Originally Posted by GUWonder
I mentioned in passing that there were indecent aspects to the job, and you created a beast by baiting discussion about that.
To me, what
is indecent is the jumping on a negative item in one post and then using that to bait a discussion to paint a picture to your heart's content.
You asked for it, you got it.
A positive report is going to invite some "balance" .... in the same way a critical report invites apologists.
I remember a distraught adult daughter escorting her mother on a trip. When we asked if there was anything we needed to be aware of before we began screening, she mentioned that her mom was senile and just the mention of this upset her. She began crying. So I pulled her aside out of public view as much as practical and sat with her a while. She continued to cry but eventually regained control. During that time, she talked a lot and just got things out in the open. We spent quite a bit of time together. I guess speaking about personal things with a total stranger was what she needed. She thanked me for listening. I guess others in here would criticize me for spending so much time with someone who wasn't being screened.
Another time, there was a mom worried about her autistic child and how he would respond to the screening process. I got one of our elderly screeners who had a very deep yet soft grandfatherly voice and a grandfatherly personality to match to screen the young boy. They hit it off famously. The mom was thankful that we were so courteous and had spent an extra effort to make her son comfortable.
Then there was the time when a lady couldn't locate her necklace. We looked in all the usual places where things like that fall and were unable to find it. She was particularly upset because it was a gift from her daughter. I asked her to give me her flight information just in case someone found it and turned it in to us. Sure enough, someone pointed out that there was something sticking out underneath the x-ray machine. I was able to take it to the gate, find the lady and return it to her. She teared up in appreciation, hugged me and gave me a kiss on the cheek.
There was the soldier who was wounded in Iraq who had been medically released from Brook Army Medical Center. He wasn't what I'd call moody, but he wasn't exactly Mr. Personality. And no wonder, his legs were amputated and he still bore a lot of the scars from his wounds. Still, as he was wheeled out of the checkpoint, each screener along the way extended a hand and said thanks. You could see the change in his expression, but I imagine he was still dealing with a lot of pain.
Yeah, a lot of what we do is indecent.