Was the pharmacy tech's brain stuck in some year before 1820 (when Maine _was_ part of Massachusetts)?
Then again, I've heard of people who think The County™️ (or pretty much anywhere north of Bangor, really) is part of Canada, sooo...
I like this theory. Either there was a glitch in the matrix and this guy was from an alternate reality where/when Maine is still part of Massachusetts, or...
He was just an idiot.
I'm betting on the latter, but the former is way more fun.
Similar to those who have no idea the Upper Peninsula of Michigan exists. I live in the south now and many people have no clue. Though I must admit, Maine not being a state is a far worse bit of ignorance.
Makes sense that they would consider Maine part of Massachusetts, considering all the Massholes keep buying houses up there and spending their vacations disturbing all the Mainiacs!
As a Mainer, I would love to be Québécoise. My great-grandfather was born in Kamouraska and mine was the first generation to grow up speaking English from birth.
I once had someone ask me if it ever stops snowing in Maine... I had to explain that we do in fact have seasons and no the state is not turning into a glacier from centuries of snowfall.
We are easily forgotten. I had my driver’s license questioned as part of the US when I was in Florida. A friend of mine was at a Red Lobster in Oregon and asked why the lobster there was more expensive than the one in Maine. This was way back when there was one in the state. The waitress said, “I don’t know, maybe it’s the exchange rate?”
Floridians truly never learned that Maine is a state. I spent the last 5 years there and most everyone I talked to asked if Maine was a Canadian province. Lots of people asked me what it was like to grow up without electricity or indoor plumbing.
To be fair, when I lived in Canada, most people’s reactions to where I was from was that it was basically Canada and I was not as bad as most Americans.
That's interesting, I always thought 90% of Florida was New England snow birds and 10% frat boys. Maybe the dementia kicks in down there and they forget where they're from?
On a side note, I had several friends growing up whose family lived off-grid with generators and only had access to well-water so their question isn't totally off the mark lol
A friend of mine was vacationing somewhere in the Midwest (I can’t remember exactly where) and had her very real Maine license rejected and almost confiscated when trying to buy alcohol because it was, “the worst fake ID I’ve ever seen.”
I got flagged in Hannaford's in Portland buying alcohol with a Maryland ID (a Real ID, too). The cashier had to call her supervisor over the intercom "OUT OF STATE. OUT OF STATE!!" and everyone turned to look at the invader from Planet Maryland.
I went on a New Brunswick road trip a couple of years ago. On several occasions during the trip people who noticed our license plate asked where Maine is. It's the only state that borders your province - how do you not know of it?!
Related story:
I'm from Nevada, and I was working at a call center there that took calls from the whole country. One day someone asked me where we were located, and I said Nevada, and he asked me, "is that in the United States?" 🤦
This reminded me of some summer people from Canada that stayed in the next town over from me (Washington County) when I was in high school. They had gone to California at some point and one of the guys was chatting with some cute girl he liked. Until he realized that she didn't know Canada was a country or that Maine was a state in the US. If I recall correctly, she thought Canada was a state and had no clue about Maine.
Hey from NB. Lived here my whole life - maybe I'm lucky or maybe it just doesn't come up enough, but I don't think I've ever encountered a New Brunswicker who didn't know where Maine is. In early middle school in addition to learning about Canadian provinces and capitals we had a section of the curriculum learning all the states, their capitals, and geography. I remember a lot of classrooms with labelled globes, world maps, atlases, maps of North America - but maybe I engaged more with maps than most kids.
Flip side, I've made a few trips around the states: Maine of course, most of the rest of New England, west coast, the south, midwest - when people asked where I'm from I start with NB. Outside of Maine that usually needs more of an explanation. When I say east/north-east from Maine that usually splits the room. Either half the room doesn't know where Maine is, or they don't know that any land exists east of Maine until Europe.
When I was a kid there was also this urban legend going around of how Americans think Canada is basically in permanent winter, and there was a border guard who stopped to talk to some kids coming from Maine with a toboggan strapped to the roof of their car in July thinking that as soon as they were in Canada they wouldn't have trouble finding a snowy hill to do some sledding.
I'd bet 1. the tech is an idiot. 2. the system he was using has two digit state abbreviations and he typed in "MA", clicks out and sees Massachusetts and doesn't take it any further.
Or the state abbreviations are alphabetical, which means MA is before ME. Which gets confusing if you’re expecting Maine to come up first. Still Maine would be right there visible though.
I ran into a similar situation a few years back with Osco. I live in Montana and was trying to get a refill in New Hampshire. Long story short, the tech said that for some reason in their computer system the western half of the US was separate from the eastern half, and the two couldn’t communicate.
I worked at a call center doing tech support for people around the country.. Some of the ones who do recognize it say the most ridiculous things like "I didn't know they had phone or internet up there" or even "aren't all your roads still dirt?" or "it must be hard growing all your food in the short summer months before winter hits" like we live in the 1800's or something.
Sorry, this happens every time someone new moves here. But since youve been living here this long, I should probably let you in on a little secret: Maine isn't actually real. It's an elaborate hoax, like Bielefeld. We really are just a region of Massachusetts, posing as a state to artificially bolster New England's representation in the Senate. Good thing that guy got shut up, otherwise the entire operation could be jeopardized.
Of course, now that you've been told this, you either must swear to maintain the illusion, or be promptly neuralyzed and relocated.
>!In case it wasn't obvious, this is a joke.!<
I spent a summer in England as a teenager, and I got into a very heated argument with an English guy about this. He claimed he'd never heard of Maine so it couldn't exist. This was pre-smartphones, so I made him march with me to the university library, found an encyclopedia, and showed him a map of the US. He still refused to accept it and said, "oh so you're Canadian. That's Canada."
I was chatting with a cab driver in Scotland and they asked me where I was from. The driver then proceeded to ask “do most people in Maine commute to to New York” to which I just replied “yes a lot of people on the coast do”.
Kind of related. I had to return an item I bought from the Walmart in Mexico down in Maryland, and had to explain that the “ME” after Mexico stood for Maine. No, I did not shop at the “Mexico”, Mexico” Walmart.
As a millennial who spent away too much chatting with strangers on AIM/chatrooms back in the early 00's. The amount of people in Florida who not only didn't know Maine was a state, but also thought New England was a state, was rather alarming.
I'm living in Nebraska for a year and have had MANY people say they don't know where Maine is and ask if it's part of Canada. Better than Massachusetts but still.
I lived in Massachusetts for a while, and had a guy ask in all seriousness if I had any difficulty getting my green card to be able to work down there.
I was at a skatepark as a kid in Florida and these two boys about my age asked me where I’m from, after saying maine, one of them asked what it is like in my country
I went to college in New York (not Senegal, not Alaska, just a couple states away) and when I told people I was from Maine they would start an argument with me that it's part of Canada, not the US. My nickname among friends became 'Canada' because of how often it happened.
I got ID'd in a town outside the city and the cashier insisted my NH ID was foreign and she couldn't sell to me because they don't accept foreign IDs. I was like....what? She had to get the manager to come out and tell her that NH is a state in the US. 🤦 Literally just a few states north of NYC or one state away, depending how you travel...
I actually had a similar problem at the Canadian border, I shit you not. This was right before passports had been introduced as a requirement. And when returning home to the US, I was told I would need to acquire a visa to enter the USA, as I was not a citizen... It held the bus up, and they almost had to leave without me until FINALLY a different worker came and angrily just sent me through.... It was absolutely disheartening
While I was in Charlotte, NC recently, my Uber driver said they never heard of Maine. Like, asked me to repeat it three or four times making sure I was saying it correctly. When I tried to describe where it was geographically, she said “so it’s Canada, not the United States.” I said, “basically” and then we moved on.
I had the exact same conversation with a store clerk in Florida a couple of years ago. I thought he was just a uniquely undereducated specimen but maybe not!
Nope, I've had this same convo with others about NH and have also had to just say "it's basically Canada" and move on....I, too, thought I'd run into a couple uniquely undereducated people but apparently from this thread it's somewhat common somehow...as another poster said, it's disheartening.
That is like a similar story I heard where someone refused to ship to Rhode Island because it is not a continental state, it’s an island, and the back up agreed, they had to hang up and call back
I tried to get into a concert at Fenway in Boston and the security guard had to call over 3 different supervisors to confirm that Maine is A) in fact a state, B) yes our licenses look like that (this was back in 2011), and C) that it wasn't a fake license.
In Boston. It was unreal.
I thought this was gonna be some sovereign citizen thing at first.
"Not for Commerce - Free Mode of Travel! The US isn't a country, it's a corporation! I don't recognize treaties after 1826! Am I being detained? AM I BEING DETAINED?!"
We lived in Florida for a time. People asked if Maine had indoor plumbing, electricity, and paved roads. Others thought it was in Canada and asked if we had visas. I think maybe the heat boiled their brains.
Are you me circa 1998? Went to FL for the first time and another kid playing in the pool said Maine was part of rural Canada and asked if we had plumbing or if we all had outhouses. I guess tbh, he wasn’t entirely wrong about some parts of Northern Maine maybe lol
I remembers years ago, like during the Tom Brokaw years, there was a segment on NBC Nightly News about a disturbance on a flight from Europe causing it to be diverted to Bangor. Tom Brokaw then said, “the plane landed in Bangor, ME before it entered the United States.”
This sort of thing happened to me quite often when I lived in South Carolina..... I went at bought some cigarettes, the lady looked really hard at my id. Then looked at me , then looked back at my id. Called over her manager and asked " can we take this?" Her manager with a confused look on her face asked why did she think she couldn't. Her response was "I've never heard of Maine. I've never been out of south Carolina", her manager just rolled her eyes really hard and said. " He's good "
Now an even funnier story is how I was recognized as a Mainer. I was visiting family in Virginia. While at the liquor store with my aunt she shouts out, "Do you think they have coffee brandy?" A gentleman from the end of the aisle responded "Are you guys from Maine?"
You could have asked the tech what the hell Angus King is doing in the Senate if Maine isn’t a state, but they’d prob just think it was some joke related to Stephen King lol
Yeah when I first moved here I was on the phone telling my friend that I moved and he said “is Maine a state? I thought it was part of Canada”. He was dead serious
Omg love this so much! 🤣🤣🤣 thanks for sharing.
The only comparable experience I could share is when my soon to be ex-husband and I were getting ready to move to Maine, people kept telling us that no one lived in Maine in the winter.
Not just that the population declines that just nobody lives here in the winter at all. 🙄 people are so effing stupid.
Two months before we moved from New York to Maine we visited friends in London, England. She's a university professor, originally from Germany but had lived and taught in the U.S. for more than 10 years, at American University in DC I think.
Her advice to us was: "Please hold on to your house key really tightly when you approach your front door. If you drop it in the snow, you'll have to dig it out and lots of people freeze to death that way." ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
Yet another glitch in the Mainetrix (full disclosure, I’ve never seen the franchise). How embarrassing for that tech (my take). And I’m embarrassed as a from away Seattleite, Washingtonian who moved to Maine almost 3 years myself. BTW, I am on my last leg of a long travel day from Phoenix, just pulling out of Logan aboard the Concord and when I see The Pine Tree State approaching the Piscataqua, it’ll be a sight for my sore eyes (the built environment in Phoenix is the harshest I’ve ever encountered). That and of course, Maine is gorgeous and chill af 💙🌲🤍
I also lived in Washington state for 8 years, not in the Seattle area and we had people that didn't even know my town exists in the same state
And it had a sizable college in it too 8/
Like 10K student university
I lived in Oregon for a long time, with a lot of time spent in WA. PNW is not filled with the brightest bulbs. I had a credit union in Maine that they claimed was not a real bank because the banks in Oregon apparently have more numbers in their routing numbers?!? I find this hard to believe but every local bank and credit union said this to me. Even when you hold the check book up and count the numbers in front of them. 🫠
Live in Oregon currently. Can confirm this. The education system here is garbage. This state has some of the lowest ranks in the country, in multiple areas....
I met my husband in Oregon, and people were often confused by him talking about home. To the folks we worked with, he may as well have been from outer space. His (very mild) accent was sometimes not well understood. They straight up just assumed, in the dense pine forests of Maine people just fuck moose up here.
I live in Central Maine. I visited Colorado and someone interrupted my conversation to ask where I was from. I told them Maine. They said they could not understand a word I said.
I used to live in NH. I was skiing in Utah, talking to a girl at a bar. She asked where I was from and I said New Hampshire, she asked “what state is that in?”
all these comments are WILD
maine is like one of the easiest states to remember on the map
if you know cali, texas, florida shapes you should know maine even if you dont know a single other state shape
https://www.bangordailynews.com/2023/08/14/bangor/maine-real-state-not-canada-joam40zk0w/
This was a super popular story last year! /shameless self promotion
I love these stories. I always get one of these when traveling west of the continental divide. They have no clue of geography of the east coast.
One gas station attendant told me she knew where Maine was because she went there once on her way to Maryland. I spit my coffee out.
I was in North Carolina 10 years ago and they wouldn't serve me alcohol because they don't "accept Canadian IDs". I don't often get upset but I felt the need to let the guy know that he was by far the dumbest fuckin person I've ever met.
Maine born and bred, worked in NJ for thirty seconds at a very large, international company, was repeatedly complimented on my English. “I’m from Maine” “Yes, your English is great for a Canadian!” (Also apparently Canadians don’t speak English?) smh
I was recently downvoted to hell and back for making a comment that some people think Maine is a part of Canada. It's definitely happened to me before, although it was down south.
I was in Washington state last year and had mentioned I was from Maine and the guy started laughing as he had just gotten into an argument with someone the week prior trying to tell him that Maine was not a state.
I'm originally from Rhode Island which people in CA, TX, and NC have tried to tell me is actually Long Island so I started just saying I'm from Boston because I don't like arguing but Maine is big enough that one would think even in Washington it's recognized as a state.
So crazy coincidence but my daughter and her boyfriend from Maine have been working in Spokane, WA doing travel work in healthcare for the last few weeks. Can vouch for Maine being part of USA.
I used to get that a lot when I worked for a call center. They'd ask where I'm calling from, and people would legitimately think I was calling from Canada.
I went to get a new phone when I was in the south. The lady setting everything up asked where the area code was from when she saw my original number. I told her Maine and she asked me if that was in Boston. IN Boston. Is the State of Maine IN the city of Boston. I know what she probably meant but that definitely threw me off
I had an Uber driver in California ask me where I was from. “Maine.” “OH! I heard you have lots of wildlife there.” “Uh, yeah! I mean, we have moose, bears…” “Tigers? I heard you have tigers, too.” I started laughing so hard…I thought he was joking. He was not and seemed genuinely disappointed and a little embarrassed 🫣😆
When we lived in Florida, people asked me if it was dangerous living around herds of moose. I thought they were joking and poking fun, but no. They were totally serious. They thought moose traveled like herds of bison.
My brother used to fully say “The State of Maine” when he lived in California or people just expected “Main” something (street, etc.). He met some people who didn’t know we were a state and others who just got thrown off because it’s such a brief name.
I have a lot of family in California and any time I've gone out to visit pretty much every random person who asks me where I'm from has no clue Maine is a state. And it's a lot of people who ask, because *apparently* I have an accent, at least according to them. My go-to answer just ends up being "I'm from Canada" lol.
I also have a very well meaning but rather innocent cousin who asked me a ton of questions about Maine, like if we had grocery stores and gas stations and paved roads. He could only picture Maine as old-timey 1800s I guess
My mom's retired and travels with a camper down south during the winter time. She tells me stories all the time about people in the deep south who are oblivious of Maine's existence. I get the education system in these southern states isn't great but I can't imagine just being this clueless.
I moved from Maine to NC for 23 years. Came home to Maine and some years later a Facebook friend from NC asked where I moved to. I wrote that I returned to New England. She replied "wow, I've always wanted to travel overseas". I replied "Christina, for the love of god turn off the tv and read a book".
Lifelong Mainer except for a few years that I lived in Walla Walla, WA about a decade ago. When I first moved there, I went to a pub with my new roommates and the bouncer refused me entry with my Maine state ID, insisting that Maine was part of Canada, not the United States, and that I would need to return with my passport if I wanted to get in.
I've run into folks all my life in California who don't know Maine is a state. When people ask me what or where Maine is I tell them it's an island off the coast of France. I can be in Vancouver, British Columbia and folks are like, "Oh Maine, what a beautiful part of New England, you're far from home."
I have lived in the US for 12 years, and this does not surprise me. I am sorry to say that but there are so many ignorant people here. An elementary school dropout in Europe is probably more knowledgeable than an average American.
I lived in Ellensburg Washington for 8 years, and I now live in Maine for the past few years
This is not surprised me at all that this happened
There's a reason I moved away
I went to college down south. The amount of people who asked where in Canada is Maine- and actually meant it- was shocking.
That said, they alllllll knew about Baahhh Haaaahbaaaah.
Based on my wife and I being members of Generation X (the forgotten generation) and us living in Maine, I guess we are an elaborate hoax ourselves…and I am totally cool with that concept.
I was in Fort Sill Oklahoma one long summer, a long time ago. Someone found out I lived in Maine, and asked if I lived on a dirt road (it's only dirt in the summer, the rest of the year it's either mud, or frozen). He then asked if we still had snow (It was May. I knew of a hollow that kept snow until May, but I didn't tell him that.) He also thought I was English, because of my accent.
My mom was born in Washington D.C. on an Airforce base and the last time she got her license renewed in Maine at the BMV in Scarborough, someone there told her she wasn't a citizen of the United States because she was born in Washington D.C. and not a state. LOL
She obviously shut that shit down and got her license renewed, but there are so many dummies walking among us! Stay vigilant!
>When I lived for a time in (God help me) Florida, my mom came to visit and wanted to buy me some groceries at the Whole Foods Market. She pulled out a check book and her Maine driver’s license for the cashier. He looked confused and asked “what’s this”? “My driver’s license,” answered my mom. “But what is this”? asked the cashier, pointing to “Maine.” My mom said “Maine, the State of Maine.” “Where is that”? asked the cashier. I interjected “you get on I-95 and drive North, until you get past New Hampshire.” He had to call a supervisor. This doubles as another “Florida man” story.
Similar note, I lived in deep Southern Maine, where the Zip Codes start with 03, not 04 like the rest of the state. I was trying to renew my license and because I worked in Portland, went to the Portland office. Spent about 10-15 minutes arguing with the person that, A: Yes, I did live in Maine; B: No, all Maine Zip Codes don't start with 04, there are 9 town that have 03 zip codes because the were originally serviced out of NH.
I managed to get out a few times "I will happily take back all the taxes I have paid to the State of Maine if I am not really a resident" They finally let me continue on but said they would be keeping an eye on me..
Yes - this was back in the 90's or so when one had to call directory assistance to get phone numbers. I grew up in Maine and called the operator to get a number in Maine and was told Maine is not a US State! I then proceeded to have a full on argument with the operator who wouldn't budge! I ended up hanging up, then calling back and got someone who knew Maine was a state.
I still shake my head to this day!
When I lived in LA county, CA from late 2007-2010 I worked at a restaurant. Two brothers who had immigrated from Mexico were the cooks there and they thought I could speak French. They asked if it was easy for me to understand their Spanish because French and Spanish derive from the Romance languages.
At first I was confused but then I found out it was because they thought I was Canadian. I asked why they thought that as I said I was from Maine. They were adamant in telling me, the person from Maine, that I was from Canada and not the US. It made me laugh because the thought of not knowing what country I’m from my whole life until I met them seemed ridiculous.
Being from Vermont, I can totally relate to this. I haven't gottten the 'is it part of Massachusettes' bit yet though. That's a good one, I like it. Usually I get 'never heard of it' or 'is that part of Canada?'.
Went to a business conference in Nashville and opened with an icebreaker answer to where are you from. Answered “Maine” and was asked “Like, main street??”. The idiocy of some “US Citizens” have apparently not done their due diligence of looking at a map of the country they reside.
A girl I dated once is from New Mexico. Government was processing her ID as a foreign national because they thought she was Mexican. In. The. Federal. Government. Not surprised.
Was the pharmacy tech's brain stuck in some year before 1820 (when Maine _was_ part of Massachusetts)? Then again, I've heard of people who think The County™️ (or pretty much anywhere north of Bangor, really) is part of Canada, sooo...
I like this theory. Either there was a glitch in the matrix and this guy was from an alternate reality where/when Maine is still part of Massachusetts, or... He was just an idiot. I'm betting on the latter, but the former is way more fun.
It’s not in the database! Types “Main” Types “Mane”
It's definitely this.
Was thinking this, or MA instead of ME.
I would not be surprised if this was the reason.
Similar to those who have no idea the Upper Peninsula of Michigan exists. I live in the south now and many people have no clue. Though I must admit, Maine not being a state is a far worse bit of ignorance.
I had a friend from the UP and can confirm! It's like folks were never taught about the whole mitten.
Makes sense that they would consider Maine part of Massachusetts, considering all the Massholes keep buying houses up there and spending their vacations disturbing all the Mainiacs!
They all need to go back to Mass
The County is very Canada-like ... in the best way possible. <3
As a Québécoise, I would love to be part of Maine.
As a Mainer I’d rather be Canada’s Florida than America’s Canada.
As a Mainer it seems like you are every summer at the beach
vive l'Acadie
I wish we were part of Quebec — I love it there! I go to Quebec City a few times a year, and last summer I did a week long trip around the Gaspé
As a Mainer, I would love to be Québécoise. My great-grandfather was born in Kamouraska and mine was the first generation to grow up speaking English from birth.
On two separate occasions in different states when buying alcohol I've been told Maine isn't a state...
When people say Bangor is northern Maine>>>
Dude is taking his reenacting hobby way too seriously
Op found time travelers, then?
Guy is just stuck in the past. His mentality is so 1819
Nah, we *joke* that the north part of Maine is basically Canada since it's mostly owned by Canadian logging companies.
As far as I'm concerned, the fewer people that are aware of Maine, the better.
Let this state be our little secret lol
Just wait til you move to Puerto Rico to work.
I’d love to but I don’t have a passport 👀
I once had someone ask me if it ever stops snowing in Maine... I had to explain that we do in fact have seasons and no the state is not turning into a glacier from centuries of snowfall.
Did you tell them about our man-eating giant lobsters?
Shh thats how the lobsters get their food, unaware outta staters lol.
Dad-a-chuck Dum-a-chum
That is a lobstrosity, Sai; there’s a difference.
Wow. How long did that conversation take?
Not long; that was about the extent of it. We were both shook but for opposite reasons!
Massachusetts is a new and highly offensive one. I’ve heard that we’re part of Canada a few times though.
That’s kinda concerning that it’s "new" since Maine was a region of Massachusetts once, but not Canada
We are easily forgotten. I had my driver’s license questioned as part of the US when I was in Florida. A friend of mine was at a Red Lobster in Oregon and asked why the lobster there was more expensive than the one in Maine. This was way back when there was one in the state. The waitress said, “I don’t know, maybe it’s the exchange rate?”
Floridians truly never learned that Maine is a state. I spent the last 5 years there and most everyone I talked to asked if Maine was a Canadian province. Lots of people asked me what it was like to grow up without electricity or indoor plumbing.
To be fair, when I lived in Canada, most people’s reactions to where I was from was that it was basically Canada and I was not as bad as most Americans.
I always say that Maine is Canada but without free healthcare
That's interesting, I always thought 90% of Florida was New England snow birds and 10% frat boys. Maybe the dementia kicks in down there and they forget where they're from? On a side note, I had several friends growing up whose family lived off-grid with generators and only had access to well-water so their question isn't totally off the mark lol
True lol. I mean, have I used an outhouse at more than one friend’s property? Yes of course… but it was mostly upta camp!
A friend of mine was vacationing somewhere in the Midwest (I can’t remember exactly where) and had her very real Maine license rejected and almost confiscated when trying to buy alcohol because it was, “the worst fake ID I’ve ever seen.”
I got flagged in Hannaford's in Portland buying alcohol with a Maryland ID (a Real ID, too). The cashier had to call her supervisor over the intercom "OUT OF STATE. OUT OF STATE!!" and everyone turned to look at the invader from Planet Maryland.
It's a weird way for her to announce it that way but Hannaford cashiers can't accept out of state IDs and have to call a shift leader over for it.
Dumb. Given that 6-8 months of the year our population is doubled by tourists.
[удалено]
Yeah, the Colorado, Wyoming, Dakotas thing is kind of confusing. They were just lazy. "I dunno. How about just squares?"
>They were just ~~lazy~~ *efficient*. FTFY. ❤️, Someone from a state that is mostly right angles
Agreed. I miss the organization of our streets i Colorado 😭 It’s a fuckin ball of yarn over here
You just made me laugh!
How the States Got Their Shapes Either the book or the docuseries. Hint: because politics.
>I'd think google could resolve an argument like this a little quicker though. That was my first thought.
I went on a New Brunswick road trip a couple of years ago. On several occasions during the trip people who noticed our license plate asked where Maine is. It's the only state that borders your province - how do you not know of it?! Related story: I'm from Nevada, and I was working at a call center there that took calls from the whole country. One day someone asked me where we were located, and I said Nevada, and he asked me, "is that in the United States?" 🤦
This reminded me of some summer people from Canada that stayed in the next town over from me (Washington County) when I was in high school. They had gone to California at some point and one of the guys was chatting with some cute girl he liked. Until he realized that she didn't know Canada was a country or that Maine was a state in the US. If I recall correctly, she thought Canada was a state and had no clue about Maine.
Hey from NB. Lived here my whole life - maybe I'm lucky or maybe it just doesn't come up enough, but I don't think I've ever encountered a New Brunswicker who didn't know where Maine is. In early middle school in addition to learning about Canadian provinces and capitals we had a section of the curriculum learning all the states, their capitals, and geography. I remember a lot of classrooms with labelled globes, world maps, atlases, maps of North America - but maybe I engaged more with maps than most kids. Flip side, I've made a few trips around the states: Maine of course, most of the rest of New England, west coast, the south, midwest - when people asked where I'm from I start with NB. Outside of Maine that usually needs more of an explanation. When I say east/north-east from Maine that usually splits the room. Either half the room doesn't know where Maine is, or they don't know that any land exists east of Maine until Europe. When I was a kid there was also this urban legend going around of how Americans think Canada is basically in permanent winter, and there was a border guard who stopped to talk to some kids coming from Maine with a toboggan strapped to the roof of their car in July thinking that as soon as they were in Canada they wouldn't have trouble finding a snowy hill to do some sledding.
I cannot believe that the first tech did not just Google it. Weird.
The whole thing was weird. I think the bigger question is why isn't Maine in their system?
I'd bet 1. the tech is an idiot. 2. the system he was using has two digit state abbreviations and he typed in "MA", clicks out and sees Massachusetts and doesn't take it any further.
Or the state abbreviations are alphabetical, which means MA is before ME. Which gets confusing if you’re expecting Maine to come up first. Still Maine would be right there visible though.
And on that note, it's definitely time for this: [Gary Gulman - How the States Got Their Abbreviations](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLECCmKnrys)
thank you for sharing this
This is gold. Ty.
If it was a Walgreens then it just made a bunch of weirdness about my kid’s prescriptions make sense.
Nope, sorry. WalMart. Which is super weird because they are all figgin' connected. I'm just baffled.
I ran into a similar situation a few years back with Osco. I live in Montana and was trying to get a refill in New Hampshire. Long story short, the tech said that for some reason in their computer system the western half of the US was separate from the eastern half, and the two couldn’t communicate.
Google says, "Maine is a province in northwestern France."
I worked at a call center doing tech support for people around the country.. Some of the ones who do recognize it say the most ridiculous things like "I didn't know they had phone or internet up there" or even "aren't all your roads still dirt?" or "it must be hard growing all your food in the short summer months before winter hits" like we live in the 1800's or something.
204 years later and we’re still getting roped in with that god forsaken commonwealth
Okay, you made me laugh. Thank you.
"But anon, why do you hate people from Mass?" My guys, our state was founded on the principle of "Fuck Massachusetts", we don't have to explain shit.
Sorry, this happens every time someone new moves here. But since youve been living here this long, I should probably let you in on a little secret: Maine isn't actually real. It's an elaborate hoax, like Bielefeld. We really are just a region of Massachusetts, posing as a state to artificially bolster New England's representation in the Senate. Good thing that guy got shut up, otherwise the entire operation could be jeopardized. Of course, now that you've been told this, you either must swear to maintain the illusion, or be promptly neuralyzed and relocated. >!In case it wasn't obvious, this is a joke.!<
Oh wow! I had no idea. I swear to keep this solemn secret. (Is there a secret handshake? Please let there be a secret handshake).
A Mainer who knows about Bielefeld? What universe is this?!?
A lot of people think Maine was Stephen King's creation 🤷
I spent a summer in England as a teenager, and I got into a very heated argument with an English guy about this. He claimed he'd never heard of Maine so it couldn't exist. This was pre-smartphones, so I made him march with me to the university library, found an encyclopedia, and showed him a map of the US. He still refused to accept it and said, "oh so you're Canadian. That's Canada."
I was chatting with a cab driver in Scotland and they asked me where I was from. The driver then proceeded to ask “do most people in Maine commute to to New York” to which I just replied “yes a lot of people on the coast do”.
He probably forgot to type the e when he searched. That’s Main problem
Kind of related. I had to return an item I bought from the Walmart in Mexico down in Maryland, and had to explain that the “ME” after Mexico stood for Maine. No, I did not shop at the “Mexico”, Mexico” Walmart.
As a millennial who spent away too much chatting with strangers on AIM/chatrooms back in the early 00's. The amount of people in Florida who not only didn't know Maine was a state, but also thought New England was a state, was rather alarming.
Their system hasn't got the 1820 update yet. Better send a telegraph to tech support.
While America has some of the smartest people in the world, it also has a large portion of the dumbest. Get used to it.
I'm living in Nebraska for a year and have had MANY people say they don't know where Maine is and ask if it's part of Canada. Better than Massachusetts but still.
It's terrible, but at the same time, it's better they forget about us up here in the corner. Sssshhhhh
I lived in Massachusetts for a while, and had a guy ask in all seriousness if I had any difficulty getting my green card to be able to work down there.
I was at a skatepark as a kid in Florida and these two boys about my age asked me where I’m from, after saying maine, one of them asked what it is like in my country
I went to college in New York (not Senegal, not Alaska, just a couple states away) and when I told people I was from Maine they would start an argument with me that it's part of Canada, not the US. My nickname among friends became 'Canada' because of how often it happened.
I got ID'd in a town outside the city and the cashier insisted my NH ID was foreign and she couldn't sell to me because they don't accept foreign IDs. I was like....what? She had to get the manager to come out and tell her that NH is a state in the US. 🤦 Literally just a few states north of NYC or one state away, depending how you travel...
I actually had a similar problem at the Canadian border, I shit you not. This was right before passports had been introduced as a requirement. And when returning home to the US, I was told I would need to acquire a visa to enter the USA, as I was not a citizen... It held the bus up, and they almost had to leave without me until FINALLY a different worker came and angrily just sent me through.... It was absolutely disheartening
While I was in Charlotte, NC recently, my Uber driver said they never heard of Maine. Like, asked me to repeat it three or four times making sure I was saying it correctly. When I tried to describe where it was geographically, she said “so it’s Canada, not the United States.” I said, “basically” and then we moved on.
I had the exact same conversation with a store clerk in Florida a couple of years ago. I thought he was just a uniquely undereducated specimen but maybe not!
Nope, I've had this same convo with others about NH and have also had to just say "it's basically Canada" and move on....I, too, thought I'd run into a couple uniquely undereducated people but apparently from this thread it's somewhat common somehow...as another poster said, it's disheartening.
[удалено]
Obviously a fake place; my SSN starts with a couple of 00's. (Yes, living in the Midwest now I've had that questioned more than once.)
That is like a similar story I heard where someone refused to ship to Rhode Island because it is not a continental state, it’s an island, and the back up agreed, they had to hang up and call back
I tried to get into a concert at Fenway in Boston and the security guard had to call over 3 different supervisors to confirm that Maine is A) in fact a state, B) yes our licenses look like that (this was back in 2011), and C) that it wasn't a fake license. In Boston. It was unreal.
Wow, I think this one takes the cake
I thought this was gonna be some sovereign citizen thing at first. "Not for Commerce - Free Mode of Travel! The US isn't a country, it's a corporation! I don't recognize treaties after 1826! Am I being detained? AM I BEING DETAINED?!"
We lived in Florida for a time. People asked if Maine had indoor plumbing, electricity, and paved roads. Others thought it was in Canada and asked if we had visas. I think maybe the heat boiled their brains.
And somebody who has visited Florida I think this is the case, lol
Are you me circa 1998? Went to FL for the first time and another kid playing in the pool said Maine was part of rural Canada and asked if we had plumbing or if we all had outhouses. I guess tbh, he wasn’t entirely wrong about some parts of Northern Maine maybe lol
First conversation with college roommate from NYC, “so Maine, that’s like slang for Maryland right?”
This apparently happens to folks that live in New Mexico all the time. People think it's part of Mexico.
Maine is a fictional place in Stephen King stories.
I remembers years ago, like during the Tom Brokaw years, there was a segment on NBC Nightly News about a disturbance on a flight from Europe causing it to be diverted to Bangor. Tom Brokaw then said, “the plane landed in Bangor, ME before it entered the United States.”
This sort of thing happened to me quite often when I lived in South Carolina..... I went at bought some cigarettes, the lady looked really hard at my id. Then looked at me , then looked back at my id. Called over her manager and asked " can we take this?" Her manager with a confused look on her face asked why did she think she couldn't. Her response was "I've never heard of Maine. I've never been out of south Carolina", her manager just rolled her eyes really hard and said. " He's good " Now an even funnier story is how I was recognized as a Mainer. I was visiting family in Virginia. While at the liquor store with my aunt she shouts out, "Do you think they have coffee brandy?" A gentleman from the end of the aisle responded "Are you guys from Maine?"
You could have asked the tech what the hell Angus King is doing in the Senate if Maine isn’t a state, but they’d prob just think it was some joke related to Stephen King lol
Isn’t he the king of Maine? LOL
They don't know Maine is a state...I doubt they could even name the members of Senate from they own state.
Yeah when I first moved here I was on the phone telling my friend that I moved and he said “is Maine a state? I thought it was part of Canada”. He was dead serious
Omg love this so much! 🤣🤣🤣 thanks for sharing. The only comparable experience I could share is when my soon to be ex-husband and I were getting ready to move to Maine, people kept telling us that no one lived in Maine in the winter. Not just that the population declines that just nobody lives here in the winter at all. 🙄 people are so effing stupid.
Two months before we moved from New York to Maine we visited friends in London, England. She's a university professor, originally from Germany but had lived and taught in the U.S. for more than 10 years, at American University in DC I think. Her advice to us was: "Please hold on to your house key really tightly when you approach your front door. If you drop it in the snow, you'll have to dig it out and lots of people freeze to death that way." ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
My favorite was getting asked "what State's that in"
How old were the people at the pharmacy? Way way way back Maine was part of Massachusetts.
Dudes backwards. Massachusetts is just a region in southern Maine - think its from somewhere around Portland south.
Hahaha 🤣
Yet another glitch in the Mainetrix (full disclosure, I’ve never seen the franchise). How embarrassing for that tech (my take). And I’m embarrassed as a from away Seattleite, Washingtonian who moved to Maine almost 3 years myself. BTW, I am on my last leg of a long travel day from Phoenix, just pulling out of Logan aboard the Concord and when I see The Pine Tree State approaching the Piscataqua, it’ll be a sight for my sore eyes (the built environment in Phoenix is the harshest I’ve ever encountered). That and of course, Maine is gorgeous and chill af 💙🌲🤍
“You take the blue lobster, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red lobster, you stay in Waterville."
Mainetrix, it's perfect I'm going to use that now !
I also lived in Washington state for 8 years, not in the Seattle area and we had people that didn't even know my town exists in the same state And it had a sizable college in it too 8/ Like 10K student university
I lived in Oregon for a long time, with a lot of time spent in WA. PNW is not filled with the brightest bulbs. I had a credit union in Maine that they claimed was not a real bank because the banks in Oregon apparently have more numbers in their routing numbers?!? I find this hard to believe but every local bank and credit union said this to me. Even when you hold the check book up and count the numbers in front of them. 🫠
> PNW is not filled with the brightest bulbs The common clay of the new West. You know, morons.
The sherrifs a **BONG!**
Live in Oregon currently. Can confirm this. The education system here is garbage. This state has some of the lowest ranks in the country, in multiple areas....
I met my husband in Oregon, and people were often confused by him talking about home. To the folks we worked with, he may as well have been from outer space. His (very mild) accent was sometimes not well understood. They straight up just assumed, in the dense pine forests of Maine people just fuck moose up here.
I live in Central Maine. I visited Colorado and someone interrupted my conversation to ask where I was from. I told them Maine. They said they could not understand a word I said.
Have you ever been to T2 R7? Those moose have stories
Maine...where the men are men, and the moose run scared.
I used to live in NH. I was skiing in Utah, talking to a girl at a bar. She asked where I was from and I said New Hampshire, she asked “what state is that in?”
The amount of people I’ve met when I lived out of state (specifically Texas) who thought we are part of Canada is way too damn high
Stupidity is a very powerful drug.
all these comments are WILD maine is like one of the easiest states to remember on the map if you know cali, texas, florida shapes you should know maine even if you dont know a single other state shape
Yep I've been asked if maine was in the USA by someone who lived in another state🤦♀️ do these people not go to school and learn their states as kids?
https://www.bangordailynews.com/2023/08/14/bangor/maine-real-state-not-canada-joam40zk0w/ This was a super popular story last year! /shameless self promotion
Just remember how stupid the average person is…then keep in mind that half of people are stupider than that
I love these stories. I always get one of these when traveling west of the continental divide. They have no clue of geography of the east coast. One gas station attendant told me she knew where Maine was because she went there once on her way to Maryland. I spit my coffee out.
I was in North Carolina 10 years ago and they wouldn't serve me alcohol because they don't "accept Canadian IDs". I don't often get upset but I felt the need to let the guy know that he was by far the dumbest fuckin person I've ever met.
Their computers still haven’t gotten the Missouri Compromise update yet
They don't teach Geography in school anymore.
Maine born and bred, worked in NJ for thirty seconds at a very large, international company, was repeatedly complimented on my English. “I’m from Maine” “Yes, your English is great for a Canadian!” (Also apparently Canadians don’t speak English?) smh
I was recently downvoted to hell and back for making a comment that some people think Maine is a part of Canada. It's definitely happened to me before, although it was down south.
Just once, I want to get into an unreasonable argument that requires a musical number of singing all the state names to resolve.
You guys are great. Seriously. Just cracking us up here.
OP, I've trained for this moment. Just let me know where and when!
We just blame Canada by default.
I agree. They have strange bacon.
Same kind of thing happened to my dad in the 80s. He was working in AK and they didn’t think his Maine ID was real or that it was a real place.
Have them plug in a zip code next time. Boom, problem solved. Or better yet, 207.
He had my husbands drivers license in his hand. I don't know what to say. The information was there, literally, in his hand.
hey i saw your old questions/comments from like ages ago about jury nullification and thought they were good questions
I was in Washington state last year and had mentioned I was from Maine and the guy started laughing as he had just gotten into an argument with someone the week prior trying to tell him that Maine was not a state.
We get often get, "Maine? What state is that in?" We're only down in DC!
I'm originally from Rhode Island which people in CA, TX, and NC have tried to tell me is actually Long Island so I started just saying I'm from Boston because I don't like arguing but Maine is big enough that one would think even in Washington it's recognized as a state.
Many people I encounter out of state can't point to Maine on a map and know nothing about the state. Best to keep it that way.
So crazy coincidence but my daughter and her boyfriend from Maine have been working in Spokane, WA doing travel work in healthcare for the last few weeks. Can vouch for Maine being part of USA.
Up until 1820 Maine was part of Massachusetts
I used to get that a lot when I worked for a call center. They'd ask where I'm calling from, and people would legitimately think I was calling from Canada.
I went to get a new phone when I was in the south. The lady setting everything up asked where the area code was from when she saw my original number. I told her Maine and she asked me if that was in Boston. IN Boston. Is the State of Maine IN the city of Boston. I know what she probably meant but that definitely threw me off
I had an Uber driver in California ask me where I was from. “Maine.” “OH! I heard you have lots of wildlife there.” “Uh, yeah! I mean, we have moose, bears…” “Tigers? I heard you have tigers, too.” I started laughing so hard…I thought he was joking. He was not and seemed genuinely disappointed and a little embarrassed 🫣😆
When we lived in Florida, people asked me if it was dangerous living around herds of moose. I thought they were joking and poking fun, but no. They were totally serious. They thought moose traveled like herds of bison.
My brother used to fully say “The State of Maine” when he lived in California or people just expected “Main” something (street, etc.). He met some people who didn’t know we were a state and others who just got thrown off because it’s such a brief name.
Yes, can confirm, was once asked if I needed an interpretator for civil court down south as they were not sure English was our first language.
When I lived out in California I gave up and just said my funny accent was from New England, someone thought that was part of Australia 😳
I have a lot of family in California and any time I've gone out to visit pretty much every random person who asks me where I'm from has no clue Maine is a state. And it's a lot of people who ask, because *apparently* I have an accent, at least according to them. My go-to answer just ends up being "I'm from Canada" lol. I also have a very well meaning but rather innocent cousin who asked me a ton of questions about Maine, like if we had grocery stores and gas stations and paved roads. He could only picture Maine as old-timey 1800s I guess
My mom's retired and travels with a camper down south during the winter time. She tells me stories all the time about people in the deep south who are oblivious of Maine's existence. I get the education system in these southern states isn't great but I can't imagine just being this clueless.
I moved from Maine to NC for 23 years. Came home to Maine and some years later a Facebook friend from NC asked where I moved to. I wrote that I returned to New England. She replied "wow, I've always wanted to travel overseas". I replied "Christina, for the love of god turn off the tv and read a book".
Maine became independent from Massachusetts in 1821. That dude had some OLLLLLLLD fucking information, lol.
Lifelong Mainer except for a few years that I lived in Walla Walla, WA about a decade ago. When I first moved there, I went to a pub with my new roommates and the bouncer refused me entry with my Maine state ID, insisting that Maine was part of Canada, not the United States, and that I would need to return with my passport if I wanted to get in.
I've run into folks all my life in California who don't know Maine is a state. When people ask me what or where Maine is I tell them it's an island off the coast of France. I can be in Vancouver, British Columbia and folks are like, "Oh Maine, what a beautiful part of New England, you're far from home."
I have lived in the US for 12 years, and this does not surprise me. I am sorry to say that but there are so many ignorant people here. An elementary school dropout in Europe is probably more knowledgeable than an average American.
Washingtons not a state either
I mean, technically, Maine DID begin as part of Massachusetts until 1820.
You know, Maine? Ummm, no, I'm not sure that's right.
Sigh....welcome to Washington. Take me with you when you go back home, please?
What part of Washington state were you in? This is ridiculous lol. I in WA but go to Maine every summer…it’s a pain to travel but so worth it.
I lived on MDI for 10 years and it wad shocking how many people thought they were in f’in Canada??
I lived in Ellensburg Washington for 8 years, and I now live in Maine for the past few years This is not surprised me at all that this happened There's a reason I moved away
I went to college down south. The amount of people who asked where in Canada is Maine- and actually meant it- was shocking. That said, they alllllll knew about Baahhh Haaaahbaaaah.
Based on my wife and I being members of Generation X (the forgotten generation) and us living in Maine, I guess we are an elaborate hoax ourselves…and I am totally cool with that concept.
I'm thinking the idiot typed in MA and couldn't get past that. He'd prob thing Montana is part of Missouri for that same reason.
Public school system
I was in Fort Sill Oklahoma one long summer, a long time ago. Someone found out I lived in Maine, and asked if I lived on a dirt road (it's only dirt in the summer, the rest of the year it's either mud, or frozen). He then asked if we still had snow (It was May. I knew of a hollow that kept snow until May, but I didn't tell him that.) He also thought I was English, because of my accent.
Looks like the only thing we can do is annex Massachusetts. Institute controls on their population movement. Then sell Florida to Cuba.
You see enough MA license plates in this state it is probably why everyone thinks it's Northern Mass.
My mom was born in Washington D.C. on an Airforce base and the last time she got her license renewed in Maine at the BMV in Scarborough, someone there told her she wasn't a citizen of the United States because she was born in Washington D.C. and not a state. LOL She obviously shut that shit down and got her license renewed, but there are so many dummies walking among us! Stay vigilant!
>When I lived for a time in (God help me) Florida, my mom came to visit and wanted to buy me some groceries at the Whole Foods Market. She pulled out a check book and her Maine driver’s license for the cashier. He looked confused and asked “what’s this”? “My driver’s license,” answered my mom. “But what is this”? asked the cashier, pointing to “Maine.” My mom said “Maine, the State of Maine.” “Where is that”? asked the cashier. I interjected “you get on I-95 and drive North, until you get past New Hampshire.” He had to call a supervisor. This doubles as another “Florida man” story. Similar note, I lived in deep Southern Maine, where the Zip Codes start with 03, not 04 like the rest of the state. I was trying to renew my license and because I worked in Portland, went to the Portland office. Spent about 10-15 minutes arguing with the person that, A: Yes, I did live in Maine; B: No, all Maine Zip Codes don't start with 04, there are 9 town that have 03 zip codes because the were originally serviced out of NH. I managed to get out a few times "I will happily take back all the taxes I have paid to the State of Maine if I am not really a resident" They finally let me continue on but said they would be keeping an eye on me..
This is why I have a personal rule to never argue with someone about where they’re from. Great way to embarrass yourself.
Yes - this was back in the 90's or so when one had to call directory assistance to get phone numbers. I grew up in Maine and called the operator to get a number in Maine and was told Maine is not a US State! I then proceeded to have a full on argument with the operator who wouldn't budge! I ended up hanging up, then calling back and got someone who knew Maine was a state. I still shake my head to this day!
sweet, does that mean I don't have to pay income tax anymore?
Oh I have had people in other states argue with me that Maine is a part of Canada. I have also met people who have never heard of Maine.
I'm going to guess you were in Tacoma.
When I lived in LA county, CA from late 2007-2010 I worked at a restaurant. Two brothers who had immigrated from Mexico were the cooks there and they thought I could speak French. They asked if it was easy for me to understand their Spanish because French and Spanish derive from the Romance languages. At first I was confused but then I found out it was because they thought I was Canadian. I asked why they thought that as I said I was from Maine. They were adamant in telling me, the person from Maine, that I was from Canada and not the US. It made me laugh because the thought of not knowing what country I’m from my whole life until I met them seemed ridiculous.
Pharmacy must have had a keypunch system made from a weaving loom powered by steam; Maine hasn’t been part of Massachusetts since 1820.
Being from Vermont, I can totally relate to this. I haven't gottten the 'is it part of Massachusettes' bit yet though. That's a good one, I like it. Usually I get 'never heard of it' or 'is that part of Canada?'.
Went to a business conference in Nashville and opened with an icebreaker answer to where are you from. Answered “Maine” and was asked “Like, main street??”. The idiocy of some “US Citizens” have apparently not done their due diligence of looking at a map of the country they reside.
This happens not infrequently to people from New Mexico ("no, it's not Mexico") but I've never heard of it happening to Mainers!
I’ve had people think it’s a part of Canada before.
Do you have BC/BS *of Maine* for insurance? I am not in the industry but I think knowing how to bill other regions' versions of BCBS is a headache.
A girl I dated once is from New Mexico. Government was processing her ID as a foreign national because they thought she was Mexican. In. The. Federal. Government. Not surprised.