Originally Posted by
clrankin
Since when have all flight crew members been required to obtain their degree in psychology or human behavior? These people are potentially as clueless as the TSA BDOs when it comes to divining someone's intents.
I'm not willing to give a free pass to anyone at any time under the guise of "security" so long as an inconvenience is created, someone is embarrased, or an outright mistake is made-- be that a TSA thug, flight crew, or Dion Warwick or any one of her psychic friends.
"Security" and "suspicion" have become the new "think of the children" catchphrases. Any time someone uses them in the context of making me "safer" these days that gagging reflex in my body starts up. What's being done here, there, and everywhere isn't making transportation even the slightest bit safer.
I agree with you over that one, but if you come in contact with 10,000 people over the course of several years, you get a pretty good idea of that is 'normal' behavior for that time and place. Pretty much anything outside of the 'normal' range of behaviors sticks out like a sore thumb. We've seen irrational panic set in (i.e. incapacitating honey fumes, lite-brite nearly causing a city to shut down, etc.) over pretty innocuous situations.
I seriously doubt that forty years ago anyone dealing with some of these 'over abundance of caution episodes' would have done more than look at them, declare them safe, then tell their spouse about the funny thing that happened at work today. I put the blame for this at the feet of those who think that all rules should be equally applied regardless of the situation or people involved. They've successfully changed the mindset of many in this country and not for the better.