Character Analysis
Even though Steinbeck heeded the Canadian officials' advice to turn around to avoid a lot of grief when reentering the U.S. with a dog—so, yeah, he never left the U.S.—this one U.S. customs official decides to give him a lot of grief. Even when Steinbeck manages to convince him he never left the country, the official gives him the business about a phone number he had written in the passport (mental note: don't write random notes to yourself in your passport—apparently it's illegal).
Steinbeck is sure that finding this infraction satisfied something for the officer: "I'm sure he felt better having found that telephone number. Suppose after all his trouble he hadn't found me guilty of anything, and on a slow day" (2.4.44). Seems like Steinbeck thought far less of the U.S. official and his motives than his Canadian counterparts.