I wouldn't rush to judge the Dutch people, or Schiphol for that matter. I flew through AMS twice last week and everything worked out fine. As they were intra-European flights I found them to be quite relaxed in terms of security. The most idiotic measures for our "security and comfort" are the ones required by US regulations. We are talking about a huge difference here. Flights to/from the US have heightened security (and this has been the case long before 9/11) as per US requirements.

In light of all the silly rules, I find that some confusion is understandable. I too get frustrated when security staff is.... well... annoying, and unfortunately it happens quite often. Add a possible cultural difference/language barrier and there you have it.

PS: I was in Frankfurt last week and the waiter came to my table to get the order. The guy asked "what do you want?" and I was almost in disbelief at the rudeness until I saw that he actually said that with a smile (obviously he had limited command of the English language)