Originally Posted by
exwannabe
In the 8+ years of this zoo I have come to the following conclusions.
The TSA front line is actually fairly good wrt customer interactions. Despite the stories I hear in this forum, almost all my interactions have ranged from "efficient" to "friendly". They significantly improved after the second year or so, and have been steady since,
The TSA policies are a friggin joke. I seriously doubt they could be worse if they tried.
(And no, I do not take a Fed. pay-check)
I would agree in part.
The TSA policies are certainly a joke - nothing but a mixture of locking the barn door after the horse has fled and stupidity for stupidity's sake.
I also agree that the majority of TSA personnel are OK at interpersonal interactions; however, that is only because the majority of the populace as a whole is OK at this. The issue with TSA personnel is that after 8 years there still seems to be absolutely no interest by TSA in addressing the problems caused by rogue employees. Those with "Barney Fife syndrome", those who are rude and the utterly incompetent are left in place with no apparent attempt to train, counsel or replace them. Worst of all, the decent TSA employees who ignore such behavior (and, through their inaction endorse it) allow the bad apples to ruin the reputation of all TSA employees.
Most of my interactions with TSA are relatively painless, but I travel enough that I encounter a rude, officious TSA person every couple of months. Never have I seen another TSA employee intervene to try to defuse the situation. This tells me that the culture at TSA is "us against them" as clearly as if I read it in their SOP. Therefore; I conclude that TSA has a problem with BOTH policies and personnel.