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Old Feb 13, 2009 | 6:56 pm
  #30  
Richelieu
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  1. Don't hire people whose motivation is 9/11 related, as these people would need additional training and examination to make sure they are not driven by a sense of revenge and don't have xenophobic bias. There is very little difference between "I wan't to make sure it doesn't happen again" and "I want to make sure they don't do this to us again", and screening the workforce to weed out the latter line of reasoning would be costly.
  2. Don't hire people unable to communicate in a foreign language, so you can have team able to articulate what they want to people who don't speak English, or who won't understand [when you understand a silly order in a foreign language, your first guess is to blame your ability to understand, not to assume the person speaking to you is issuing stupid orders]). This of course is especially important at international airports...
  3. Only hire people who know that apologizing for the inconvenience they cause won't cancel the effect of all the Viagra they order over the Internet... Another poster pointed out that they don't want security to be lessened by people trying to be too customer service oriented --- while I agree that sensible procedure shouldn't be lifted if the passengers is "hostile", there is a big difference between "Lift your arms!" and "I'm sorry Sir, but I'll have to pat you down, please lift your arm". It shows that you're conscious that you're inconveniencing the passenger and lessens the insult of suspecting them of being terrorists.
  4. Hire top exec with enough sense to design meaningful procedures (there are some guys at TSA who claim that they are world-class security professionals, those are NOT the one to look for).
  5. Train people to identify everyday objects. It is painful to be asked what a battery is, or to be asked to "turn on" a keyboard, or to be told that solid objects are liquids as some have reported.
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