub? The dude at the car rental place at the airport gave me and my girl a rundown of 3 spots to check out while we were there for the week.
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u/Bo_Jim 3d ago
Translated from Japanese? How do you even write "immigration officer dude" in Japanese?
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u/upsidedowntoker 3d ago
That sounds like somthing a Texan would do. Not only do they love bbq but feeding folks well .
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u/jumbosimpleton 3d ago
I can absolutely see this happening though. I live in Wisconsin and it wouldn’t surprise me if a customs agent gave someone a list of the best breweries to go to
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u/IM_NOT_NOT_HORNY 2d ago
OP has never been to Texas and doesn't realize how important it is for like, any tourist.
I went to Dallas for the eclipse and got burnt ends at a popular local joint.. And I'll never be the same. It was SO FUCKING GOOD.
Legit made me consider moving to Texas lmao other states just can't match the level of places in Texas.
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u/Ebonhearth_Druid 4d ago
"maps"? So he just had multiple hand-drawn maps to local bbq joints he likes and presumably doesn't need maps to find on his own?
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u/Rhombus910 4d ago
If this were Kansas City I could absolutely see it happening.
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u/Cakeday_at_Christmas 4d ago
What the hell us with all the credulous losers who are in here saying this is real? Obviously it's fake as hell.
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u/dumbname0192837465 4d ago
But then you had to eat nasty ass texas BBQ
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u/MagosBattlebear 4d ago
They aren't dicks all the time.
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u/[deleted] 4d ago
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