CATSA Screener, You wrote:
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">You'd likely be politely told to mind your own business, or perhaps rudely. In between pushes there really isn't anything to do besides stand around. Usually we get a ten-twenty minute push every hour or so and then they trickle in the rest of the time. At my checkpoint we have two lanes. We try to keep five or six people on during lulls and then during pushes when we have eight or more screeners available we can open the second lane. And we can't open the second lane until a supervisor tells us to. </font>
I understand that in a lot of airports, especially ones that are not hubs, there are lulls/slow times/whatever, and then the rushes.. And I can understand why there may not be much to do when there are no pax coming through. But, during a rush, they were to be just standing around (I.E. they call for Female whatever, and the female screener person decides to take 5 minutes and finish her coffee before coming over. Yes, I saw it happen) what recourse do pax have to make sure they get "helped" in a timely manner? In some cases, 5 minutes can make or break your flight.
Chris