[USMA:33319] Re: Where are you from?

[Daniel]

Yes I do.  When I purchased a new electric range I asked the sales rep if the digital thermostat could be set to Celsius.  After saying that she had no idea she asked if I was from Europe.  When I told her I was not and have lived in Florida my entire life she just looked at me like I was a 'weirdo' set on making her day difficult.  I had to check the owners manual to find out if I could set it to Celsius. Maybe you should have told her you are an amateur chef and that you use metric because good food made the right way has to be done in metric.  That includes using a balance instead of cups.  It is like chemistry, if you don't mix the chemicals correctly you produce an inferior product.  This way instead of you feeling like the weirdo, she would have. I also only give my weight in kilograms when I go to the blood bank.  I've been asked a couple of times where I was from and told that they only use pounds and that the burden is on me to convert for them.   The way I look at it is they need you more then you need them.  They don't like you using kilograms, inform them you will take you blood elsewhere or nowhere at all.  The burden should be on them, and not vice-versa. Generally the only comment I get from others (if any comment at all) is that this is America and to not speak 'foreign'.  I'm honestly surprised at the disgusted looks I've gotten from some people for speaking in metric only, as though I'm somehow 'un-American' for using America's preferred system of measures.  Next time I get new blinds cut to size at home depot I ought to demand them in millimetres and see how they react.  I'm sure they wouldn't like my conversion to inches either since it would be decimal inches and not fractional inches.     I would remind those that look or say such comments that the last time you checked the Constitution granted you the right of free speech and that includes the right to speak in the units you are comfortable with.  It is Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, and if by trying to make you uncomfortable by calling you un-American, it is they who are un-American because they are denying you your Constitutional rights.    Home Depot sells metric fasteners and many of the products they sell contain metric fasteners.  Point that out to them.  As for the blinds, look to see where they were made and then ask the clerk why they are describing a foreign product in inches when the product was made to rounded metric?  Tell them you are using metric to conform to the way the product is made, not to what someone translated it to.  This way you are assured to getting what you will be paying for.  Make sure you bring your own metric only tape measure to measure the blinds with and demonstrate to the clerk how much easier it is to use metric .   You have to keep at least one step ahead of the sheep.     Dan Richard No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.323 / Virus Database: 267.7.10/25 - Release Date: 2005-06-21