Originally Posted by
SATTSO
I might have not explained something eariler, so I'll try to correct that now. Regarding things left at checkpoints, some times passengers tell us, sometimes they do not. There have been many times where something was left behind and people just march around it. They see it, cause they move out if the way, but seemingly care less that it was left.
And how is a passenger supposed to know that an item was left behind? Maybe the owner got sent back through the screening line again and will be along in a couple of people to claim their item. Maybe the owner was pulled aside for secondary screening, or requested a private screening, and didn't know that they should ask to have their belongings brought along with them.
There have been plenty of stories here where passengers have attempted to offer helpful suggestions to TSOs on duty, only to be told to mind their own business and move along, lest one be charged with "interfering with the screening process". Granted, not every helpful suggestion is actually helpful. But when a 6'4", 220lb. man wearing a uniform and an official-looking badge barks an order at you and threatens you with vaguely unspecified consequences if you don't comply ... you learn pretty quickly to mind your own business.
You want to train passengers to look out for others? Then train TSOs not to bark at passengers who are doing precisely that. You get the behavior you reward.