TSA conversations at the checkpoint
 

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that it's impossible to go through any checkpoint WITHOUT hearing the TSA staffers having the same conversation amongst themselves: "So what time are you getting off work?" "Well, my shift ends at...".

Yep, it's a government job...all about getting through another day and collecting that paycheck. Sigh, America's first line of defnese....

I hear the same stuff as you. Don't forget the discussion about break time. It's hard to hear this, though, over the screaming -- at nobody in particular -- about the removal of shoes, laptops, liquids, etc.

It sometimes seems as if passengers are there as an afterthought.

Yeah, forgot about the "So when's your break time?" part of it as well.

As to your comment about passengers being an afterthought, given that it's all Kabuki Theatre anyway, I don't mind being an afterthought, but from the standpoint of "America's first line of defense", the much-touted alleged training on observing passenger behavior, the much-touted training on engaging passengers in "pleasant conversation" with the objective of gauging behavior, etc etc etc, the focus on break time and quittin' time and not on the passengers they're there to screen is pathetic.

TSA employees are there to do as little as possible so that some other people will pay them with money they've coercively collected from Americans.

Just one more example of how Americans are much worse off because of their government.

The other day I got on a parking garage shuttle on my way to LAX with two screeners discussing a new (or an apparently new) TSA rule requiring that all vacation/leave requests be filed by screeners early in the year. One screener wouldn't stop complaining about it even though the other told him that many private industry employees have to do the same thing. The whiner said "it's just ridiculous" and that the rule didn't make any sense.

Finally, after several minutes of this whining, I looked at the screener and said "Ridiculous? Just like the liquid insanity? Sounds to me like you've got a problem following rules." The other passengers loudly agreed with me. That shut him up for the rest of the ride.

Yup...you all hit it. Went through CVG last week and saw one screaming at a passenger over a little tube of anti-bac...like it was the highlight of his shining career at the TSA. Meanwhile, the chick watching the screen of the X-ray was more consumed talking about her boyfriend to the other workers...I could have passed a chainsaw through and she probably wouldn't have picked it up.

Americans would actually be better off if the TSA employees truly admitted that they are there just to collect a check. If, for example, they all (as opposed to just some of them) went to sleep and let everyone pass through unchecked, the passengers would at least know they needed to look for other ways to be protected. They would look for the airlines providing true security, they would be more aware of truly suspicious behavior around them, etc.

As it is now, and as government so often does in so many areas of our lives, passengers are lulled into believing they are being protected when the TSA has done nothing but make them more endangered. And the passengers who haven't been fooled have had their ability to do anything about the situation (i.e. most importantly, shift their dollars to a place or service where they are more secure) greatly restricted.

A couple of my favorite TSA moments:

1) Two obese black chicks in ATL laughing at the x-ray monitor showing a dildo in one passenger's luggage.

2) The obese black chick in JFK completely asleep in her chair while on the job.

Oh well... all governments come to an end at some point. Ours had a good run while it lasted. Better get ready to duck though... because the payback ours has coming is going to be pretty ugly I'm afraid. And unfortunately the people tearing it down won't differentiate between the idiots that did it and those of us that were forced to pay them.

This morning - as it took 25 minutes to wend through T2 security at SAT, longest I've seen since Feb 1 - the passenger behind me remarked that he came through with his belt on, and that was great. I looked at him and said "but they're still not very competant (as our plastic bins were crashing flexing up and nearly crashing off the line). He said that they're doing their best, and that's good enough, so they should get a break.

I did note that he had a large GSA emblem on his bag....

Why do you have to point out their size and ethnicity it didn't add anything to your point.

I though most TSA conversations went like this.

I like Nachos....nachos rule....

Shut up Beavis

I agree about the ethnicity point.

The size thing I do feel is pertinent since TSAers frequently point out they have the most on-the-job injuries in all of government. And I have long maintained there should be a fitness standard given all the physical requirements on the job.

How about the female part, or does that not offend your PC sensitivity? :rolleyes:

Went out security in Chicago during a layover and coming back in the gentleman at the x-ray machine was busy complaining (about his schedule) to the lady on the x-ray machine in the next lane. Normally i don't really care what the screeners are talking about, but this conversation had this guy standing at a point where he couldn't even see the screen and he was yelling. I asked the supervisor for a complaint form and he wanted to know what the problem was. I told him, he called his supervisor (how many supervisors are there?) and they apologised profusely thanking me for reporting the incident. As I walked away I saw them call the offender over and they seemed to be talking sternly to him.

Probably not a typical situation but I was quite pleased to see that they were proactive. But hey, maybe that was Kabuki also... :rolleyes:

BUF Run-in
 

I posted a response on another thread about a young TSA screener at Buffalo Niagara checking my bag and getting mouthy with me. When I questioned what the lady at the xray had seen, seeing how she didn't stop talking the entire time my bag went through, he got all defensive. "Sir, are you good at your job? Sir, do you talk at your job?"

I told him hell yes I'm good at my job, and hell yes I talk at my job--but my job doesn't affect the safety of hundreds of people every hour. I asked for a supervisor and he shut up and went to the women in question. I could see them listening to him and giving me menacing glances.

Just wait until they get their union! Write your congressional rep or senator now! :mad:

I fail to see the relevance here, to be honest. Does it happen? Sure, but no more than I hear flight crews complain.

i only care when they aren't doing their job

The same reason any good story includes descriptions of what people look like, sound like, etc. You wouldn't read a novel very far that said "the man walked up to the other man and, pointing at the man, said..."

Believe it or not, sometimes pointing out someone's race and/or size is just a way of helping you experience what the writer did. There's no evil agenda.

--PP

I didn't. I wanted to.

I didn't intend for it to add anything to the point.

I intended for it to add to the narrative, which it did.

Posted my response directly above this one before seeing your response.

Thank you. You beat me to it. Nicely done.

There's plenty of evil agenda when someone is posting about "obese black chicks." In case you are naive enough to think "obese" and "black" are just descriptive, you have the word "chick" thrown in for good measure. At this point, you understand that while the poster knows he would get booted for using a hateful slang word about the woman's color, he figures he can get away with using a hateful slang word about her gender.

If that isn't evil, it is at least despicable.

Evil? Hateful? Despicable?

http://www.swinginchicks.com/ ;)

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.

Hehehehehehe.....yeah....we should like totally enforce that "baggie" rule....that would be cool.....hehehehehehehe.

;)

Professionalism is the issue
 

I personally don't care about a screeners gender (unless they're having to feel me up -- it's going to take some time to get over the gropings when business sent me flying during that lunacy on short notice ticketing), size (I'm not exactly svelte), or ethnicity.

Unfortunately, mentioning those attributes of the screener took away from that person's valid complaints about the behavior.

CNN has the backscatter technology all hyped as just being an outline -- but if a screener can't be professional about sexual items in carryons I certainly don't want to have to declare KY, or let them see me in a virtual stripsearch.

As for sleeping on the job, I know I could get away with it too at my workplace, and I've been tempted, but I've never done it. What can I say, if I can't do it (even if it's just because I feel like it's wrong), neither should they. Besides, it's my tax dollars and security fees going to pay their salary, and I don't think "Thousands Sleeping Around" is any better of a rep to have than "Thousands Standing Around".

I'm glad to see that there are TSA employees and supervisors here, since I know it must bite to have frustration about the bad behavior of others taken out on you. Thanks for incorporating our concerns into your practice.

My friend was going through security. They ran his bag back and forth, back and forth. My friend said out loud, "Oh, that's my toothbrush." My friend is a guy. :D :D :D

Should everyone be offended that the poster pointed out the TSA and government employees. Heck, even pointing out they were passengers going through security might have offended my dog. :rolleyes: How about we all are less sensitive? The poster painted an image. I think that some of you inferred something negative. ....And I live in the Republik of Kalifornia.

It's this "screaming" I don't get. While the rules in the UK are just as nonsensical, and the procedure just as much of a hassle, screening staff have never been anything other than polite to me. This being the case, the whole experience is made a lot more tolerable.

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.

The most recent conversation I overheard was at my favorite hometown checkpoint at CMH. A woman watching the x-ray (I won't mention her size) actually squealed, "That looks like a PLATIC BAG ITEM!" Oh the thrill of throwing away someone's 101 mL hand lotion! Will the thrills ever end?

Well, there does seem to be a pattern in that particular poster's comments. omascreener picked up on it, and I happen to agree. But the comments didn't really cross any lines. Then again, it's always a matter of subtlety.

Strongly agree with you. There is nothing more unprofessional than using foul language within earshot of passengers. I certainly don't tolerate it.

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.

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.

Of course not. Your patients have the freedom to not pay you in the future and get the service you offer elsewhere.

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."

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!!!

Not very.

Disagree.

Aloha!

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.

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.

You are absolutely correct. The take-command-of-the-situation-at-all-costs style of yelling is unique in my experience to U.S. checkpoints. I still recall a couple of years when we were flying out of SFO having an employee about 15 feet away shout rules through a bullhorn at a group of 7-8 of us perps - I mean passengers.

I hope it eventually broke. ;)

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.