Originally Posted by myrgirl

That's the first time it had happened to me and it sucked. Really. Sucked. I felt like crap. I love my job because I believe in the point behind it but I do believe reform is badly needed. I will do my job because if I don't, someone else will and they may not have the compassion and caring that I have. I don't want to make people cry and usually I don't. My day is usually full of laughing and joking with the passengers, making them feel wanted and important and trying to make the checkpoint experience as good as it possibly can be. I don't pass judgement on people, and I certainly don't retaliate. Of course, when I get those who just want to be left alone, I honor their wishes. I want traveling through our checkpoint to just be a minor blip on their radar of the day, not a traumatic experience to be prepared for. Some of the stories I read on here sadden me greatly and some make me downright angry. That's why this particular screening bothered me so much. Screening a colostomy bag is something that has to be done and I used as much decorum and tact as I use in everything I do. So I hated seeing her distressed over this. That why I posed my original question. You folks on this board travel way more than I have or ever hope to. Based on the confines of what the SOP says we have to do, how do we find the line to deal with a sensitive screening like this without distressing the passenger? Is there anything I could have said or done, that allowed me to still do my job, but yet made the screening easier for her?