I had an oddly not-too-unpleasant experience departing a CO flight over the Labor Day weekend. The screening area was very quiet with few people around. The guy suggested that I remove my shoes, and I told them that I didn't want doing that. I did not set off the metal detectory. He of course called for "male assist" and when the the other guy came over he asked what the matter was -- "shoes" was the answer. The guy doing the screening asked me why I didn't want to take my shoes off, and I just said that I didn't feel comfortable doing it. So all he did was swab my shoes -- I didn't have to take them off. I still got the full treatment otherwise, but at least I kept my shoes on.

The screenes were even more or less polite about the whole thing.