Originally Posted by
bbbacres
My thought is just smile at life and move on. We are all in on this together. The whole TSA thing is questionable as to how much it helps our safety. My feeling is we should either go for an Israeli type system, or back off to pre 9/11 levels. All this hell travellers face and not one true terrorist attack has been discovered. But until it finally resolves itself, I still take my hat off to these $12 per hour employees who move us through the lines. They aren't Phd candidates, but they work hard. Everyone of us has a story of some illogical or foolish conduct on their part.
In your case, for example, you could make a stink, write letters, even cost some guy his job or get him disciplined. But why. Laugh and move on. Again, we are all in this together. I always tell the ones that ARE nice, "thanks for doing this job."
I make the same distinctions at the checkpoint that I do with every other encounter in life.
There are clumsy, inept and clueless people everywhere.
There are people who are distracted for what might be terrible reasons (family member in hospital, etc.) every day.
There are people who are frustrated, beaten down people trying to tough out a thankless job (cold-calling, complaint service, enforcing asinine policies).
Then there are people who are nasty or bullying, people who take out their frustrations on others when and where they can get away with it (parent beating kids, husband beating wife, cop assaulting unresisting suspect) or who frankly enjoy bullying and demeaning others.
There is never an excuse for nastiness or bullying - I don't care how upset you are, how thankless and unrewarding your job is. No excuse. None. People who engage in these types of behaviors have no excuse and deserve nothing but contempt.
Some TSOs (and other people) fall in the former categories; too many TSOs fit the latter description. One rotten TSO, supported by 2-3 fellow TSOs who support his/her behavior by not calling him out on it or complaining, can poison the experience of dozens and dozens of travelers in a single day. I feel both pity
and contempt for such people.
Perhaps your advice should also be directed at checkpoint bullies who delight in humiliating a mastectomy survivor or karate-chopping a guy in the groin because they don't like his looks or shouting at an elderly, hearing-impaired vet who can't get his shoes off fast enough - ask them to laugh and move along.