Sorry to say Katy it was no joke, also on the same trip the guys from the factory I was visiting wanted to take me early morning fishing, they insisted I would need a licence and I duly went to K-mart, wallmart, JC penny etc going to their sports dept trying to get said licence. Two stores only had 7 day licences and would not sell me them because I only wanted it for one day!!, I think it was k-mart who had a one day licence and after filling in the form detailing my height weight, distinguishing marks (I am serious for a one day fishing licence) she then refused to sell it to me after I gave her my address as follows house no, street, Bristol ENGLAND postcode, she said sorry sir I cant accept that zip code, after a few attempts to explain I gave up and broke the law by fishing with no licence!!. I could however have bought a pump action shotgun over the counter and they did a lovely line in 8x XL shirts.
As for stereotyping well dont know how well travelled you are in the states Katy, and I admit that my experience is limited to the eastern states and great lakes area I but found these types of experiences even in NYC. The US has to be the most insular places I have ever been, a one hour news slot will contain 55mins of local drivel and adverts 4 mins of national (USA) news and 1 minute of international news if you are lucky. Oh and did I get pissed with everyone thinking I was an Australian. Could go on but I want to watch the Ryder Cup Highlights
