Amazing - a TSA is on the same level as St. Peter at the Pearly Gates for some. Are you in the mood to kiss their boot as well after your rush to hide that horrible horrible cellphone?

No wonder the 20 percent got you to lose your civil rights by instituting the TSA.

Perhaps the next time you are in this situation you could say to the person you are talking to "Please excuse me a moment, I'm going through security. Could you hold for a minute?"

And you could say to the TSO "I'm sorry if I'm being rude, but this is a very important call."

Then you will have been polite to all parties concerned and most likely allowed to move on in a courteous manner.

Too many people forget their manners these days, especially when travelling.

The way I read it is:

1) You hand over the BP and ID. - You have complied with the TSA requirement to submit said documents to the checker.
2) He hands them right back. - The document checking procedure has been successfully completed.

The next thing to do is move along to the screening location. If confronted, ask for a supervisor. Tell the supervisor, "He handed back the BP and ID so he must have been done with them."

^^

At MKE, most TSOs could care less if you are on the phone at ticket checking. However, if you stay on the phone and continue in line to the X-ray, don't be surprised to hear a TSO ask(sometimes bark) to get off the phone and put it through the X-ray. That's because you are holding up the rest of the pax while you finish your call. Ditto to the pax who "forgot" their oversize bottle of water and now want to drink it up before they throw it out. If you are one of these pax, I'd recommend to stay out of the line until you are finished with either the phone call or the water.

Some banks now have rules requiring customers to turn off their cellphones, remove sunglasses, and take off hats prior to entering a bank. I asked a teller about this and the teller explained that branch had been robbed recently and that criminals use the cellphone cameras to take pictures of the bank layout and visible security features. They use sunglasses to obscure their identity from the CCTV surveillance and hats can hide items criminals use in their crimes. To me, it's starting to feel like a checkpoint, albeit, a smaller one.

IMO, I think the TSO was wrong in doing this to the OP. It was unnecessary and the TSO wasted seconds which would have been better spent checking another pax's ID and getting the lines down.

Therein lies your answer. There's no reason for you to slow things down because of your lack of time management. It is YOUR fault that you are running late and can't coordinate your calls. Not the TSA or other passengers. You. Take some responsibility for yourself. You shouldn't be slowing things down because of your poor planning.

What did the OP slow down? Where is there a time aspect to slowing anything or anyone down, other than the TSO who refused to do his job b/c he was on a power play?

Do you realize you likely took more time, many times over, in reading this thread and replying to it than any "delay" that may or may not have occurred?

fwiw, my to hockey pucks is that it is rude to be on the phone while presenting your i/d and bp to the tso (or talking and/or meeting with anyone else for that matter).

2 weeks ago, i was just about to hand the tso my "stuph" and my phone rang. i stopped what i was doing, put up one finger (no, not that finger ) to the tso implying "just a minute", stepped aside, answered the phone, asked if anything was wrong and when told "no", i said, "i'll call you back in 10 minutes" and then proceed to the tso where i got a "thanks for doing it that way"

This situation is different from a being at the deli counter / bank / etc. In those cases, you are entering a place of business wishing to purchase a product or service. That company has every right to choose not to do business with you, and to post rules (No shirt, no shoes, no service) as to what is acceptable. Many places institute a much stricter dress code. In a retail situation, they can refuse to let you purchase something for any reason.

The TSA is a different story. They are a government organization, and their job is to maintain security of the sterile area(s). That's it.

They should not have the right to refuse to let you into the sterile area for anything other than security concerns. They post the security guidelines, and (so long as you are following them) you should be allowed entry no matter what.

They don't have the right to say that people on phones or people in baseball hats can't pass through security that day.

Well said ^^

+1. Power trip. Because the TSA can.

Nope. Next time you should say to the person on the phone (no matter who it is....) "Excuse me Mr. Hawley, but one of your front-line "defenders" insists I am being rude to him by continuing this call with you, so it looks like I need to be rude to you instead and hang up on you in the middle of what you were saying. What's that? OK, sure."

Then look at the screener and say "Kip Hawley requested I get your name and badge #...." and try not to grin at the reaction

Where's the problem? You toss the phone into a bowl, run it through the x-ray, pick it up on the other side and carry on. I see people do it all the time. Their call is on pause for maybe 15 seconds, and if it is that important a call then a 15 second delay is no big deal. Unless of course its your mother-in-law and she may never notice the missing time.

Perhaps you should re-read the OP's post. He wasn't at the x-ray yet. He was trying to get his id checked, and was refused until he had finished his phone call.