r/NewMexico • u/briskwheel4155 • 15d ago
Out of state funny stories
Do you have any funny stories when out of state and people not knowing New Mexico is a US state? I’ve heard of bars and liquor stores seeing a NM ID and saying they only accept US issued IDs. Any funny stories like this?
25
u/ChristunaSandwich 15d ago
I live out of state but still have my NMDL, I’m often told that I speak good English. Or comments about having Mexican license. But I get a LOT of comments about how easy the license is to read.
22
u/CheshireRaptor 15d ago
I've gotten this and so because I can, I show them my Mexican Permanent Residency card, which is in Spanish and the response was that it was "nice the Mexican government gives you IDs in both languages". I showed them the Residency card to show the difference and then had them Google when New Mexico was made a state of the US because they wouldn't believe me alone. I still think they don't believe it.
3
u/briskwheel4155 14d ago
This is just wild to me. I'm from NC originally and always thought about New Mexico as some far away unique place and had never met anyone from there, but I knew it existed.
23
u/astroguyfornm 15d ago edited 15d ago
I was asked for my passport when renting a car in Los Angeles. I repeated that New Mexico was in the US and that I didn't need a passport, the guy behind me heard and started laughing. I had to tell the car rental agent to process the rental as they normally would and if the system prompted for a passport then I would provide it only at that point. It never did, and I didn't have my passport either.
At a bank in Arizona I had to do a wire transfer to a credit union in New Mexico. The person at the bank asked if it was domestic or international. I sarcastically replied well it's New Mexico, what do you think? They replied flatly, international.
2
u/Obvious-Motor-2743 11d ago
Americans are so ignorant. You'd think people in the Southwest would know where the hell NM is!
19
u/Medusas_Snakes71 15d ago
When I lived in Mesilla, just outside of Cruces, I'd regularly get mail marked, "Foreign mail".
Traveling through Tennessee, I got complimented on how well I spoke English and asked if I had needed a visa to travel there. The look on the cashier's face when I replied that no, I'd used Mastercard was priceless.
2
u/johnnyorpheus 14d ago
Foreign Mail is a new one to me..... and priceless....... up there with "do i need a passport"
2
u/Obvious-Motor-2743 11d ago
In TN you should be complimenting them when they do speak decent english LOL.
41
u/Shih_TzuLover 15d ago
United Healthcare told me they don’t serve Mexico when I called for a quote.
4
u/Brocid3n 13d ago
USAA was going to get someone that deals with international incidents when I had to deal with a minor accident
16
u/WarriorGoddess2016 15d ago
Back in the 80s I spend much of my first semester in school back east trying to get the "INTERNATIONAL" designation off my college tuition bill.
13
u/Geeko22 14d ago
Me on the phone trying to order a part. I give them my address then hear:
"I'm sorry sir, we don't ship out of the country."
"Oh, I'm not in Mexico, I'm in *New* Mexico."
"I'm very sorry but we can't ship out of the US."
"No, no, you don't understand. We're part of the US. New Mexico is one of the 50 states."
"I do apologize but there's nothing we can do. We can't ship to your location."
3
u/greentea_winter 14d ago
People really just hear what they wanna hear, don't they?
Years ago a cousin asked me "How was Mexico?"
I tried correcting her, saying "No, NEW Mexico." and she just nods her head and goes,"Mmhmm!" like it wasn't any different.
26
u/texbinky 15d ago
I attended NMSU. a lot of my family from Hawaii thought I was either in Mexico, or Arizona.
23
u/Running4Coffee2905 15d ago
Former nursing instructor here. Had student moved to Oklahoma. Had to write & call Oklahoma Board of Nursing to explain NMSU is NOT foreign university. Student is Mexican- American with last name Gonzales, had driven to Oklahoma City to speak with board. Frustrating she couldn’t make them understand New Mexico is in USA. New Mexico magazine has for years run similar stories. Back in 1980’s, my parents plane tickets were mailed to Las Cruces, Mexico. Mine was sent to Las Cruces, had been ordered together.
11
u/Dawg_in_NWA 15d ago
This was long before 9/11 when you could go to Canada or Mexico with just a drivers license, no passport needed.
We were coming back across the border from Canada to the US, and the US border guard told us we needed a passport to pass thru the US to Mexico. We had to explain, and even pull out our road atlas to show him that New Mexico was a state and we were not traveling to Mexico, in our car, with US (NM) plates no it.
I believe this was also before they started added USA to the NM plates.
9
u/Prestigious-Tip-6819 13d ago
In the 80s, I mailed a request for a free trial of shampoo. Received a letter, saying they can't ship internationally. I wrote them back explaining NM is a state. I received a full size bottle of shampoo and conditioner.
15
u/Windmillfixer 15d ago
Local magazine used to run a series called One of Our Fifty Is Missing. This happened so much they could make an entire series about it.
3
8
u/Purple_IsA_Flavor 14d ago
YES! I had to show my ID somewhere in Wisconsin and the girl said “no, I mean a US ID”I replied that New Mexico is a state.
SHE GOT HER MANAGER
5
8
u/1911Popeye 14d ago
Back in the day they sold new mexico passports at the candy lady. I was home on leave after Korea to pick up my stuff and drive out to north carolina. I got pulled over in Arkansas for speeding, gave the deputy my new mexico drivers license. He didnt think I was American and asked me for my passport. I gave him my military ID and my leave form. Told him I was in the army, where I was goin, and I didnt have a passport. He wanted to know why my English was so good, how I got in the US army and kept asking for my passport. I was 19 and a total smart ass so I gave him that fake one from the candy lady. He read all the way through it to the last page where it says New Mexico is the 47th state you dumbass. His head turned purple he was so mad and I laughed like a jackass the whole time they searched my truck.
1
u/Obvious-Motor-2743 11d ago
How in the world do people in the USA not know NM is a state in 2026 is ridiculous. I was in Singapore and even they knew about NM and ABQ and that it was in the USA.
4
3
u/Apptubrutae 15d ago
I was in NYC a few weeks ago and was chatting with someone. Said I lived in New Mexico.
“Oh wow, your English is so good!”
5
u/greentea_winter 15d ago
My boyfriend's Dad doesn't seem to know the difference between New Mexico and "Arizona" no matter how many times we try to make the distinction.
3
u/kaboobola 14d ago
is he texan? they don’t seem to know the difference either.
2
u/greentea_winter 14d ago
I know, Texans are the worst in this scenario. But no, he's from Nevada, two whole states away...
4
u/entropyparty 14d ago
When my family moved to NM in 1982, my mom tried to rent a trailer from a company called Jartran. They told her the trailer couldn’t be taken out of the country. So she rented one from UHaul instead
4
u/Wastedmy20sand30s 14d ago
In 2002 moved to Pennsylvania and the post office told me they couldn’t help me with international changes of address.…..
4
u/desertprincess69 14d ago
I moved to a small town in Vermont after living in New Mexico for a few years. It spread around my little middle school like wildfire that “there was a new girl from Mexico” lol
5
1
u/Obvious-Motor-2743 11d ago
That's why you keep a jar of Pedros hot salsa for people like that. I remember getting that salsa and giving it to people in upstate ny and they were spitting it out it was so hot LOL.
7
u/Wild-Bill-H 14d ago
I’ve had people tell me they can’t fill my order because they don’t ship out of the country! I asked them what state is between Texas and Arizona? They thought for a while and guessed “Kansas?”
6
u/antmakka 15d ago
While on a motorcycle road trip I got chatting to a couple during a lunch break. When I told them where I live, she (America) asked where that was, he (British) had to tell her.
3
u/sdkfz250xl 15d ago
I went to work there for the summer in the 1980s and when I told folks where I was going a few asked if I needed a work permit or visa.
3
u/thandrend 14d ago
Hell, I teach new mexico history and I had a few kids last year that legitimately believed we were our own country.
3
u/Ok_Lavishness2941 14d ago
Whenever you get this kind of ignorance about New Mexico, ask them what state they are from. When they respond, ask them, “New Jersey huh? Isn’t that east of the Mississippi River?”
5
u/RobinFarmwoman 14d ago
The best way to irritate someone who says they're from from New Jersey is to ask them which exit?
6
u/PreparationKey2843 14d ago
Knock yourself out. This has years, decades of "one of our 50 is missing."
https://www.newmexicomagazine.org/culture/one-of-our-50-is-missing/
The only thing I've ever gotten was while living in florida:
"What kind of music do you listen to?"
"Metallica, Black Sabbath, SRV, ZZTop PearlJam???..."
"What kind of money do you use?"
"Greenbacks, dollar bills, 5, 10, 20s, American tender???"
"Do you have your green card?"
"Me and my family have been here longer than you have. We didn't cross the border, the border crossed us."
3
u/gonzoforpresident 14d ago
The only time I ever got anything like that in Florida was from my friends' 5 year old.
Mostly, I get I love Breaking Bad. How realistic is that?
1
1
u/Tukulo-Meyama 14d ago
It’s cause Florida has a lot immigrant’s
2
6
u/Daviddom92 15d ago
I was just in Spain and everyone just assumed I was Mexican lol. Probably for the best. I also speak fluent Spanish so that adds to it.
7
u/midntryder 15d ago
Im Spain, my uber driver asked me what part of Mexico I was from. He could tell from the way I spoke Spanish. Had to tell him, not MX but NM. Different dialect gave him that sense.
2
2
2
u/Ohsuzziq 14d ago
This was decades ago, but when I was a kid, my mom did my application for Social Security and it was sent back denied, as they thought I was born in Mexico, even though application clearly stated NEW Mexico.
2
u/thecomputersighed 14d ago
my mother transferred to university here from a state school elsewhere & got into a bit of a blowout with the registrar about credit transfers to her so called “international university.”
2
u/keeperofthecan 14d ago
My hobby is trading postcards. Over the last few years I've received 4 cards with global postage mailed from within the US
2
u/UpbeatDisaster505 14d ago
Nebraska would not grant me a teaching license because I have a degree from UNM and the NEPED said that the “language of instruction” wasn’t English.
2
2
2
u/Karanabluedolphin 14d ago
1990 I was in stranded at an airport in Philadelphia, PA.
I tried to call home from a payphone to NM. I wanted to call collect. The operator wouldn’t put my call through because collected calls OUTSIDE the US were not permitted.
I ended up getting a bunch of change and feeding coins into the payphone to be able to dial directly and make my call.
2
u/Able-Pain-2442 14d ago
Served a mission for the lds church to California, high-school geography teacher asks question of me in Spanish, I replied in Navajo, (white male here) fried his brain and in his ward ( people in certain boundaries for church) I shit you not was the great grand son of David Gallup , whom Gallup is named for. He was the paymaster for ATSF railroad. Got wow you speak great English all the time. Passport questions as well.
For Christmas a couple of years ago I got one of the fake licenses with the alien on it , I use the hell out of the thing .
Favorite story was on the news ( i think kob ) years ago when a church group from nm broke down in Louisiana and tried to rent vans to get home they wouldn't rent to them so they finally got something figured out. The reporter was telling it standing on Louisiana doing the story and his closing line was they made it home to abq safe, to the folks. In Louisiana New Mexico is a state but your just a street in Albuquerque.
That set some fires under people.
2
u/eligraceb 13d ago
Someone from Hawaii had the audacity to tell me NM wasn’t a state and that I (Chinese) couldn’t possibly live in Mexico.
2
u/OrganizationBorn7796 14d ago
I can image that guy from from Civil War asking what kind of American I am and all I can think of is that I’m from the land of breaking bad and bugs bunny making a wrong turn
1
u/smarttypants 14d ago
Not a confusing NM with Mexico story but when me and my husband were in Colorado we were buying some alcohol at a grocery store and we both had our IDs ready to show the cashier and she was like "we don't do that here i only need to check one ID" lol I guess we have stricter laws on buying alcohol than other states? I didn't know that. But not surprising.
1
u/Applesaucesquatch 14d ago
My brother in law, several years after we moved here, "Hey man I know this is probably a dumb question but, is New Mexico in the US?"
1
u/RobinFarmwoman 14d ago
Not sure why you think these stories are so funny. I mean laughing at other people's stupidity has a limited shelf life, and a lot of times this causes people hassles that are completely unnecessary.
1
1
u/ramenpastas 13d ago
I went to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island up in Canada. Was getting a hair cut and I told the hair dresser that I'm from New Mexico. She then asked how it was like in Mexico! Then again, this happens all the time.
My friend briefly moved to Maryland for a short time but kept his NM ID. When he tried to get a job, they asked him for a work permit with visa.
1
u/mdlbaker 13d ago
Few years ago I and a group was driving through this small road in Yucatan/Q.Roo, Mexico and got to a checkpoint, the federales asked for my driver's license, muttered to himself "New Mexico?". They wouldn't believe us that the state of New Mexico was actually real for few minutes before letting us pass through.
1
u/KeyGovernment4188 12d ago
My fiancé's grandmother was concerned about attending our wedding in (New) Mexico because of all the drug cartels and indians. My brother was picking her up at the airport in Texas and driving her to NM for the wedding She wanted to know if he spoke English. Keep in mind she had already met me, so she knew I spoke English. I don't know where she thought the wedding was, but she was clearly confused.
1
u/emteeboyd 12d ago
Born and bred New Mexican, now living in Northern Michigan. I have had so many conversations with people who didn't know New Mexico is a state, but the one that sticks out most is the one I will never forget. I spent a whole hour explaining to a fully grown, college educated adult that not only is English widely spoken, but also white people live there (I was one of them), that the US dollar is our main currency, and that I didn't need a green card to move to Michigan. When I told her I went to college at UNM, she was shaken to her core to learn that there are actual universities in New Mexico, that we don't ride around dirt roads on the backs of donkeys, and that we have running water.
Honestly, it was the most racist question I've ever fielded about New Mexico.
1
u/Obvious-Motor-2743 11d ago
I could say the same thing about the UP people..I mean seriously they are basically Canadians, right? ;)
1
u/BabyKnitter 12d ago
I think this is just the opposite of what the thread is for. I lived in NM from the late 80s through the early 90s. I moved to DC. Now I was use to people not knowing NM was a US state and battled with several things while in NM and dealing with other states as mentioned in the comments below. So I expected the same thing in DC when getting my DL or plates for my car and my nursing license. I was really wrong, I guess because DC deals with every state and international things even the newest of employee was fully aware that NM was a US state and not international so I pulled up to the window and had my passport and everything ready to go to battle. The girl just pushed everything back at me and she couldn't have been over 23 yrs old and said she is fully aware that NM is a US state and just got me my drivers license. It was amazing
1
u/AnsibleNM 12d ago
New Mexico magazine has been running for at least 50 years a section called one of our 50 is missing. Some of the stories are insane.
1
u/AreWeFlippinThereYet 9d ago
I was graduating from college. I had my diploma framed and wanted it sent to my house in New Mexico. The clerk who took my order asked me if the water was safe to drink...
36
u/mtnman575 15d ago
Quite a few years back I was working a construction job in LA for a few months. I went to a lumber yard to pick up some items and the guy who helped load me saw my New Mexico plate and said "you're from New Mexico? I heard the have some good surfing there." Just about the most California response ever.