Originally Posted by
InkUnderNails
Woo Hoo! I got to keep my screwdriver bits. However, I got to thinking about this. I could have replaced the whole lot at Home Depot or Lowe's for about $25. That was a whole bunch of risk for very little gain. I should have just let it go, but I do not tolerate fools easily. It is a serious character flaw. I guess there were at least two idiots in that group and one of them was not the FSM.
I wouldn't think of it this way.
You made a screener look bad in front of management and made management look bad in front of the public; both are wins. Management threw screener a bone by letting him do a retaliatory search, but that just makes them more petty. I hope more people saw it. And you're here to write about it.
You may have saved some future traveler from having a permitted item confiscated. Maybe a more valuable item. Maybe someone who needed the tools for their trip and would not be able to drive by a Home Depot and get replacements because of remote location, time constraints, etc.
Fools and even non-fools working for TSA have very little real power, and most of their real power is the ability to force passengers to miss a flight. Frequent travelers can often mitigate that power by either allowing extra time or just managing the missed flight, which may not be bad for an experienced traveler who isn't on a tight schedule.