Agreed, in that case, it could possibly have saved a little time, and built a bit of rapport with you. I generally find that if you communicate with the passenger, they have a better opinion of the individual, the organization and their trip usually gets off to a better start (bonus, it may help the TSO to find an alarming item quicker).

One consistent challenge for globe hoppers (and the organization), or frequent flyers is the difference in social norms and mores depending upon geography. What passes for acceptable and professional here, is a bit different than what passes for acceptable and professional at LGA or ATL or LAX. Where someone from here may take umbrage at being given a slight brush off or being hurried along, or having someone with a clipped speech pattern (even though it is simply a reflection of what is socially acceptable at that location), others would not. I would love for all TSOs to be the same level of professional 100% of the time, but sadly that does not appear to be realistic, so I shift my hopes to having the organization move to combat any unprofessional behavior as soon as possible.

As Boggie pointed out above, an unprofessional TSO makes a bigger footprint than TSOs that come to work, do the job right, and work with passengers all day long in a courteous and professional manner. One terrible experience with that individual TSO - or worse yet, a series of them, can understandably create resentment in the passenger. After a couple of experiences like that, some folks have a hard time separating the ones that are unprofessional from the ones that are simply trying to help them get through with less challenge.