In the 8+ years of this zoo I have come to the following conclusions.

The TSA front line is actually fairly good wrt customer interactions. Despite the stories I hear in this forum, almost all my interactions have ranged from "efficient" to "friendly". They significantly improved after the second year or so, and have been steady since,

The TSA policies are a friggin joke. I seriously doubt they could be worse if they tried.

(And no, I do not take a Fed. pay-check)

You don't fly through Newark, BWI or Dulles, do you?

I would agree in part.

The TSA policies are certainly a joke - nothing but a mixture of locking the barn door after the horse has fled and stupidity for stupidity's sake.

I also agree that the majority of TSA personnel are OK at interpersonal interactions; however, that is only because the majority of the populace as a whole is OK at this. The issue with TSA personnel is that after 8 years there still seems to be absolutely no interest by TSA in addressing the problems caused by rogue employees. Those with "Barney Fife syndrome", those who are rude and the utterly incompetent are left in place with no apparent attempt to train, counsel or replace them. Worst of all, the decent TSA employees who ignore such behavior (and, through their inaction endorse it) allow the bad apples to ruin the reputation of all TSA employees.

Most of my interactions with TSA are relatively painless, but I travel enough that I encounter a rude, officious TSA person every couple of months. Never have I seen another TSA employee intervene to try to defuse the situation. This tells me that the culture at TSA is "us against them" as clearly as if I read it in their SOP. Therefore; I conclude that TSA has a problem with BOTH policies and personnel.

+1 (I don't fly out of EWR, so no experience)

Or any other commercial US airport with a three-letter airport code?

True. However, my experiences, when rated in my head, always seem to find IAD/BWI at the lowest points. Must have something to do with their proximity to our beloved Congress-douches, coupled with the fact that BWI has been known as a field testing location for TSA from the start.

Isn't that really true everywhere? Most receptionists at hotels are good at their jobs, but every so often you will run into one who thinks he is God incarnate.

Most journalists know how to respect the feelings of relatives of accident victims, but there are some who practically demand that they put everything aside for an interview.

Hey, even here on FlyerTalk we see that most moderators do their jobs excellently but a few think that everything they say must, by sheer definition, be absolutely right.

The problem does not lie with the TSA, with hotels, or with FT -- the problem is in human nature.

I don't disagree with you regarding human nature. I will part company with you in one respect.

If an airline desk agent, or hotel receptionist or rental car agent wants to give someone some "attitude" it is not unusual to see a colleague step in to try to attempt to calm the situation down. Also, if a customer makes a legitimate complaint, you can bet that the management chain will make genuine effort to understand what happened and take corrective action.

TSA employees who will not or can not deal professionally with the public are allowed to stay in place with nary a reprimand and no apology to the public.

IAD is my home airport - I am a experienced (over 1 mm on UA) but moderate level flyer (~10-12 departures a year) and I can honestly say I have never had a "bad" experience with TSA at IAD. Or any other US airport for that matter. Maybe I am just lucky....

I certainly don't agree with all the rules (shoes off, laptop out, liquids/gels in my baggie, etc.) but I know the rules and follow them and have never had a problem. I tune out the "yelling" and am prepared to go thru the security line when it's time. I pretty much dress the same on each flight - I know what items will not set off the metal detector and I think in all my flying I have set it off less than 5 times....

Now I realize that I dont have some of the extenuating circumstances that some do (medical issues, etc.) that maybe cause some of the problems.

I'm kind of neutral on the WBI issue - but never have had to go thru one or have a secondary "pat-down"