my home airport is IAD as well, and they always mention I should take off my shoes, but i don't because I know they are okay...and I pass everytime.

Well i was transfering from international to domestic in the atlanta airport (after that 20 hour flight from jo'burg...ugh) and they guy said i had to put my food on this 'detector' to see if my shoe had metal in it....the dedector buzzed so i had to take off my shoes...this made no sense to me because i'm 100% positive my shoe has no metal in it. I swear i think that thing buzzes for everyone, regardless if there is metal in your shoe or not.

what got me irritated was the TSA guy shouting out "okay, who's the next person that has to go back to high school to understand what metal is" because some people had forgotten to take change, etc out of their pockets....it was mainly the tone of his voice....everyone is stressed, there is no need for that guy to act in the condensending manor that he was..