TSA conversations at the checkpoint
Feb 27, 2007 | 5:10 am
#31
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I don't think that TSA staff should be using foul language within earshot of passengers. The TSA has a bad enough image; throwing f-bombs around while watching the x-ray screen doesn't help. I've noticed this a few times in Atlanta and Houston.
I can have a filthy mouth sometimes, but I would never speak that way around patients.
I can have a filthy mouth sometimes, but I would never speak that way around patients.
Unfortunately, it's a sign of the times. I certainly have heard plenty of passengers use foul language. I'm not saying that this should give any excuses for TSOs who use that language; I'm just pointing out that it happens on both sides of the WTMD.
Feb 27, 2007 | 6:53 am
#32
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 728
A private screening agency, not wanting to piss off its customers (or the customers of the airlines purchasing their service), would have even greater incentives to treat you in such a manner.
Feb 27, 2007 | 6:59 am
#33
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 728
You are paid because of your talent, creativity, etc. Bart and his TSA friends are paid because of their (or their employers') threat of violence for disobedience. It's intellect vs. thuggery. Thus, the cussing at their "clients."
Feb 27, 2007 | 7:06 am
#34
Join Date: Jun 2006
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At the JHM checkpoint, the TSA agents have an aerosol can on a shelf with a handwritten label Scotch-taped to it reading "French Vanilla Fart Remover."
How funny is that!!!
How funny is that!!!
Feb 27, 2007 | 7:22 am
#37
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If someone screams at the crowd lined up to be screened nobody listens. The screams register as background noise. If, as in the UK, someone politely and directly reminds you of the rules as you pass, everyone listens.
Feb 27, 2007 | 10:10 am
#38
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My wife (who had a recent knee replacement) and I came through Tampa on February 6th and as we came to a halt at the end of a very long line a supervisory TSA person, who must have noticed my wife's slight limp, unhooked a maze rope and told us to follow her. She led us right up to the screening machine, made space for us in front of the line, and wished us well. I now am having trouble doing any TSA bashing.
If I had a front of the line pass at the checkpoints, allowing me to save valuable hours, I might feel differently about the Terrorism Support Agency.
Feb 27, 2007 | 10:20 am
#39
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I hope it eventually broke.
Feb 27, 2007 | 12:06 pm
#40
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You sure you weren't at BWI?? About 5 years ago I was catching an empty seat with an Air Freight crew that was doing a reposition of a new plane. They had their aircraft on one of the UA gates because it had just come in a few hours earlier. We showed up at security at around 3:30am. There were 4 TSA employees literally asleep, one snoring. We all walked right around them, the F/E even set off the detector, and not a one woke up. To this day that is my favorite story about this wonderful slice of the government.
Feb 27, 2007 | 2:56 pm
#41
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Posts: 4,953
Probably comes from watching too many episodes of "Cops" and coming to believe that screaming is the way you get others to do your bidding.
That's about the funniest story I've heard about the TSA!
fishintheobx You sure you weren't at BWI?? About 5 years ago I was catching an empty seat with an Air Freight crew that was doing a reposition of a new plane. They had their aircraft on one of the UA gates because it had just come in a few hours earlier. We showed up at security at around 3:30am. There were 4 TSA employees literally asleep, one snoring. We all walked right around them, the F/E even set off the detector, and not a one woke up. To this day that is my favorite story about this wonderful slice of the government.
Feb 27, 2007 | 3:17 pm
#42
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Fascinating (and eyebrow-raising) article here by a reporter who went "under cover" to work for the TSA:
http://tinyurl.com/39apts
One relevant excerpt:
It is 5:45 a.m., less than an hour into my first day on the job, and already I am failing miserably. I had no idea that this pre-dawn hour is considered prime time at the checkpoint where I'm working. My first assignment is to monitor the walk-through metal detector and assess the readiness of passengers to enter the portal. I am to scream the litany of instructions across the barrier so that no passengers will dare approach me wearing their shoes, coats, or other any verboten gear.
"Remove all jackets and footwear," I recite, weakly. "If you have a laptop, take it out of its case and put it in a bin by itself."
I'm working with Carole, a preternaturally calm former social worker, who nonetheless makes her displeasure with my performance clear.
"C'mon, Barbara, I can't hear you," she says in singsong. The other screeners laugh at me.
http://tinyurl.com/39apts
One relevant excerpt:
It is 5:45 a.m., less than an hour into my first day on the job, and already I am failing miserably. I had no idea that this pre-dawn hour is considered prime time at the checkpoint where I'm working. My first assignment is to monitor the walk-through metal detector and assess the readiness of passengers to enter the portal. I am to scream the litany of instructions across the barrier so that no passengers will dare approach me wearing their shoes, coats, or other any verboten gear.
"Remove all jackets and footwear," I recite, weakly. "If you have a laptop, take it out of its case and put it in a bin by itself."
I'm working with Carole, a preternaturally calm former social worker, who nonetheless makes her displeasure with my performance clear.
"C'mon, Barbara, I can't hear you," she says in singsong. The other screeners laugh at me.
Feb 27, 2007 | 6:43 pm
#43
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 728
About 5 years ago I was catching an empty seat with an Air Freight crew that was doing a reposition of a new plane. They had their aircraft on one of the UA gates because it had just come in a few hours earlier. We showed up at security at around 3:30am. There were 4 TSA employees literally asleep, one snoring. We all walked right around them, the F/E even set off the detector, and not a one woke up. To this day that is my favorite story about this wonderful slice of the government.
Feb 27, 2007 | 8:13 pm
#44
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 364
Likewise, the Soviets and other communist regimes treated some people much better than they did the masses. I doubt the recipients of that favored treatment could bring themselves to criticise the regimes any more than you can bring yourself to criticise the TSA.
If I had a front of the line pass at the checkpoints, allowing me to save valuable hours, I might feel differently about the Terrorism Support Agency.
If I had a front of the line pass at the checkpoints, allowing me to save valuable hours, I might feel differently about the Terrorism Support Agency.
